Today the great Undermine from the Thorium studio, formed by Derek Johnson and Clint Tasker, debuts on Nintendo Switch after passing through Steam and Xbox One. It is a roguelike that premiered on Steam Early Access in August 2019, seeing how a year later it reached its final version with good reviews.
I had it pending, postponing its launch on Xbox Game Pass just from August 2020, until a couple of weeks ago I launched myself fully and it ended up being my downfall. It is the typical game that asks you for one more game and with its arrival in the Nintendo eShop, there are more reasons to play it in portable mode.
The deeper, the more challenge and fun
It was not love at first sight, in any case. And I’m not saying it because I didn’t like it because of its aesthetics, with slight reminiscences of the Zelda in 2D or with an approach slightly similar to The Binding of Isaac and co, but rather because of how much the jump in this game shocked me , too tall. It made me a bit unnatural, not being so common in dungeon games of this suit.
In addition, it is shocking to see that despite the height that we take with the jump, there are stones that we can overcome while others (rectangular), we cannot. But that feeling passes in a short time when we understand its idiosyncrasy, as the use of pumps and keys is vital to discover all its secrets. And it is that it is showing us its layers little by little, with improvements that we will unlock by releasing money or rescuing, in turn, various allies as we go deeper through each of the dungeons. It is more complex than meets the eye.
Nor is there a fixed protagonist , but it changes if they kill us. Although it does not inherit the formula of the great Rogue Legacy, with offspring of variable traits, but only the name and appearance, totally different. This does not prevent the first hours of play from being a worry, losing a significant amount of money when dying . To avoid this, of course, we can buy different improvements for the bag and gradually reduce the percentage from 5% to 5% until it is fixed.
This is one of the most important facets, since thanks to the blacksmith (once rescued) we will be able to improve the basic parameters of the protagonist, seeing how the rest of the main base will grow with other types of advantages, such as the merchant, the alchemist … And there will be more advantages that will allow us to continue advancing with more ease, such as a bomb capable of destroying something more than standard rocks or enjoying a trip that allows us to skip several regions …
Undermine takes care of even the smallest details
Dying will be the bread and butter in Undermine . No matter how cautious we are, from one room to another (yes, they are generated randomly) there can be an ambush difficult to circumvent by the traps on the floor … or accidentally start a fire, among multiple other variables. Because there are enemies who can change their properties in the middle of battle, depending on the element they touch, just as we can change what surrounds us in certain circumstances.
And let’s not say if there are bombs involved, of course. Especially if we have a relic that modifies its behavior, such as releasing minibombs, lightning or expelling fire. Each room is a test that we will not be able to get out of if there are enemies in the area: if we eliminate the danger, the doors will open and we can continue exploring. Although later there will be certain doors with a padlock (which will require your key to open them) or walls that will give off a slight glow to indicate that there is a secret room … at the stroke of a bomb. It is a non-stop.
Sometimes we can get more or less pumps, just like keys, hence we have to make decisions with certain rooms … without knowing what can be in store for us. In addition, there will be strange challenges, with a resolution not always so obvious, with both positive and negative rewards. It’s a roguelike for nothing, after all. If we talk about raw numbers, there are 157 relics (with various passive effects), 64 curses in contrast to the 20 blessings, and a total of 67 different potions. Therefore, it is impossible for two games to be the same.
It should be said that in the standard mode of Undermine the bosses do not reappear after killing them , the so-called Othermine being the extra mode that we unlock after that does adhere to the maximum of the roguelike guidelines, offering an ostensibly harder experience and without the advantages of blacksmith. It is brutal.
A roguelike to lose many hours before
His innocent appearance is deceiving a lot already in the main mode, especially if we are left with the apparent simplicity of his first region. In the second, he makes an important leap as there are more aggressive enemies and thus with each additional region, reflecting in turn on the following bosses, causing altered states.
That is why based on dying and keeping as much money as possible, it is essential to improve the character and unlock the largest number of improvements, with special emphasis on the launch distance of the pickaxe, which personally reminded me of the addictive Iron Crypticle. In my first hours of play I ignored it by not improving its counterweight, but it changes the issue a lot if we stop using only the close-range attack. And also when it comes to money, when gold falls to the ground, some Limos will always come out to steal it.
It is curious, because of these “Cacos” there will be different variants, having even the good part with the Dibble emporium, with a chain of stores along all the floors of each region. These stores give a lot of play, but they will not be the only characters that will help us in the adventure, having a series of curious alternatives before the confrontation against a boss : it could be said that there is the fast and hard route to get to the next region sooner and then the boss’s.
Of course, there is no shortage of secrets, eleven relatives to unlock, each with its own advantages (the canary at the beginning is the best for gold, but we can find a fire bird, for example) or a series of dogs those to caress , which is something we love. The fact is that there is a game for days and days.
In short, its good press on Steam and Xbox One was no coincidence. Undermine is pure vice and you should play it if you like roguelike even slightly. And if you prefer it in portable mode, now with its premiere on Switch you have it on a tray.
Undermine
| Platforms | Nintendo Switch, Xbox One (analyzed version) and Steam |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Not |
| Developer | Thorium |
| Company | Thorium |
| Launch | August 6, 2020 (Steam and Xbox One) | February 11, 2021 (Switch) |
| Price | 16.79 euros |
The best
- The large number of relics and curses
- The game given by its many secrets
- Good difficulty curve to the end
- Othermine, the true roguelike
Worst
- Mistaking a cliff for a dark wall
- The jump (although it serves to dodge the attacks) is exaggeratedly high