Underlings

[h1]The Premise[/h1] [h3]This review contains no spoilers.[/h3] [b]Underlings[/b] is a top-down open-world survival set in a fantasy world. After choosing one of the several available Goblin species, players are catapulted into the wilderness, without any aid or knowledge on what to do. Starting from scratch, one has to build a suitable base, explore, craft better equipment, forage food and try to survive the ever-looming nightly raids for as long as possible. [h1]Quick Sum-Up[/h1] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]The Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]The Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] 1. Good variety of well-diversified biomes. 2. Compelling, efficiency-oriented progression. 3. Solid diversity of items to craft, discover and loot. [/td] [td] 1. Survival component proves marginal. 2. Tedious inventory / storage management systems. 3. Several game design oversights: some are game-breaking. 4. Plain, uninteresting combat system in most cases. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Other Issues[/b][/th] [th]🔧 [b]PC Specs[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] - Background music can still be faintly heard, even if the slider is set to zero. - No v-sync option. - No graphical settings of any kind besides resolution. [/td] [td] - Ryzen 3900X - RTX 2080Ti - 32GB RAM - NvME SSD - 1440p Display [/td] [/tr] [/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2512710009 [h1]In-Depth Analysis[/h1] [h3]Pros[/h3] [b]1.[/b] Procedurally-generated, each world has a series of unique zones that feature their own flora and fauna, other than resources and even the occasional secret boss or special area. For instance, the woodlands one may have NPC villages, while the rocky one has an abundance of minerals not found elsewhere, and so on. Eventually, crafting progression will require visiting all of them. [b]2.[/b] The always-increasing raid strength keeps players on the edge, having them scramble as fast as possible to gain better armor, defenses, facilities and weapons in order to not see their base steamrolled by hordes of powerful mobs. This gameplay choice favors an efficient way of organizing, moving and acting, as every second counts to outpace an otherwise unavoidable doom. [b]3.[/b] Each newly-built crafting bench or facility opens up to a solid variety of things to craft, be them armor sets, byproducts, utility items or even decorations. Usually, new recipes will require gathering increasingly uncommon or complex-to-make resources, which means exploring more dangerous biomes and defeating stronger creatures to obtain them. The progression feels satisfying in this perspective, and varied enough. [h3]Cons[/h3] [b]1.[/b] With only a hunger meter to take care of, no food spoilage and generally more than enough sources laying around, the survival aspect in the end results marginal. Furthermore, certain sources give way too much food at once (Beehives especially), which can last for a very long time without much effort to obtain it. Cold, heat etc don't seem to have perceivable effects when encountered. [b]2.[/b] No auto-stacking / sorting, no chest-naming, very small inventory and container sizes and only 20 as maximum stack of any resource, combine together with the ticking clock to create huge tedium. In a game where players are supposed to rush and be as efficient as possible to outpace the enemy, half of the time will be ironically spent fiddling with endless chests and interfaces, in order to get their base organized. [b]3.[/b] Hurting oneself to move base defenses, inaccurate dismantling tools and frustrating placement grids are not even the worst issues. The crown goes to a disastrous problem, that causes any object out of view to "disappear" temporarily, allowing enemies to pass through it. This can happen to defenses during a raid if they go out-of-view - consequently, enemies can penetrate them and wreak havoc to a base's interior. Unbelievable, considering this is a full release. [b]4.[/b] Most fights, excluding those with bosses which are more interesting, prove otherwise plain. Melee enemies can generally be kited around while spamming attacks to stunlock them in the process, while ranged ones can mostly be shot at a distance, while evading using the quickly-recharging dodge. Enemies which deal damage if attacked physically, can be easily killed at a distance as well. There is no ulterior depth or any other combat feature to mention. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2512848532 [h1]Gameplay Breakdown[/h1] [b]Exploration[/b] Is performed on foot initially, and eventually using vehicles that include a boat and a flying broom, once crafted. The world map, obscured by fog-of-war, can be revealed by exploring, which is useful to know where biomes are located. The player's position is indicated at all times, so there's no getting lost. Generally, exploring is only worth to find biomes and resources, but not much else. [b]Crafting[/b] Is done on-the-go in a limited way, or with specialized benches / facilities at one's base. Most resources can be processed, combined or transformed to create byproducts to obtain a final item later on, while some can be just used "as-is", like seeds to plant in tilled soil. Furnaces and other processing tables work autonomously, as long as they are supplied of the necessary fuel type, and also crops grow over time, though some need to be watered daily. Most items have a durability gauge, which can be refilled with some items, and will destroy the item if it reaches zero. [b]Combat[/b] Plays out in a top-down manner, with either ranged or melee weapons. A quick dodge is available to deal with faster attacks, while for defense, armors will absorb as many hits as their durability value indicates, partially or totally negating damage - fighting without armor is highly lethal. Some ranged weapons like magical scepters consume food instead of ammunition, which isn't really a problem with the amounts present around, unless one really spams them. [b]Base Management[/b] Is done using a grid-based system that allows positioning walls, doors, furniture and benches as one sees fit, they cannot however be rotated. The grid's offset for different items can be annoying when one tries to make a symmetric, well organized base interior. Dismantling is terribly inaccurate, refurbishing any base is a huge pain. [b]Raid Defense[/b] Happens every night around 3:00 AM. A horde of increasingly powerful monsters will attack the player, that's where base defenses such as spikes come into play, and should help fending off the enemy horde or slow it down enough for the player to take it on personally a bit at a time. Raids also may spawn potent bosses or more "elite" enemy variants. They are challenging and fun, however the "disappearing walls" bug mentioned before makes them a train wreck. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2513536590 [h1]The Judgment: Mediocre[/h1] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1989090445]Complete Ratings List here[/url] [i]This game doesn't have a story or objectives, so it may go on as long as players want. It took me around 11 hours to get a good base going and obtain solid equipment - there was more to do, however my run was crippled by a game-breaking issue. Given the amount of problems described after full-release status, I cannot recommend buying Underlings at this time.[/i] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more detailed reviews.[/quote] [quote]Want to see even more reviews of the same quality? Check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39323490]Tamaster's Review Archive[/url].[/quote]

Underlings is a difficult game to review as I didn’t realize just how early into development it was when I started playing. As such, this is mostly my first impressions, thoughts and suggestions so this will be a bit more ramble-y and nitpick-y. Please read with a grain of salt. The game is an adventure-survival game with crafting; the closest comparison I can make is “Don’t Starve” but with MUCH lighter survival mechanics. [b][u]Review is for Version 0.5A I will likely edit/redo this review once a more finished product is available to the public.[/u][/b] [h1]STORY[/h1] The store page states that “You will play as one of the "evil" creatures of the world, trying to escape your past and live a peaceful life, being forever hunted by the bosses of the underworld.” Honestly, I find the concept really wholesome. For one reason or another, you are an “evil” creature seeking to build a new life for yourself in a harsh world from practically nothing. Currently, there are 4 characters to choose from: [list] [*]Anklebiter the Goblin- not AS greedy as other goblins but still hated [*]Angel, the Red Demon from Hell who wants a cooler home [*]Bob the Vampire (and Dracula’s forgotten cousin) [*]Eyeless the triclops, an outcast cyclops. [/list] Their descriptions are pretty humorous. They’re all just model swaps but they all have different starting gear giving a hint about their character or goals. [list] [*]Anklebiter- woodcutter's axe [*]Angel- pickaxe [*]Bob- spear and basic leather armor [*]Eyeless- fishing rod and ocean guide.[/list] It’s honestly really cute seeing these monsters trying to plan out their future. However, the in-game backstories don't exactly align with the premise of wanting to live peacefully or having an evil boss. Gameplay is standardized so any additional roleplay is up to you. I honestly hope for a bit more narrative since these 4 have grown on me. [h1]GAMEPLAY[/h1] Gameplay is rather rough as of writing. Like most survival games, you will roam around and collect resources for crafting buildings and items, forage for food, and eventually come into contact with various hostile entities. There is no end goal so it’s mostly exploring the world, seeing how the systems work and trying to live as long as you can. The game has 3 modes: [list] [*]Sandbox for more focus on peace and building [*]Normal for a mix of difficulty but casual play [*]Hardcore for more dedicated players [/list] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366610827 The game features a raid system in which enemies will attack your base at night and try to destroy it. I honestly didn’t make it past a few days due to crashes, but just getting the materials to make some items takes a really long time and the thought of having it all destroyed really motivated me to defend my property. It was only a skeleton or two at most, but I assume it ramps up significantly later on. I honestly really empathized with Anklebiter because we went out, chopped down a LOT of trees and build a rough home together. However, sometimes enemies never showed up despite getting the notification of a raid. Movement is rather slow; you only have one movement speed which is a fairly slow waddle. You can choose the map size at the start of a run, but I always felt that it took forever to get anywhere on foot. Combat is also awkward because I would just waddle around trying to avoid getting hit but staying in range of enemies. Then again, we are looking for a peaceful life... https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366613567 While you’re exploring, you will have to gather materials to craft things to increase your odds of survival. For example, chopping wood to build tools. Swinging a tool to use it is very slow and awkward. If you are using an axe, you will deal damage to a tree 2-3 times in your swing at certain intervals. The animation is one long and slow chop so woodcutting always felt off. Using other tools is also awkward and the same animations are used for combat. Thus, things feel floaty there as well. There is also a bow and staff for ranged combat; they feel better but are costly and hit detection is iffy. You have a stamina bar that constantly ticks down; you need to eat to fill it up as being hungry means you constantly lose health. You can cook to improve its effects and farm/fish for more sustainable nourishment. There are quite a lot of craftables ranging from workbenches, cooking stations, weapons and armor, material farms, etc. The only real issue is the journey to collect everything is quite slow due to the speed of the game. Tools have durability and higher tier ones last longer and do more damage/ harvesting progress. However, they all deteriorate quite quickly so you will likely be using wooden ones for most of the game until you have a stone farm. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366610276 Dying makes you drop all your items on the floor. You will either respawn at your initial spawn point or a bed you interacted with. ALL deaths are marked on the map which may make tracking down your last one difficult. Enemies also seem to love to camp your death spot; since you are naked, you will likely die again trying to pick everything up. You must walk over an item directly to pick it up but sometimes items spawn inside your tombstone and take time to fenagle out. Having a simple item magnet within a set radius can solve this issue. [h1][b][u]Despite my griping, I actually had fun with the experience.[/u][/b] [/h1] The game is centered around trying to build from zero in a hostile world. To that end, it is successful. Making progress feels good and building a basic base is a big milestone. Granted, there is a lot of material gathering, enemy avoiding and other frustrations that come with being in EA that make the journey rough. [h1]VISUALS[/h1] Underlings goes for a rather cute pixel art style. Overall, things are okay. Characters look good and distinct although the model template shows. The environment looks good although some items seem to stick out a bit likely due to lacking shading (e.g. some trees). Items are easily readable in your toolbelt and inventory. There isn’t much to see due to being in EA, but I like the general direction the dev is going in. [h1]AUDIO[/h1] Audio is decent. Sound effects are okay, nothing terribly good or bad. There are a few musical tracks; overall I thought they were okay despite being a bit basic and stopping suddenly. The rain SFX is rather compressed and sounds off. [h1]PERFORMANCE[/h1] I got softlocked by respawning at my bed but getting caught between the wall and bed, unable to escape. The game has a tendency to hard crash after a while which really kills the mood. Since there is only autosave, losing progress is a big reason I stopped playing. Otherwise, the game ran well. Options are rather sparse with only overall and music volume and game window options. There is 4-person multiplayer, but I didn’t try it due to not having the time to commit. [h1]OVERALL[/h1] For a one-man project, I can see a lot of potential for greatness but also a lot of room for improvement. The dev seems to be very passionate and active in updating the game and interacting with the community, which is very admirable. As it stands, the game may have something to grab your attention in its current state but is very rough. On that note, I cannot give a proper evaluation and score in the game’s current state. If anything, I ask anyone reading to check out the game’s trailer, store page and the dev’s Twitter for updates. I really hope they continue to improve the game as there is a lot of charm in the premise and wish them the best of luck. [h1][b] CONSIDER FOLLOWING [/b][/h1] [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7871885/]Follow our curator page,[b] OCG-Curations[/b], if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote]

[H1]The Difficulty Scaling Issue[/H1] The difficulty (based on days) in this game counter productive because it forces the games difficulty to ever increase based on a factor entirely outside the players control. Though unlike 7 days to die or other survival games, an in game day is only a matter of a few minutes. So if a player does not know much about the game, they can end up wasting 2, 3, 4 or 5 (in-game) days trying to figure out the basics or explore, and little do they know every single second matters in this game if you expect to survive. In short the difficulty is then based around a player who already knows exactly what to do opposed to a player who is new to the game. Which makes the game unenjoyable. The forced pacing is not something I would suggest.

Glad to have come across this little gem on Reddit of all places! after about 8 actual hours of gameplay I can say I really like it so far. If you like games like Cannibal Crossing, Don't Starve, forager etc. this one is definitely worth looking into. This review is only after a few hours of gameplay and on my second life, and there is a lot in this game. So it's not to be seen as a full thorough one, but rather as a sneak peak. It seems to be rather slow paced early on, but ramps up sneakily quickly. There is pratically no hand holding when it comes to crafting or what to do in general, but for the avid survival/roguelite/roguelike/colony management fan like me this poses an extra layer of fun. Just beat the first 'boss' like wave and looking forward to learn and experience more! There is also a cute kind of humour and lorewise there seems to be a quirky take on Evil. So far, the game only crashed once on me, and once I seemed to have been instakilled which looked to be when I got hit and ate some food at the same time. Other than that it runs pretty smoothly. Again, I would recommend to give it a go if you can spend 7 euro, having a blast and lookin forward for further development of this little gem!

Easy recommend even at launch here! This is a new survival game that might look like so many other games here on Steam but this one definitely has it's own charm. It is overflowing with heart and soul and it's blatantly apparent that this solo developer knows how to code and code well! https://youtu.be/-YWkAYyfTQw All you need to know to give you the confidence to buy this game is that making a campfire and cooking raw onions in that campfire makes edible onion rings! How awesome is that? lol. Naw, I look forward to seeing this game further developer and to seeing this developer add co-op with up to 4 friends as I think that will be a blast for sure! My first day first impressions score for this little indie gem is a 9.5 out of 10! And it's likely to only get better folks! Immediate Zaxtor's Indie Gold! and a HIGH RECOMMEND! * two enthusiastic thumbs up! *

have played for around half an hour but have followed this game through development (on Instagram) for a couple months and so far is an absolutely amazing game cant wait to see this develop well done to the developer

ruim

A very challenging game at first, but as you progress through the game and start understanding things it gets notably easier. Raids can be quite easy at the start, but unless you are prepared you are likely gonna get wrecked later. Farming and breeding is slow but rewarding as you will need crops for advanced crafting The game has a lot to offer and plenty of things to figure out plus the developer is looking for feedback and want to improve it even more, definitely worth investing some time into :P

All in all a great game. It has that old school feel as advertised. Like games from the ancient 80's and 90's, it doesn't hold your hand and challenges you to beat it. Victory is far from certain. I haven't beat it yet but, when I do, that feeling of achievement is sure to follow. In contrast to the empty feeling from beating adventure games that autopilot the player to certain victory, I prefer games like this one. There's a lot more to the crafting system than I expected. I was surprised as this game has more crafting structures than most other game out there, and not just some one time use stations either. They all get used over and over. Bonus points for me running into a game ending crash that wouldn't allow me to continue and the developer fixed it within a few hours of posting a bug report.

REVIEW UPDATE #2 I am glad that the "instant noodles" nest exploit, armor, and repair bug has been addressed, it is a much better gaming experience now. I wish there there were an easier way to create and join servers (think "Don't Starve). I still love the game & I think that you should buy it.