Underboard

I see a lot of negative reviews for this game complaining about this game being so heavily RNG based... but like... isn't that what roguelikes are suppose to be though? You keep and keep playing until you get an insane build and you beat the entire game with? Hell I mean that is how I did it at first. Honestly believe me when I say it ignore the negative reviews this time. This game is a great roguelike and I love all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nods to Newgrounds and ♥♥♥♥. That my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ jam, I had a fun time with this game and if you love roguelikes I know definitely ya'll will enjoy it too.

Español - Spanish: Después de dos horas y media en Underboard llegué a una conclusión bastante seria: este juego me hizo discutir con un tablero como si él tuviera la culpa de mis malas decisiones. Arranqué pensando que era otro auto battler donde acomodás personajes y mirás cómo pelean. Ja. A los veinte minutos ya estaba moviendo unidades un casillero para la izquierda, cambiando objetos, renegociando toda la estrategia y convencido de que "ahora sí, esta build es una locura". Cinco minutos después un jefe me demostró, con mucho respeto, que soy bastante menos inteligente de lo que creía. Lo mejor es la cantidad de combinaciones. Siempre aparece un personaje, un trait o un objeto que te hace decir: "pará... esto puede salir increíble"... o explotar de la forma más vergonzosa posible. Y eso engancha muchísimo. Cada run se siente distinta y cuando una sinergia finalmente funciona, el cerebro libera una cantidad de dopamina completamente irresponsable. ¿Tiene cosas mejorables? Sí. A veces tanta información junta abruma un poco al principio, la progresión puede sentirse algo lenta y no vendría mal un poco más de variedad en ciertos momentos. Pero ninguna de esas cosas me sacó las ganas de seguir probando "una run más". De hecho, probablemente fueron parte del problema. En resumen: Underboard es de esos juegos que te hacen sentir un genio... hasta que te recuerdan que la build era mala desde el principio y el genio era el enemigo. 8/10, y un bonus por hacerme perder contra mis propias decisiones más veces que contra los monstruos. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- English - Inglés: After two and a half hours with Underboard, I came to a pretty serious conclusion: this game had me arguing with a game board as if it were responsible for my terrible decisions. I went in thinking it was just another auto-battler where you place your units and watch them fight. Yeah... right. Twenty minutes later I was moving units one tile to the left, swapping items, completely reworking my strategy, and convincing myself, "Alright, this build is absolutely broken." Five minutes later, a boss politely reminded me that I'm nowhere near as smart as I thought I was. The best part is the sheer number of combinations. There's always a new character, trait, or item that makes you think, "Wait... this could be amazing." Or it blows up in the most embarrassing way possible. And that's exactly why it's so addictive. Every run feels different, and when a synergy finally comes together, your brain releases a completely irresponsible amount of dopamine. Does it have room for improvement? Absolutely. The amount of information can feel overwhelming at first, progression is a bit slow at times, and a little more variety in certain areas would be welcome. But honestly, none of that made me want to stop playing. If anything, it probably made me keep saying, "Just one more run." In short: Underboard is one of those games that makes you feel like a genius... until it reminds you the build was terrible from the start, and the real enemy was yourself. 8/10, with a bonus point for making me lose to my own decisions more often than to the monsters.