The Land Beneath Us: Behind this strange name hides a delightful little surprise for fans of turn-based dungeon-crawlers—a well-balanced roguelite with tactical gameplay and a good dose of originality. Let me tell you more… Below! 😉
It all starts with a somewhat weird intro, where the cheerful and cartoonish atmosphere contrasts completely with the game itself: we’re in the depths of a cybernetic, computer-based world, full of large pixels, beautiful 3D and lighting effects, visual glitches, and electronic music that creates an intriguing atmosphere.
In a top-down view, you move your robot one square at a time. Each movement or attack counts as a turn: the enemies will act simultaneously, just like in good old NetHack… You mainly use up, down, left, and right to move and attack. A nice touch: you choose a weapon for each direction! It’s up to you to create synergies and try to handle all the situations.
Additionally, there are some welcome mechanics: weapon upgrades, relics that add or improve your skills, teleportation, and even combos based on electronic “chips”! Essentially, these are powers activated after performing a specific sequence of movements. Planning your moves well can be devastating or lifesaving, so it’s pretty cool. 🙂
As expected in a roguelite, you progress between each game. This is well-balanced, regularly unlocking new elements that offer new possibilities, allow you to go further, or make life easier (skills, inventory slots, more choices in loot…). Of course, once you “finish” the game, you can continue but with added handicaps; to complete the game 100%, you’ll need to be good!
I won’t discuss the storyline, because honestly, I didn’t understand it (I think it’s due to the French translation, as it was really unclear…), but the overall ambiance is very enjoyable—a bit dark like purgatory, mixed with quite funny characters… And a story about a revolt. 🤷
Technically, if you enjoy the genre like I do, you’ll love it. 🙂 It’s very pretty, very readable and clear despite sometimes having very large pixels. The atmosphere is superb. The only slightly annoying thing is that when you choose a weapon, you can’t see the weapons you already have at the same time… Other than that, it’s well done, as long as you take the time to weigh your actions (a mistake can be fatal).
I really had a great time, it’s an engaging and quite “relaxing” game, apart from some tense battles. Runs last about 30-45 minutes, and you find yourself chaining them to discover the next world, unlock abilities, chips, or try a new approach to powers/weapons.
For around €15, you can dive right in! A demo is available on various platforms, and I encourage you to form your own opinion. I hope you have a great time collecting souls in this tactical dungeon! 🤖
