Codes 208
Member
Good god that watermark is obnoxiousAbout this close.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
BELOW launches on Xbox One & Steam on December 14th, 2018.
- Thread starter IbizaPocholo
- Start date
What do I do in this game? I've explored as much as I think I can, but haven't found any way to get 'Below' beyond a drawbridge that I seem to have no way of lowering. If I had arrows left I could try and shoot something on the other side I guess. I found a light of some sorts on a pillar up a cliff which can spin around like a torch. I made a stew which I ate. That's it. Nothing else to do. Glad I got it free on Game Pass. Am I supposed to quit and start again? But that intro took so long I'm not sure I can sit through that again...
r3dzombie
Neo Member
iirc you drop the drawbridge from the other entrance in the room
Golgo 13
The Man With The Golden Dong
Xbox One X
ClanOfNone
Member
This game is amazing. If you enjoyed Sword and Sworcery, you probably dig this. I can't wait to start figuring shit out.
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
Where's goddamn reviews? They haven't sent any keys to press / youtubers at all?
Last edited:
ClanOfNone
Member
It's gonna be super divisive, a real love/hate thing. So far, I think it's brilliant, but I can see where the criticisms are coming from.
I stand by what I said before, if you enjoyed Sword and Sworcery you will probably enjoy this as well.
I am puzzled as to why the dev cycle was so insanely long.
I stand by what I said before, if you enjoyed Sword and Sworcery you will probably enjoy this as well.
I am puzzled as to why the dev cycle was so insanely long.
LittleBusters
Banned
I can see that some people need to GIT GUD on this game and stop complaining.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
hollams
Gold Member
After reading some impressions I was really worried about the hunger frequency but after 2 hours it really hasn't been that bad. You find food quite often, especially if you can kill mice, and I haven't died by hunger yet. There is so much I don't understand about the world,l but I'm learning slowly and I like that but I can see how other might not.
LittleBusters
Banned
I understand BELOW has perma-death, which means you don't respawn at the last save-point but at the very start of the game when you die? That's a big turnoff, but as long as you can reload to your last save point like in old style Sierra games that would be fine.
ClanOfNone
Member
It's a bummer too, game is great.
Hendrick's
If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The game is truly a work of art. It's also fun to play! Sadly I think my game might be bugged. Either that or I just don't know what I'm doing.
Codes 208
Member
It got more marketing from ms in its first year or two of development than now that it’s launched. I didn’t even know this came out finally. Wtf?
LittleBusters
Banned
Below is a perfect example of how not to launch & develop a game. But remember, this belongs to the Mattrick regime.
Gormenghast
Member
I think it suffers a bit of lack of ambition. For a game that has been in development so long people expected it to offer something special.
Instead it looks like a 15 hours game where most of that time is due to backtracking or being stuck trying to figure out how to progress. If you removed all the artificial difficulty it would be a relatively small and short game content-wise. In the end it nails the atmosphere well, but it doesn't do anything new with the roguelike genre. It's fairly simple, with an handful of mechanics. It never becomes more than the sum of the parts, and those parts aren't deep or even complex.
(I think Rain World is the example of a much bigger and more interesting game, that also didn't have the success it deserved, whereas I think the lukewarm reactions that Below got are proportional to the overall quality. It's good but not great. And it doesn't stand apart.)
It's a kind of small, charming game with some difficulty spikes and frustrating sections. Even if it's inspired by Dark Souls it seems like it only borrowed the shallower surface of it.
But without high ambitions it's nice, interesting game. It's just that I think people expected something more. Something that you could invest into more rather than play across a weekend and then forget it existed.
Instead it looks like a 15 hours game where most of that time is due to backtracking or being stuck trying to figure out how to progress. If you removed all the artificial difficulty it would be a relatively small and short game content-wise. In the end it nails the atmosphere well, but it doesn't do anything new with the roguelike genre. It's fairly simple, with an handful of mechanics. It never becomes more than the sum of the parts, and those parts aren't deep or even complex.
(I think Rain World is the example of a much bigger and more interesting game, that also didn't have the success it deserved, whereas I think the lukewarm reactions that Below got are proportional to the overall quality. It's good but not great. And it doesn't stand apart.)
It's a kind of small, charming game with some difficulty spikes and frustrating sections. Even if it's inspired by Dark Souls it seems like it only borrowed the shallower surface of it.
But without high ambitions it's nice, interesting game. It's just that I think people expected something more. Something that you could invest into more rather than play across a weekend and then forget it existed.
Last edited:
LittleBusters
Banned
The permadeath is what's keeping me away from this game. Looks beautiful, great soundtrack but I will not start the game from the beginning endlessly. Roguelike is not my thing.
PuppetMaster
Member
Why is there still almost no reviews of this game? Metacritic has only 3 reviews of the PC version. And none for Xbox.
Is there still a review embargo post launch? Or did they just not send review codes /discs to anyone?
Is there still a review embargo post launch? Or did they just not send review codes /discs to anyone?
Calibos
Member
The "permadeath" is mitigated by progress in the game. "Kindling" fires create save points and as you progress, you unlock "shortcut" paths to allow access to lower levels faster. Also, the game isn't that difficult so far...about 6 hours played and I have quick access to two places from the starting area. You really have to pay attention to detail sometimes and experiment with the inventory for crafting.
I think it's pretty brilliant in many ways, and simple in others. Solid over all though.
LittleBusters
Banned
Yeah I might get into this one day when I have the mental bandwidth. I definitely like that that it gatekeeps away the snowflake gamer types who want everything to be like 'Life is Strange'.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Deputy Moonman
Member
I'd like to try this game out. I could see myself playing this in short spurts until eventually finishing it down the road.