Where to get it

2018 · Capybara Games · Action-adventure · Adventure

Below

Timed Xbox exclusive

Test your adventurer mettle against The Isle’s procedural subterranean labyrinths. Explore a large, interconnected underworld crawling with cunning wildlife, deadly traps and stalked by a shadowy presence. Survive the perils of The Depths and unearth what lies below... or die trying..

Released: 2018
Platforms: PlayStation 4 Windows Xbox One
Genres: Action-adventure Adventure Indie Roguelike Role-playing
Developers: Capybara Games
Publishers: Capybara Games
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric Side view
Themes: Action Fantasy Survival Open world
Engine: PhyreEngine
Country: Canada
Age ratings: CLASS_IND 10 PEGI 12 ESRB T ACB M USK 12 GRAC 12+
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 19hmain story24hcompletionist
Composers: Jim Guthrie

About

Below is an action-adventure game developed by Capybara Games. The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 2013 press event, and was indefinitely delayed in 2016. It initially released on Microsoft Windows and Xbox One on December 14, 2018, with a PS4 port released in 2020. The game received mixed reviews upon release.

›Story

Below is an atmospheric action-adventure roguelike that follows a lone, tiny warrior arriving by boat on the shores of a vast and remote island. Drawn by mystery, the traveler descends into the island's ever-deepening caverns, a labyrinth of shifting, randomly generated depths shrouded in darkness. Survival is a constant struggle against lethal traps, hostile creatures, hunger, and the cold, with only a glowing lantern to push back the shadows. Told almost entirely without words, the game is a quiet, foreboding journey ever downward into the secrets buried beneath the island.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Below is an action-adventure game viewed from a top-down perspective with roguelike elements. The player-character is a "tiny warrior exploring the depths of a remote island". The game is about exploration, though that goal is contingent upon the character's survival. Microsoft's Phil Spencer described the game at E3 2013 as a "creative take on roguelike gameplay" in a "mysterious world".

The environments are randomly generated. The game is designed to be difficult, with "brutal but fair combat" and permanent death.

Development

Below was announced at Microsoft's E3 2013 event. The project had been in development for years. The company had discussed ideas for the game, particularly the difficulty element with Capybara's Kris Piotrowski.

Capybara compared the game to "roguelikes of yore", as a "roguelike-like" with design choices like permanent death and high difficulty. The game punishes recklessness and is designed for fair, but rigorous combat. Capybara president and co-founder Nathan Vella called the game the company's largest by number of features, artwork, and development time and difficulty. He described the game as a "super video game-y video game" for its aesthetics, soundtrack, and game mechanics.

Reception

The game received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. It was nominated for "Game, Original Action" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, and for "Best Sound Design for an Indie Game" at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alice Bell criticized the game's insta-death traps and slow progression, but praised the game's world and atmosphere. Colin Campbell, writing for Polygon praised the mystery and visuals of the game, but disliked the repetition of the levels. Destructoid's Jordan Devore praised the ambience of the game but criticized the pacing, saying "Below puts its best foot forward in its early hours and then never stops losing steam".