it's a fun little game, good as an indie title
Solid experience.
CAPITALISM BAD
amazing music and art direction
i loved the combat system too, its a rogue-like where anything can be your weapon, so you can literally throw a chair at crypto-bros , GOTY
amazing music and art direction
i loved the combat system too, its a rogue-like where anything can be your weapon, so you can literally throw a chair at crypto-bros , GOTY
Going Under para mim é um jogo bem simples, mas ainda sim tem seu charme. Sinceramente não prestei muita atenção na historia pelo fato do jogo estar totalmente inglês então não vou poder opinar muito sobre esse fator, mas acredito que seja alguma crítica ou reflexão sobre a vida corporativa. Agora algo que é maravilhosa nesse jogo é a sua gameplay, o fato do cenário ser a sua arma é algo genial e fora os combates desse jogo serem bem frenéticos. As boss fights também são bem desafiadoras, não diria impossíveis mas também não tão simples. Sua estética é bem distinta, os gráficos bem cartunescos e os visuais estilizados o tornam algo bem chamativo junto da trilha sonora que se torna uma peça principal por contribuir na diversão e na emoção do game. Pode jogar sem medo, é bastante desafiador mas ainda sim muito divertido
Charming but sometimes jarring to play
I cranked up the accessibility features cuz I already put 20 hours in and never got close to finishing it, and I certainly haven’t gotten better in the intervening years lol.
This game is pretty good. Cute writing, fairly obvious and funny commentary on start ups and VC culture. The “corporate art” style is killer, imo. Really pops, gives everything a sense of place. The skins track is a lot of fun too.
I’m playing on the Switch and I must say that it’s fairly choppy/framey. Not unsurprising given the hardware’s age, but it still struggles to show a fight with a handful of enemies and some fire effects without stuttering.
This game is pretty good. Cute writing, fairly obvious and funny commentary on start ups and VC culture. The “corporate art” style is killer, imo. Really pops, gives everything a sense of place. The skins track is a lot of fun too.
I’m playing on the Switch and I must say that it’s fairly choppy/framey. Not unsurprising given the hardware’s age, but it still struggles to show a fight with a handful of enemies and some fire effects without stuttering.
Muy divertido roguelite donde llevamos a una becaria recien salida de la universidad descubriendo el loco mundo de las empresas. Mucho humor, un combate bastante decente, un aspecto visual que juega con ser simple pero muy llamativo y colorido y una estructura bastante interesante, ya que aunque cada partida la tengamos que empezar de 0, iremos haciendo zonas y dejandolas atras, lo cual crea una progresion mas notable que creo que es refrescante dentro del genero. Pero aqui esta lo que para mucho puede ser su gran ''pero''.
Esa misma estructura hace que no tenga mucha rejugabilidad, cosa que mucha gente esperara del genero. Hay mejoras, y no siempre jugaras exactamente igual, pero tampoco cambian lo suficiente las partidas como para rejugarlo completo. Esta mas bien pensado para ir haciendo las secciones y no volver a ellas si no es necesario.
Si os apetece un juego del genero, que empieza ligerito y se va complicando, donde no tengais que pasar vuestra vida dentro y noteis que avanzais de manera muy clara y con mucho humor sobre criptobros, este es el sitio.
Esa misma estructura hace que no tenga mucha rejugabilidad, cosa que mucha gente esperara del genero. Hay mejoras, y no siempre jugaras exactamente igual, pero tampoco cambian lo suficiente las partidas como para rejugarlo completo. Esta mas bien pensado para ir haciendo las secciones y no volver a ellas si no es necesario.
Si os apetece un juego del genero, que empieza ligerito y se va complicando, donde no tengais que pasar vuestra vida dentro y noteis que avanzais de manera muy clara y con mucho humor sobre criptobros, este es el sitio.
I put this game down for a long while after it left GamePass, but I enjoyed it enough to pick it up for myself. I really loved this one!
Artistically this game knocks it out of the park for me. It's bright, poppy, and so full of flair and charm. I love how every character is made up of these cute simple shapes and designs, almost like Muppets. Every environment feels so different even during the revisits in the latter half of the game. Music is such a vibe. "9:01 am" is one of my personal favorites, and the final boss music goes insane. Truly a treat to see and hear from start to finish.
The actual rougelike elements of the game are simple; combat is as well. There are a number of different weapon types, but for the most part they're all either swinging something or shooting something. Some are big, some are small, and they have different attributes based on their size. The game is split into 3 levels, each based on different startup companies. Every area has their own sets of enemies and weapons, so they offer different challenges. Each level is a set of 3 floors and a 4th boss floor. Along the way you pick up different upgrades called "Perks." Sometimes these things are super helpful, like making 2 handed weapons swing like 1 handed weapons, and some of the later ones are even better. The choices mesh well with the Mentor mechanic. Each member of Fizzle has a number of quests for to do, leading to their mentorship. These give even MORE upgrades, and can really change how you approach floors.
I'm definitely going to come back to this one to take on Impostor mode and unlock the last of the perks, but this was one hell of a time. It's quirky, funny, tough, and has tons of replay value. I highly recommend this one!
Artistically this game knocks it out of the park for me. It's bright, poppy, and so full of flair and charm. I love how every character is made up of these cute simple shapes and designs, almost like Muppets. Every environment feels so different even during the revisits in the latter half of the game. Music is such a vibe. "9:01 am" is one of my personal favorites, and the final boss music goes insane. Truly a treat to see and hear from start to finish.
The actual rougelike elements of the game are simple; combat is as well. There are a number of different weapon types, but for the most part they're all either swinging something or shooting something. Some are big, some are small, and they have different attributes based on their size. The game is split into 3 levels, each based on different startup companies. Every area has their own sets of enemies and weapons, so they offer different challenges. Each level is a set of 3 floors and a 4th boss floor. Along the way you pick up different upgrades called "Perks." Sometimes these things are super helpful, like making 2 handed weapons swing like 1 handed weapons, and some of the later ones are even better. The choices mesh well with the Mentor mechanic. Each member of Fizzle has a number of quests for to do, leading to their mentorship. These give even MORE upgrades, and can really change how you approach floors.
I'm definitely going to come back to this one to take on Impostor mode and unlock the last of the perks, but this was one hell of a time. It's quirky, funny, tough, and has tons of replay value. I highly recommend this one!
Truyl one of the best rogue like i've played. A very cartoonish art-style, verry pretty. Fun gameplay that needs to get a bit used to it still, truly fun. The dungeons are randomly generated and offer the same surprise nearly everytime. The bosses are a bit simple, maybe a bit easy, but offer for most of the time a good challenge. For less than 10$, just go ahead.
Love, Love, LOVE this game
I’m a big Zelda fan and Breath of the Wild in particular, and seeing the devs cite this game as one of their inspiration clearly shows when rampaging in the dungeons of Going Under. Combat is exhilarating, players have to think on the spot, time their attack, mind their positioning, make use of various makeshift weaponry, focus on enemies efficiently before taking them down in often hilarious fashion, whether it be burning demons to ashes, squishing goblins with cars or destroying skeletons with giant hammers.
Difficulty-wise, the game doesn’t pull its punches, especially during the second act of the game and in the post-game content. I was surprised to notice that my muscle memory from BotW ported over to this game, which shows the expertise of the dev team in creating a combat system that feels familiar yet wholly original. Post-game content consists of a mode called Impostor Mode whose whole focus is on re-playability and difficulty modifiers, which will get very frantic near the end. I’m happy to report however that Going Under includes a well thought-out Assist Mode, for those who find the game to be too daunting. This Assist Mode still leaves plenty of challenge but makes it a bit easier overall.
The story of this game is surprisingly enthralling: Jackie’s co-workers are all very funny and sadly relatable, the player really ends up caring about them, especially during the second act. The writing is absolutely brilliant, making Going Under one of the funniest game I have ever played. Jokes on start-up culture and witty remarks on the failings of capitalism always land and leave an impact. The game also have a bestiary to complete, the Rolodex. I quite like features like this in games, and the many enemy descriptions in Going Under are one of the highlight of this game's writing.
As for the presentation, the game has a lot of charm. The whole game is stylised after the infamous Alegria corporate art-style, although it manages to make it charming and appealing to the eye. Soundtrack is full of chill beats that make fighting in the dungeons all the more delightful.
I could not recommend this game enough. While it is shorter than most rogue-likes and rogue-lites (it took me around 12 hours to see the credits roll), the game still offers enough re-playability through its Impostor mode. It is a labour of love and care, one that is absolutely hilarious in its gameplay and writing, and it has become one of my favourite rogue-lites ever made.
Difficulty-wise, the game doesn’t pull its punches, especially during the second act of the game and in the post-game content. I was surprised to notice that my muscle memory from BotW ported over to this game, which shows the expertise of the dev team in creating a combat system that feels familiar yet wholly original. Post-game content consists of a mode called Impostor Mode whose whole focus is on re-playability and difficulty modifiers, which will get very frantic near the end. I’m happy to report however that Going Under includes a well thought-out Assist Mode, for those who find the game to be too daunting. This Assist Mode still leaves plenty of challenge but makes it a bit easier overall.
The story of this game is surprisingly enthralling: Jackie’s co-workers are all very funny and sadly relatable, the player really ends up caring about them, especially during the second act. The writing is absolutely brilliant, making Going Under one of the funniest game I have ever played. Jokes on start-up culture and witty remarks on the failings of capitalism always land and leave an impact. The game also have a bestiary to complete, the Rolodex. I quite like features like this in games, and the many enemy descriptions in Going Under are one of the highlight of this game's writing.
As for the presentation, the game has a lot of charm. The whole game is stylised after the infamous Alegria corporate art-style, although it manages to make it charming and appealing to the eye. Soundtrack is full of chill beats that make fighting in the dungeons all the more delightful.
I could not recommend this game enough. While it is shorter than most rogue-likes and rogue-lites (it took me around 12 hours to see the credits roll), the game still offers enough re-playability through its Impostor mode. It is a labour of love and care, one that is absolutely hilarious in its gameplay and writing, and it has become one of my favourite rogue-lites ever made.
A fun roguelite making fun of corporate culture and design.
Xenoblade
Dropeado. Realmente lo jugué el año pasado pero we, lo revieweo ahora porque lo he desinstalado. El juego en si está chulo pero los roguelite no son lo mio y me aburro rápido. Los dialogos son super graciosos (esperable de los de Aggro Crab) y la direccion artistica mola.
And you think your job is awful (laugh track)
Sometimes the combat can be a little bullshitty but I had fun playing it.
Well this is a charming little project :)
With Aggro Crab's upcoming crustacean-themed souls-like "Another Crab's Treasure," releasing this coming week, I figured I'd familiarise myself with their debut game, Going Under: Internships Are Heck, to give it its full title. Suffice it to say, I was incredibly charmed by the cut of this game's jib.
Going Under is a procedural roguelike dungeon crawler where you play as newly-employed intern Jacqueline Fiasco as she tries desperately to climb up the corporate ladder of her employer, Fizzle, a lowly subsidiary of megacorporation Cubicle. Though she was hired based on her marketing skills, Jackie finds herself instead trawling through dungeons and fighting goblins, demons, and skeletons in the vague hopes of getting a promotion.
It's a cute and humorous premise, and honestly, it gets a lot of mileage out of it, employing (pun intended) a sharp wit (with some genuinely funny dialogue) and a charming cast of co-workers to pull you into its world and keep you there with a simple yet engaging combat loop that never really gets tired, thanks to a rotating roster of skills, modifiers, and weapons that help continuously switch things up.
Needless to say, the art style is, of course, also a huge draw, seemingly drawing from corporate motivational posters as inspiration and spinning that off into its own kitschy, genuinely adoring look and feel for all of its characters and props.
Really, I'd say the only part that could bring the whole thing down a bit for many people is the difficulty spike in the second half of the game. To provide a bit of context, as spoiler-free as I can make it, the game has its own "rotating of the castle" moment at the midway point and encourages you to go through it all over again except with an extra challenge this time in order to get the true ending.
Now, usually, prospects like this (especially if they are mandatory to seek out the "true" ending) generally turn me off, but to its credit, Going Under isn't a particularly lengthy game; it has a really enjoyable gameplay loop, and there are some handy 'assist mode' settings for accessibility purposes that you can tweak on top of that, so it's really not as taxing as that might sound.
So yes, there is a difficulty spike in the second half, but it's much more manageable than it might seem.
Really, my only complaints are down to issues with RNG, but really that's more of an issue with roguelikes as a genre than this game specifically, as its kind of built-in to the whole experience of them. Besides that, the combat can perhaps get a bit repetitive, especially if you're attempting the same dungeons multiple times in a row during that tricky second half, but again, it does the job well enough.
For a first outing, though, Going Under is incredibly charming and supremely impressive in how well it is put together and presented in all facets of the game. There are some setbacks but not enough to warrant caution in recommending it to anyone at all.
In fact, if you're tired of scrolling through Indeed or LinkedIn all day, playing this will no doubt prove to be an incredibly cathartic experience.
8.5/10
With Aggro Crab's upcoming crustacean-themed souls-like "Another Crab's Treasure," releasing this coming week, I figured I'd familiarise myself with their debut game, Going Under: Internships Are Heck, to give it its full title. Suffice it to say, I was incredibly charmed by the cut of this game's jib.
Going Under is a procedural roguelike dungeon crawler where you play as newly-employed intern Jacqueline Fiasco as she tries desperately to climb up the corporate ladder of her employer, Fizzle, a lowly subsidiary of megacorporation Cubicle. Though she was hired based on her marketing skills, Jackie finds herself instead trawling through dungeons and fighting goblins, demons, and skeletons in the vague hopes of getting a promotion.
It's a cute and humorous premise, and honestly, it gets a lot of mileage out of it, employing (pun intended) a sharp wit (with some genuinely funny dialogue) and a charming cast of co-workers to pull you into its world and keep you there with a simple yet engaging combat loop that never really gets tired, thanks to a rotating roster of skills, modifiers, and weapons that help continuously switch things up.
Needless to say, the art style is, of course, also a huge draw, seemingly drawing from corporate motivational posters as inspiration and spinning that off into its own kitschy, genuinely adoring look and feel for all of its characters and props.
Really, I'd say the only part that could bring the whole thing down a bit for many people is the difficulty spike in the second half of the game. To provide a bit of context, as spoiler-free as I can make it, the game has its own "rotating of the castle" moment at the midway point and encourages you to go through it all over again except with an extra challenge this time in order to get the true ending.
Now, usually, prospects like this (especially if they are mandatory to seek out the "true" ending) generally turn me off, but to its credit, Going Under isn't a particularly lengthy game; it has a really enjoyable gameplay loop, and there are some handy 'assist mode' settings for accessibility purposes that you can tweak on top of that, so it's really not as taxing as that might sound.
So yes, there is a difficulty spike in the second half, but it's much more manageable than it might seem.
Really, my only complaints are down to issues with RNG, but really that's more of an issue with roguelikes as a genre than this game specifically, as its kind of built-in to the whole experience of them. Besides that, the combat can perhaps get a bit repetitive, especially if you're attempting the same dungeons multiple times in a row during that tricky second half, but again, it does the job well enough.
For a first outing, though, Going Under is incredibly charming and supremely impressive in how well it is put together and presented in all facets of the game. There are some setbacks but not enough to warrant caution in recommending it to anyone at all.
In fact, if you're tired of scrolling through Indeed or LinkedIn all day, playing this will no doubt prove to be an incredibly cathartic experience.
8.5/10
Fun art style and commentary on work culture and corporations other then that the game itself is very repetitive and the combat feels very clunky and underdeveloped
Enjoyment - 8/10
Difficulty - 4/10
Going Under pits you against angsty co-workers, unfair working conditions and insufferable bosses. This hits too close to real life, but it works! Playing as a new marketing intern, you must progress through each company dungeon, battling enemies along the way, collecting new gear, and defeating bosses. This rougelike is a little bit uncommon, which is surprising because it is a solid game.
It also offers an assist mode that drastically reduces the difficulty of the game if you need it. Complete the main story, side objectives, unlock all the original skills, get specific kills on enemies and the platinum is yours!
🏆
Difficulty - 4/10
Going Under pits you against angsty co-workers, unfair working conditions and insufferable bosses. This hits too close to real life, but it works! Playing as a new marketing intern, you must progress through each company dungeon, battling enemies along the way, collecting new gear, and defeating bosses. This rougelike is a little bit uncommon, which is surprising because it is a solid game.
It also offers an assist mode that drastically reduces the difficulty of the game if you need it. Complete the main story, side objectives, unlock all the original skills, get specific kills on enemies and the platinum is yours!
🏆
I remember picking up this game cause the publisher was funny as fuck on Twitter, and then it came out that their social media rep was a groomer. Fun times. Anyways this game is fun.
Super fun and I really enjoyed the story and characters, even if it gets kinda nutty at the end.
very fun and cool, but extremely short and wish there was more of all the characters and more fleshed out character relationships
Loved the art style, story and the characters, but couldn't really get into the gameplay that much, the difficulty spike came out of nowhere as well.
I ended up turning the assists up to max just so I could enjoy the story and characters.
Maybe it would have felt better playing on a different system as the switch routinely chugged during intense moments
I ended up turning the assists up to max just so I could enjoy the story and characters.
Maybe it would have felt better playing on a different system as the switch routinely chugged during intense moments
Now THIS roguelike is where it's at. More of the anti-capitalist, down-with-tech-startups sentiment that we need in the world. It feels nihilistic while still feeling very real, encouraging stealing in the workplace and the such, while retaining a cool, fun, roguelike beat-em-up style.
Going Under is a fun roguelike that has some good ideas and a charming story that my friend Rebao told me to play. The best parts of Going Under are made by the powerups gained through your co-workers and the ability to pick up any object and use it as a weapon. The corporate art style also adds a bit of character surprisingly and is a bit funny watching their stiff animations swing boxes. The story, while not anything special, keeps you going and gives you a reason for your actions. Going Under is a good time and I would say give it a play, but you're not missing out on anything if you decide to skip it.
Think im going to mark this as done. I think i got about halfway through. It was charming, and i enjoyed my time, but i felt the combat systems were lacking. None of the upgrades were particularly interesting and none of them synergized in ways that ever felt like i could get an actual build going.
Game Highlight: character art. everyone has so much personality in their character portraits. Endeared the cast to me very quickly.
Game Highlight: character art. everyone has so much personality in their character portraits. Endeared the cast to me very quickly.
Tore into this one with a passion as soon as I found it. Pretty easy as far as Roguelikes go (not a bad thing!).
I’m a huge fan of the aesthetic that Aggro Crab cooked up in this one. I’m looking forward to their hermit crab themed Soulslike (Bring on the [blank]likes!!)
I’m a huge fan of the aesthetic that Aggro Crab cooked up in this one. I’m looking forward to their hermit crab themed Soulslike (Bring on the [blank]likes!!)
Platinado! Depois de Hades eu entrei numa pira de joguinho rogue like, e esse me pegou pelo fato da tematica diferenciada. voce se pega muito facil se imaginando na situaçao da protagonista e rindo do estereotipo de uma start up comica, usando equipamentos e skills totalmente nao convencionais em qualquer outro jogo mas que se encaixa demais nesse! alem dos cenarios tambem que atravessa tantas tematicas de outras start up falidas
Going Under is a game that sold me on its charm and kept me with its depth and its story. A surprisingly short experience with comparable replay value to games other games in its same genre.
Going Under takes a similar approach to Hades, where your reward for playing the game isn’t strictly getting more powerful each run but instead leans heavily into developing relationships with your coworkers and moving forward a very engaging and poignant story. I found myself shocked with how impactful the contents of this game were with how short the narrative experience was.
Going Under also exists in an incredibly unique design space, its visuals are unique and eye catching, but its design problem “what if there was a dungeon crawler where you play as an intern, set in the body of failed tech start ups, set dressed in a corporate alegria art style” is something that I have never seen before, nor knew I wanted. Going Under’s Alegria charm doesn’t just stop at its premise though, between the “smart” weapons that track enemies, the incredibly creative puns/concepts behind each of its dungeons, having your coworkers “mentor” you to give you passives on each run, and the hilarious variety in its enemy/weapon/“app” this game was in all ways surprising and fresh. I find the rogue-like genre space to be completely over saturated with fantasy/sci-fi design, and this game was a refreshingly ballsy move away from it.
Going Under is a must have experience from an upcoming studio that took an incredibly new and fresh take on a genre that has become over saturated with “same”ness.
Going Under takes a similar approach to Hades, where your reward for playing the game isn’t strictly getting more powerful each run but instead leans heavily into developing relationships with your coworkers and moving forward a very engaging and poignant story. I found myself shocked with how impactful the contents of this game were with how short the narrative experience was.
Going Under also exists in an incredibly unique design space, its visuals are unique and eye catching, but its design problem “what if there was a dungeon crawler where you play as an intern, set in the body of failed tech start ups, set dressed in a corporate alegria art style” is something that I have never seen before, nor knew I wanted. Going Under’s Alegria charm doesn’t just stop at its premise though, between the “smart” weapons that track enemies, the incredibly creative puns/concepts behind each of its dungeons, having your coworkers “mentor” you to give you passives on each run, and the hilarious variety in its enemy/weapon/“app” this game was in all ways surprising and fresh. I find the rogue-like genre space to be completely over saturated with fantasy/sci-fi design, and this game was a refreshingly ballsy move away from it.
Going Under is a must have experience from an upcoming studio that took an incredibly new and fresh take on a genre that has become over saturated with “same”ness.
A fun rogue-lite, with a refreshing sense of humour and witty commentary. Specific references feel dated already which is unfortunate as I really enjoy what this game strives for, so it's sad to think it has a sort of self-imposed expiry date.
The gameplay cycle works and progression is pretty satisfying whether you're just trying to beat each area or following the mini objectives of your colleagues.
The entire concept of gamifying the corporate art style and all the workplace do's and don'ts is super charming and I love the incorporation of colleagues as a sort of dysfunctional family that each offer their own unique perks.
I found myself genuinely interested in the story, despite its pretty basic setup and premise and that's all thanks to the characters. Dialogue is the real heart of the game for me with its compelling wacky and wonderful cast feeling like they're straight out of a sitcom. Every reaction and interaction was worth stopping and taking a break from gameplay to find out how they feel about the increasingly chaotic events.
Overall however the gameplay fell flat for me late game. I was pretty endeared by it at first and it can be pretty slapstick at times but once the novelty of wears off its clunky controls and strange physics start to nag at you to the point it feels more and more of a hinderance each attempted run. That is ultimately why I shelved this game, a rogue-lite for me needs more than just progression to keep you going or else it runs the risk of becoming too grindy and repetitive with larger and larger gaps between gameplay refreshers. Sadly even Going Under's great selection of delightful power ups fail to spice things up after your 50th consecutive run that was unfairly ended.
The gameplay cycle works and progression is pretty satisfying whether you're just trying to beat each area or following the mini objectives of your colleagues.
The entire concept of gamifying the corporate art style and all the workplace do's and don'ts is super charming and I love the incorporation of colleagues as a sort of dysfunctional family that each offer their own unique perks.
I found myself genuinely interested in the story, despite its pretty basic setup and premise and that's all thanks to the characters. Dialogue is the real heart of the game for me with its compelling wacky and wonderful cast feeling like they're straight out of a sitcom. Every reaction and interaction was worth stopping and taking a break from gameplay to find out how they feel about the increasingly chaotic events.
Overall however the gameplay fell flat for me late game. I was pretty endeared by it at first and it can be pretty slapstick at times but once the novelty of wears off its clunky controls and strange physics start to nag at you to the point it feels more and more of a hinderance each attempted run. That is ultimately why I shelved this game, a rogue-lite for me needs more than just progression to keep you going or else it runs the risk of becoming too grindy and repetitive with larger and larger gaps between gameplay refreshers. Sadly even Going Under's great selection of delightful power ups fail to spice things up after your 50th consecutive run that was unfairly ended.