The Darkness Below

realy entertaining crpg that is not all that "little" while the starting hours give the impression of a more "onrails" design, come a certain point the world opens up a lot more; you having to find 4 mcguffins serves as a plot to travel around the gameplay itself is rock solid you create a party of four out of a pool of quite a wide variety of classes, races and subraces chose your starting skills and up you go the skill system and general gameplay is a call back to the likes of EoB or MM each character has combat, armor, magic and misc skills you can learn new skills via trainers if you got the required attributes you get general exp through quests and fighting, skills level up depending on what you do (like the skill "explore" gains levels just by walking around for example) get high enough and find a fitting trainer and you unlock further skill-tiers the world is also littered with skill-books, granting you exp for already learned skills or unlocking new spells, etc. the gear system is also very solid; head, gloves, boots, armor, 1 amulet and 4 rings all possible to have all sorts of passive buffs and the same goes for your damage dealing tool everything rounded up by a whole metric ton of usable items like scrolls, wands, pots and whatnot combat and exploration are turnbased (thank the gods) and the U.I. while not beeing pretty is clear to read (a real log would've been nice, but perhaps overkill) there are area and overworld maps and in larger towns there is usualy a caravan which lets you insta-zip to different regions or towns for a small fee you can recover used spell-slots and HP via resting at an Inn or in the open which will cost you "food" ressources which are easy to replenish at an Inn i read something about the game using A.I.-art and whatnot; and i do not realy care games are software, code and so is "A.I." which is nothing more than a patter recognition and deliver tool similiarly to big engine's asset packs they are tools which enable small devs (as far as i can tell this is a solo-project) to do a lot more than they would've been able to on their own it is a whole different story when billion-dollar publishers slop everything up with lazy A.I. and stolen art about the only negative i could find is that the game has a tendency to be not super stable cdts happen, but in a weird way; sometimes you get 3 in a row and then there is nothing for hours they do not seem to be all that reproducable but a) the game loads as fast as it ctds and you can save anywhere anytime (outside of combat, where ctds never happen). if you like old-schoolish dungeoncrawlers ala Wizadry or MM i think this is a save bet

Playable, but a rather obvious first-time effort. Judging from the included manual, the developer put a lot of work into underlying systems, but most of that effort doesn't contribute to the gameplay. I went to a lot of effort optimizing my party to use all noncombat skills, only to find they were useless. The day-night cycle does nothing except occasionally force you to wait around until the shops open. Mercenary companions are everywhere, but I never used or needed them. The skill levels do not seem to serve a purpose, and I barely advanced them to Apprentice by game's end anyway. Meanwhile the game is missing basic features that really WOULD be useful, including fast travel, autosaves and the ability to run from battles. The gameplay isn't bad initially; If you vibe with hacking away at enemies and looting chests while slowly filling in an automap, it scratches the itch just fine. Dungeons mix things up with puzzles, or at least try to. Most often the solution is "explore the rest of the map until you find the key/clue you need to progress." The writing is fine, and sidequests are fairly plentiful. But as the game proceeds, quality wears down on all fronts, likely due to developer fatigue. The problems really start once you collect all the MacGuffin crowns, and after an infodump explaining the plot, have to go right out again to collect another series of MacGuffin's, this time railroaded around by a sorcerer who teleports you anywhere. From this point the dungeons get bigger and the enemies spongier and more numerous. This is a very lazy way to scale up difficulty; strategies don't change, everything just takes longer and has more of a chance of going sideways. It also doesn't work. Enemies don't respawn, so you can always retreat, rest, re-supply, and jump back in losing nothing, but the sheer scale destroys the game's pacing. Apparently, the developer knew it wasn't working, because after just two more dungeons, the game rushes to the finale. Annoyingly, you don't fight the big bad. You just clear a level of his minions, then you get a text epilogue narrates [spoiler]that the party fought against the Evil alongside a council of deities until the good guys won and everybody went home.[/spoiler] Massive anticlimax. The game is not awful, but it's no great shakes either. It reminds me a lot of the [i]Legends of Amberland[/i] games, but those are much better streamlined and paced. The developer has some potential, but needs to start over with fewer bells and whistles.

AI SLOP FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! First author asked AI to create DnD-like RPG system. And it did. It added good amount of skills with some of them never being used in the game at all. Like stealth or quickhand. None of these are never... literally NEVER ever used for anything in game. Neither in game mechanics nor checks. Many other skills are just used once. I guess I should also mention that despite skill hints mentioning different skill levels like apprentice, master, grandmaster you'll never actually level any skill beyond apprentice. But even in this case the only difference it makes is that characters can use +1 weapons/armors which doesn't make any difference (except for magic). This is your "Deep Character Systems" in authors imagination. Then author asked AI to write a storyline. I guess it was written earlier in times when AI context was smaller. This is why story starts with Lovecraftian horror and ends up with Matrix-like glitches of reality. Haha. Secondly author created levels using AI. They all look alike - tree-like mazes with 3x3 and 2x2 rooms. Many paths leading to dead-end or empty room having neither loot, nor monsters. City is a tree-like maze, dungeon is a tree-like maze, forest is a tree-like maze. 40+ handcrafted maps? What exactly was handcrafted in these maps? They all are lookalikes and obviously generated. Thirdly, author asked AI to create monsters and AI. And as you'd expect it is as bad as everything else aforementioned. Once you enter a dungeon monsters inside specific radius just rush towards you. Yep, no tactics, no premade battles. Everything quickly turns into boring mess. Waves after waves of monsters. Monsters doing nothing beyond LMB attacks. 50+ unique monsters, each with custom actions and tactical behaviors is a blatant lie. There is even no differentiation of monsters into classes like warrior, archer, mage. Every monster is just a re-skin doing primary attack and occasionally group attack. The list could go on and on. Art, text everything is made with AI and quality of the final product is very low. Up to a point where one can call it a scam. By the end the game becomes unbearable. Melee and archer characters become extremely weak, while enemies become numerous. Already repetitive gameplay becomes slow and unplayable. Please do not buy into screenshots and game description, this game is bad, don't encourage such behavior from devs.

Well fun while it lasted. I had this huge rant about everything wrong with game. I simplified it some. Just don't.. its design is horrible. I rate this a 3/10 A. ** Ranger is made useless because you cant find or buy arrows in starting areas. I have gone to 4 different maps looking to no avail... RANGER WAS MADE USELESS B.** Paladin with 30 power and a short sword skill of 3* (4 now) and a weapon that does 3-7 damage is...... constantly hitting for 1 or 2 points of damage... PALADIN WITH A SHORT BLADE IS SO USELESS IN THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! C.** Every chest I open in first two dungeons do nothing but hand out advanced equipment wich i cant use! It does not give you starting items like leather amor... short blades.... low level staff or bludgeon items. I have 16 weapons i cant use i have 3 pieces of armor i cant use I have 5 books i cant use CHESTS ARE USELESS IN DUNGEONS D.** Every enemy has ranged attack. So they will always get free attacks on you... You cant even move up to engage them at all You just have to sit there like an ass waiting for them to come into range DUMB MECHANIC E.** DRY PLAINS... F.** No shops in starting area to buy leather armor or arrows or lower level gear is just awful design. WHY DID I RAGE QUIT? ( SORRY ABOUT CUSING ) MY PALADIN, RANGER AND DRY PLAINS FINALLY MADE ME QUIT.... DRY PLAINS... SNAKES ON THAT MAP THAT PARALYZE YOUR CHARACTERS! TO MANY SNAKES... 3 SECONDS ON MAP AND BOOM 3 OF PARTY ARE PARALYZED!!!!!!! I WAS FRUSTRATED MY PALADIN WITH 32 POWER AND 4 SHORT BLADE SKILL CONSTANTLY MISSING AND THEN WHEN HE DOES HIT ONLY DOING 1 OR 2 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ POINTS WITH A SHORT SWORD THAT DOES 3 -7 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ POINTS OF DAMAGE! HOW DOES A PALADIN WITH 31 POWER... A 4 IN SHORT BLADE SKILL DO 1 OR 2 POINTS WITH A SWORD THAT DOES 3 - 7 DAMAGE! MY SORCERER WITH A STAFF IS DOING AVERAGE OF 3 OR 4 DAMGE ♥♥♥♥ THE PALADIN.. ♥♥♥♥ THE SHORT SWORD ♥♥♥♥ THIS GAME

I really loved the demo and waited so long to buy the game after release. It feels incomplete asf. I have played plenty of similar games like might & magic so suffice to say this is not it. First, you are limited in beginning skill sets so most of the time you have either blugeon or short sword or short axe. By the time you find you find a trainer for other weapons you have to retrain them and not only does that takes time; you have limited enemies to gather exp on. Second, theres only initiate and apprentice for trainer levels. And some have requirements that you won't know until you meet them. Like to learn longsword you have to be lvl 5 apprentice short sword and power 20. So you've to find the short sword trainer first. Third, I have yet to find a use for so many skills. Like the various languages such as giant, gnome, dwarf, elvish. Or survival, quickness, stealth, etc. Not only leveling them is reliant on rng books, they don't seem to have a purpose. Fourth, the ux is pretty bad. You can't write notes on the map. You can't tell equipments stats until you click on them so your character keeps fluctuating (like pick up a helmet with toughness will make you lose hp). You can't hide or unlearn spells (as they become irrelevant or unnecessary) so they just get in the way at times or you can easily misclick. There's no way to reload a ranged weapon other than the weapons store. When you have to fire a companion due to quest, you would have to find them again. Fifth? Can't find advanced spells for my mage at all. And ive shopped in several towns. Stuck using tier 1 spells. Sixth... once you made your characters you are stuck with them. Find out you might need a cleric later? You're sol. Maybe want a range cause of all the fights where you can't move? Sol. I mean its hard to plan unless you know what you're getting in to but thats a charm I guess. I have a mage with mind and soul magic but they cant learn any spells. Maybe I have to find the apprentice trainer. Overall, its lacking some qol, maybe planned content, and for its price, it doesn't feel much has improved from the demo.

One of my most anticipated games in years. Might and Magic VI is one of my all time favorites, and the still shots and teaser video for "The Darkness Below"make this look like a clear successor. Comparing a game made by a solo dev in 2026 to a game made by a huge team with a big budget really isn't fair, so I've had to temper expectations a bit. With that out of the way, let's dive in: The things you love about classic blobbers is here in spades. Robust character creation, an epic story, lots of dungeons with eerie inhabitants and puzzles, and that rewarding feeling you get after finishing a puzzle you've been stuck on for a while. If you've played the aforementioned Might and Magic VI, but also newer games like The Quest or Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar, you should feel at home here. This game was in early access for a while and my hope was that it was 100% ready to go, but playing soon after release shows that really wasn't the case. Multiple random crashes and mechanics not working the way they should (shops not replenishing supplies, for instance) made this a tough play out the gate. This is where you really find out what a developer is made of, though. Sabbas has done a tremendous job of listening to the community and has rolled out updates at a frantic pace, and in a couple short weeks the game is in a much more stable place. There's still some work to do, but I have full faith that if I replay this in a year or so, the experience will be even more fleshed out than it is now. There's a number of quality of life features that are appreciated, like the automap and the progress tracker. I have about 26 hours in and it shows I'm 75% of the way through the game. There could be some more friendly options added, like stackable containers, auto loot, and an easier way to equip items. Not having some of these features makes the game more cumbersome, but certainly keeps the old-school feel. Combat is completely turn based for your party of four adventurers. You'll see swaths of the same enemy in dungeons and overland areas. It can be a bit fatiguing clearing areas with the strictly turn based battles, where as in MMVI you could let the battles play out in real time to have them go more quickly. You get melee and ranged attacks along with spells. Spells are learned by finding books. That's been my biggest issue so far, not locating enough healing spells for my cleric. I'm not sure if it's RNG to blame or just the design of the game. But hopefully future updates smooth this out a bit. Abilities go up with use, so swinging your axe, exploring, and casting spells makes those abilities stronger. I can't say I'd recommend The Darkness Below for new RPG players, but for those that got their feet wet with CRPG 's in the 90's, give it a go. It does a good job of bringing back the atmosphere of bygone days but with the hope we'll keep seeing these sort of games being made in the future.

Underwhelming attempt to be like Might and Magic genre. Annoying quality of life issues and uninspiring. Spells feel underpowered and useless most of the times as well as the equipment. Skills often are required to bypass one hurdle in the game and nothing more. Feels like all padding to extend the game and shallow. The artwork scenes are pleasant is one redeeming quality.

Decent game but very rough some of the mechanics are kinda bad. Can't move in combat (enemies can though) so have fun with ranged monsters getting to attack you a few times while they crawl towards you. Not sure what kind of work or improvements they plan but I hope they improve these things

A fantastic dungeon crawler after decades; quite possibly some of the best-designed levels we've seen in a long time. It’s a tribute to classics like Eye of the Beholder 2 & 3 and Might and Magic 3–6 in the best possible sense. Pros: -Vast dungeon crawler with plenty of intriguing locations. -Satisfying puzzles that naturally expand the lore. -Great atmosphere and a unique art style for landscapes. -Well-crafted textures in the underground sections. -Turn-based combat system and a deeply rewarding skill system. -Innovative progression: A clever mechanic where stats are improved by studying books (requiring specific attribute levels to upgrade skills). Room for Improvement: -Minor bugs: Most small issues should be easily fixed with future patches. -Unfinished skill progression: Despite the manual mentioning Expert, Master, and Grandmaster training, the game currently only offers Novice and Apprentice levels. It feels like a setup for a sequel, but it leaves the game feeling a bit incomplete—mages are left with 3/5 of their spellbooks empty, and heroes tasked with saving the entire world still technically remain apprentices. -AI-generated art: While the static pixel-art story screens look stylishly "Beholder-esque," the AI influence is sometimes too obvious. I found significant visual glitches on at least two of them. Despite these shortcomings, I had an absolute blast and played through the entire game in one breath. As a lover of old-school pixel-art RPG dungeon crawlers, I can finally say: "Yes, at last!" We have a new dungeon crawler that actually has substance and isn't just a timid modern parody of the glory days. Final Rating: 85%

Alright, here's a recommendation from me as well. You see, initially, I was on a fence about writing a review. Even if it nailed some aspects, I still missed some features that are important to a well thought-out blobber. Namely, the adventuring elements such as secrets, buttons, hidden walls or sections, turning statues, torches as hidden levers, maze riddles, lore-based research leading to puzzle-solving, platform puzzles, etc. [b]But it turned out that this games does have those[/b], it's just that it approaches the topic somewhat differently than we're used to. With all due respect, I have to finally say that this is indeed a worthy blobber. Here are the pros: [list] [*]An impeccable retro graphics, sounds, soundtrack and atmosphere. This is where the game shines the most. [*]Riddles, secrets, lore items, and figuring out stuff are all present. [*]The game doesn't overdo the loot. I mean, there's kinda lot of it, but you instantly know what you need and what you can sell, and when do you find a real treasure — a particularly powerful item — you celebrate. And that's how it should be. Honestly, I can't stand the lazy, unispiring modern trend of diablo-like, dopamine-hijacking loot systems that have been creeping into more grounded RPG sub-genres like cRPGs or blobbers of late. [*]Character build is the M&M-like. There are also feats that epand your abilities, and you gain them only after meeting certain conditions. That's a rather nice touch. [*]Quests mostly serve as a filler. There's no branching or meaningful choices, but for a game of this scope, that's fine — and frankly quite fitting. We can be glad that it even has these task-quests; many classic titles didn't have any beyond the main overarching plot. [*]Llast but not least, a developer who's on fire, pushing updates and QoLs like there's no tomorrow, listening and reacting to his community. Kudos, man! [/list] And now for some cons and mehs: [list] [*]Combat comes in spades, and it tends to feel somewhat easy. Not boringly so, but aside from boss fights, I rarely felt challenged. On the other hand, it being on the simple side helps things move along quickly, and individual enctounters don't overstay their welcome. [*]I mentioned the game's own twist on interactables in the foreword. Initially, I couldn't shake the feeling of mostly empty corridors. There was hardly ever a need to actively spot something or engage my curiosity. Things were either clearly there, or "just another texture tile." Later, once I realized I needed certain skill levels to pass adventure tests, discovered some clickable elements such as a [spoiler]a painting that revealed a secret passage with treasure [/spoiler], encountered multiple lever puzzles, and had to engage my memory several times, as in "where the heck was that place this hint refers to...?", I understood that my initial impression was off. The corridors may still appear mostly empty (aside the monsters, the "points of interest," and obvious stuff such as doors, levers, and chests), but now I know that I need to stay alert and make mental notes. That's arguably much more than "almost nothing." I hope I make sense. [*]I was about to mention some prerequisities that didn't make sense, some missing QoLs, or minor oversights, like pressing an Escape in a map getting you to a wholly different menu instead of into the main view. But honestly, there's no need to dwell on that. Some of these have been patched by the active dev, and the rest are minor, tolerable issues in a game that clearly has heart. [/list] So yeah, if you have an itch for a retro blobber, I recommend this one. You'll feel right as home with some of its features, and from what I heard and already SEEN, the weaker aspects are only going to improve.