View From Below

DISCLAIMER: I've never even seen a video of Undertale, so I am talking about this in an Undertale-free vacuum. I cried while playing this game, so 10/10. I loved its cast of characters who are so thoroughly human, emotional, and complex, and I appreciated the themes of light, hope, etc. against an ever-encroaching darkness. Sometimes, a little bit of hope is exactly what you need, and that's exactly what this game emphasized and gave me. Especially towards the mid to end game, the emphasis on character interaction and character development really drew me in and made me emotional. Combat might not be for everyone, but it served its purpose well, especially in terms of the narrative.

View From Below is a turn based rpg about a lonely and depressed teenager getting thrown into a dark underworld full of strange allies and enemies with motivations he doesn’t initially understand. The game avoids “Menu Simulator” syndrome by introducing a varied array of minigames that determine how hard you deal or take damage. The graphics are all simple and 8-bit, but the music usually stays away from beeps and boops. The game leans heavily onto its story and characters in order to hook the player. View from Below is extremely impressive for its one person dev team and feels both competent and heartfelt. + The story is good and the characters are consistent. Every character felt like they had proper motivation. The primary characters all have proper arcs that flow naturally. + The game makes very good use of pacing. You always feel like you’re progressing, and the usually serious story is mixed in with little bits of silly humor placed strategically to make sure you don’t get emotional fatigue. + The art is very good for this style of game and the cutscenes are all very well drawn. + A small detail that I love: XP is gained as soon as you defeat an enemy. This means, in fights with several enemies, you are allowed to level-up mid fight. More games should allow this because it is cool. + Gaining a new spell every time you level up is good motivation to grind a little bit. Since each spell requires different inputs to cast, it really does help feel like you're getting something new each level. + Lots of small minigames are sprinkled around the world to give you a breathe of fresh air, and never outstay their welcome. + Random encounters are kept to bushes and the encounter frequency is pretty low. Usually I encountered one enemy per patch of grass unless I was bumbling about. This means random encounters stay fun and rarely become annoying. Running from battle has increased odds every time you attempt it, so even if the encounters do get annoying, you arn't necessary trapped inside them. = I really wish the final boss consistently changed his overworld facial expressions to match the ones he's using in his dialogue icon. It hinders the mood a little bit when his dialogue box is laughing at me but his overworld sprite is :C - The combat system was usually pretty fun and engaging. However, some evade sequences took about twice as long as they should have. There were a few evade minigames where, even versus bosses, I just allowed myself to get hit rather than play because they took too long to conclude and weren’t really fun. Some spells were too button mashey. - The side quests never really felt worth it. IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH UNDERTALE: View From Below’s first chapter plays like a darker and shakier Undertale, but the game gets extremely solid once it gets confident enough to start telling its own story. The story takes itself far more seriously than Undertale and, while there are some goofy and funny npcs and moments, the game’s nowhere near as friendly or jokey overall. If you enjoyed Undertale for the gameplay and like a good indie rpg story, you should enjoy this. If you liked Undertale for the silly characters and slice-of-life moments, this won’t have the same appeal. When you start the game, there ARE going to be times when the list of npc archetypes causes you to start thinking “Hello, Sans. Sup, Toreal, Hiya, Undyne.” The game does end up carrying the characters in extremely different directions and, by the end of the game, fleshes them all out into their own unique characters. It feels important to mention both that the similarity exists and also that it eventually rescinds into the background almost entirely. Oh. And I hope you liked dodging Undyne's spears because now you get to do it three times. TLDR: I liked it.

if you like Undertale, Buy this

A hidden gem, to be sure. It starts off very similar to Undertale, and if you liked Undertale you'll probably like this one, especially when it goes off the beaten path and does its own thing and you get swept up in it. Gameplay out of combat feels much like Undertale, but since you're dealing with literal demons that do not like you, actual combat is much more straightforward JRPG fare, with a rather diverse set of minigames to avoid attacks. I think my only complaints are that trying to get all the endings requires too much gameplay to get back to the decision points, some of the enemy attacks take too long, and screw that stupid falling cross dagger nonsense. Otherwise, you get a surprisingly dark yet hopeful story with some very well-developed characters that you'll love. Definitely worth $10.

Worth the Wait! -I'm glad he brought back some of his visual novel style's for some of the cutscenes and flashbacks! -The ending was great, at least the one I got (think there is multiple Lol) -The Combat was smooth and excellent, very similar to Earthbound (With the luxury of Undertale's evade mechanic, and some mini games for Magic) -The Atmosphere sent chills down my spine! The woods, the churches, the eyes on me when shrouded in darkness 0.0 -The Music was again masterfully selected. -Despite dying a few times the game avoiding be frustrating. -The ending was emotional and i felt for the characters :'( I urge those who didn't yet, to give this game a try! especially if your a fan of Earthbound or Undertale! I thoroughly enjoyed View From Below and look forward to future projects from JackAstral!

STOP SCROLLING! Buy and play this hidden beauty right now before you forget. This game is an indie gem and hits hard enough to make you cry. The characters are great, the arcs great, and THE FINALE! Oh my gawd. I could go on, but I want my review to make you want to buy this one. This dev needs to succeed.

This game is friggin awesome.

undertale

This is a solid game. The music, the atmosphere of the locations you visit with the music, and of course the characters you meet and interact with are very interesting to get to know. The lore of the world your character (Ash) has been brought to is a dark and occasionally sad one to discover and piece together. But it's worth exploring. The choices you make throughout the game can have impacts later that are interesting. Having found a few hints at tantalizing secrets and changes to the game is enough to make me want to go back for more. The combat ranges from manageable to surprisingly difficult, depending on the enemies involved but I will never call it unfair. The occasional miss chance thrown in on both sides keeps things interesting and from getting entirely predictable. The puzzles are simple and fast paced and varied enough to be interesting. They have a gradual increase so that only a few towards the end of the game were truly annoying and difficult. I won't deny there are similarities to Undertale, but it was mentioned that it was inspired from it, so rather than focusing on those similarities, there's a lot more to look at past all of that. It's hard not to with such an iconic game but In the end, View From Below is its own game and I recommend that it should be played and viewed as such.