I could see this really hitting for someone else, but beyond the (admittedly very good) aesthetic I didn't feel compelled to play this game past the halfway point.

Exploration felt really underwhelming, with most floors feeling big just for the sake of being big, with little in the way of puzzles or meaningful hazards. Combat has a weird balance where pretty much every single regular encounter is completely trivial but around half the bosses/minibosses wiped me at least once, so I could never really tell if I was meant to be grinding or not.

I'm willing to believe that the game just has the most gentle difficulty curve in the entire genre, and it might work as a great entry point for people, but mechanically & narratively I didn't feel like it was doing enough to hold me through like 20 hours of "warming up for the good part".

This is such a weird game for me. I have no idea what to rate it because while in hindsight, I think that what I played of it (I got to the third main boss I think?) didn't really do anything that new, I can't say I didn't enjoy it. I ended up quitting because I kept dying at that boss and I just wasn't motivated enough to play anymore since everything was so repetitive and none of the stories for the bosses really stuck with me but it had a lot of potential. The art was awesome, the combat was fine, the story was... there, I guess. Besides that, gameplay and environments were just the same thing over and over again and a lot of the assets were just recycled from Experience's other games. It was obviously made on a budget so I don't get why it's so expensive (and no, being a long game alone does not warrant that hefty a price tag).

Basically, I kind of liked and disliked a lot of the same features at the same time. Plus points for letting me have Kazuo Yashiki from Death Mark (a much better Experience game) in my party, minus points for letting me have Kazuo Yashiki from Death Mark in my party as a cardboard cutout that heals me occasionally instead of actually coming up with new and interesting characters who contribute to a gripping story. I dunno, maybe it's just because I like plot-heavy games but a bit more originality in general couldn't have hurt.

The premise of this game, diving into mysteriously appearing structures, pushed deeper and deeper into uncharted danger driven by capitalistic pressure, is really strong and makes for a very engaging jump into the game. While the atmosphere stays heavy and thick, the game very quickly devolves into a standard dungeon crawler, very repetitive and without any unique ideas.
Narratively it cant follow up on the promises made by the premise either. Undernauts focus quickly shifts from commentary on work culture and capitalism to shockvalue gore and anime nonsense. Also some truly gross female character designs in there

Pros: Cool setting, Easier DRPG for starters to the series, Soundtrack, Character/Enemy Artwork, Game tells you exactly what to do/where to go, Luci

Cons: Maps can be annoying, Not enough skills or room for proper builds, Gear is annoying to grind out, Not enough enemy variety, Postgame was a grindfest with little reward

Overall: 7/10 for a DRPG - Definitely a good game overall
Main game is worth finishing, Postgame is bad.