Life Below

The game is *painfully* balanced, I get that it's realistic that oil spills and trash is catastrophic to the ecosystem and that it's like part of the message but when it comes at the cost of gameplay in a GAME, then it's an issue. you get rapidly boxed in by the tech tree in how the story locks off upgrades that make progressing to said story beat a chore at times especially if you get bad spawns of rock outcrops to build on, and if you get REAL unlucky (like I did, you spend 2 and a half hours trying to weasel your way around a garbage fall, that blocks off a major amount of the land in the area that you need to go TO MOVE GARBAGE, also if you're going to make biomes where the "challenge" is seaweed that grows back, give a filter to the deconstruct or make the seaweed under a different menu, I dont want to have to tetris around my structures as the challenge to not deconstruct them and accidentally wind up in a failure spiral. granted if you get unlucky and the dice roll poorly too close together you can just wind up in a similar spiral as half your map gets covered in lasting hazards and even if you keep up your workers they literally cannot cover enough ground fast enough to not tank your biodiversity, and potentially just kill a run in one swoop. there's also an irony about having more furnaces than a late game frostpunk game in a game about ecological hazards just to have enough energy for basic upkeep, the tier 1 generator coral really need to put out more or the early structures they're tied to need to eat less cause needing generator batteries to keep up is nuts. even from someone who really enjoys brutally difficult builder/sim games like frostpunk and rimworld this one is just over that teetering point on how thin that razor's edge is before it gets into the irritation region, I dont think it'd take a lot more retooling to hit the point of thematically difficult but still enjoyable, but currently it's not there for me, Randy wants my head less than this game does after the first major unlock point plus, there was a major bug that required me to restart the game to craft and story progression (but not hazard restrictions) are locked behind rare spawns, so that's a choice.... my review may change after a bit of retooling, like I said, it's not too far off, but the balance isn't there currently

Игра мне понравилась: приятный сеттинг подводного мира. Ты постепенно развиваешь свой риф, наблюдаешь, как появляются новые обитатели, и просто кайфуешь от процесса. Атмосфера очень медитативная: спокойная музыка, плавный темп и отсутствие лишнего напряжения. Я сам не особо разбираюсь в стратегиях, но здесь всё ощущается скорее как «живой аквариум» с элементами развития — играть легко и приятно, без перегруза механиками. Если устали от военных стратегий и хочется чего-то расслабляющего — это отличный вариант. Играл на стриме, геймплей можно посмотреть здесь: https://www.youtube.com/live/bNCcWuYnFkM

It's a super beautiful game and I think it has a novel concept. A city management game where you build reefs out of coral and sealife becomes your citizens. The only issue is that the game becomes very tedious very quickly. Balancing energy consumption against resource production is less of a fun game mechanic and more of a chore in this game. There's not really any strategy, just put down as many moon corals as possible. Refining harvested resources into processed materials later in the mid-game takes a long time, so I was pretty much always on max speed. Which is fine, except that the "disasters" are a bit unrelenting and also tedious to deal with. It all comes down to building one of four types of coral: one to make it cold, one to make it hot, one to reduce acidity and one to increase acidity. There's not really anything interesting about it. I think it would be more interesting if the ecology of the reef directly impacted the temperature or the pH, and you had to manage that part of it. The disasters just mean I need to reload a save so I actually have enough time to cancel whatever else I'm building to add a few more acid corals to an area.

This is a city builder with an adorable twist. The game graphics are very pretty and the mechanics work well. If you plan well, check what research unlocks what carefully and monitor resources it can be fairly straightforward to overcome the hazards you are presented with. I actually like that there are hazards to overcome. It sure made me think about the impacts that happen. As with any game there is a learning curve so I'd recommend taking the time to really get to know how it works. I've completed the game on balanced mode and very much enjoyed the gameplay. The story is cute and not super intrusive. The characters are very sweet. I love watching the wildlife swimming around and getting visitors from bigger wildlife. Overall a very well done, chill, fun game.

Very pretty, can't complain about the underlying message... but as an actual GAME it's just frustratingly badly thought out. Trying to build up my reef, but I'm constantly short on power. Only power-generating structure is the Moon Coral. I expand into a volcanic region to exploit the volcanic vents there with Vent Corals, but I can't - the Vent Corals are arbitrarily locked behind story progression. I expand into an arctic region instead, since that provides a bonus to all power-generation, but there's very little space to work with there since it also reduces the REACH of power-structures, making it impossible to actually expand to the main 'island' of buildable surface - I just don't have the range. The upgraded Moon Corals probably do, but they're arbitrarily locked behind story progression. I suppose I could just try to 'build tall' by using upgraded structures that make the most of the limited space... but they're all arbitrarily locked behind story progression. I know, I know, there's a 'creative mode' I could play instead, where there's no story or quests, where everything can be researched from the start... but I DO in fact want a GAME, not just a sandbox to roll around in. And this particular game has, if it wasn't already clear, entirely too much arbitrary gating. Instead of advancing the story to find new and interesting challenges, you just have to advance it to gain access to extremely basic stuff that really should've been available to research from the start. So, yeah, interesting concept for a city-builder, very nice to look at, but the balancing and pacing is a mess. Can't recommend.

I really enjoy this game. It's a fun city builder with a beautiful design, a dynamic UI, and a cinematic air that makes it super immersive. I've played so far on one save on the default difficulty and feel like I'm almost at end game, with a few zones left. The hazards mechanic adds a nice variety and challenge to the usual resource management and is not too hazard to manage if you are proactive. Overall big fan: pretty, chill, and informative. Love the dumbo octopuses ah!!

I can not recommend this game enough! I had such a fascinating time exploring everything! I look forward to seeing all that this developer can come up with for this game. I just played easy mode through the campaign and need to go back and try the harder difficulties. A+ from me!

I like it. The music and graphics is beautiful. It is cozy and engaging.

This game absolutely had it's tendrils in me for a week, and I loved the challenge of trying to expand through the entire map, and unlock all the different types of creatures. It's a gorgeous game with a nice soundtrack, and is a cool spin on regular city builders. The only downside is that some of the hazards seem to be a bit unbalanced when you've got an oil spill come and take out half your power grid in multiple zones before you even have a chance to deal with it, or something comes and eats all your fish and you're helpless to watch everything get nommed up. I like a challenge, but even on the more relaxed mode it felt like hazard after hazard, even with "stable" 90%+ zones. Overall I still recommend, but I'm also keeping an eye out for balancing changes

Refreshing, fun and casual. This is my first Megapop (dev) game. About 16 hours to beat campaign (with a LOT of 3x speed used) for me. There are some events that felt unbalanced (e.g. can end your run with no way of avoiding it other than knowing what to expect already), but Devs have actively patched issues based on player feedback (which is always a plus) and this was/is a nice cozy game. Ran very smoothly, no bugs, clean execution with UI and mechanics and progression without any DLC/cash shop nonsense. Highly recommended if you want a cozy colony/strategy that isnt overly complicated and doesn't overstay its welcome. Good price point which, having beaten the campaign now and reflecting on the value for the cost, I feel good about it and say well done Megapop.