Going Under - Review

Rogue-like games generally have a dark story line behind them, you are raiding dungeons, attempting to escape evil lairs or worse, so a game about corporate life being released is very unusual. Combine that with a look that is unique and bright and you get Going Under, the question is, does this iteration on the standard formula yield positive results, or was more UX testing required?

You take the role of Jackie, the newest employee to the mega corporation Fizzle, located in the vibrant and happening city of Neo-Cascadia, though employee might be a bit generous. You are an intern, someone hired to be the gopher of the staff already there, though the requests are not just for coffee, they are a little odder. While Jackie is enthusiastic to begin her role in the marketing department, even though that entire division is run by an AI, the new boss has other tasks involving combat, dungeon raiding and object acquisition on the books for her and of course, as the newest hire, she can’t say no. The fun comes from discovering the dungeons, or other companies as it turns out, whilst navigating the ins and outs of corporate life, which is filled with those words that make most office workers cringe.

That is where some fun comes into play, from the story point of view, there are only a handful of people that work for Fizzle and they each have specific roles, from the ego driven person in charge, to the frazzled Fizzle accountant, who is attempting to keep spending down. On the Fizzle floor, there is plenty of working being done by the folks there, but your job takes you down below and there are countless puns to be found. The story is thin, almost anaemically so, but it manages to hold attention for the duration it takes you to play through it and that is in thanks to the adventures down the slides. If you have never experienced the corporate world, first consider yourself lucky, but secondly don’t worry, while the game leans into puns a bit and uses that buzz words, it never makes things hard to follow and again, due to its short length, things move a decent pace, which helps you from feeling like it’s a chore to understand it all.

Once you venture down those slides that unlock, you find the shells of start ups that failed to launch, complete with workers who still fight for their company, or as it should be put, dungeons and enemies. Each dungeon has a unique theme and while it will randomly change out the layout each time you venture down, the basic loop is the same, thanks in part to everything being a weapon. Jackie can pick up chairs, computer screens, oversized pencils, pickaxes and more, to complete an arsenal of destruction. You need to keep collecting things, because each item has a limit on how many times it can be used to pummel the enemies into nothing and should you need to dispose of one, you can always throw it away. Outside of attacking with weapons, Jackie’s other big move is dodge, where she rolls out of the way, it works ok and can help when things get to crazy, but it is not the most efficient way of getting away from enemies.

That is achieved by making use of apps on your new work phone, the apps allow you to zap enemies, call in support and more, but as with all rogue-like games, they are random, some can be found in dungeons, I mean offices, others can be ordered ahead of time and then found. As a rogue-like, the idea of randomness does way heavily on the game, from the purchasing of upgrades in the Fizzle office, to the random discoveries in shops and storage rooms in the dungeons. While you will start to discover your favourites, the game rewards you as you use them, but levelling up their potency, not making you be a god or anything, just evens the odds a bit.

Something that is a little hard to get your head around is the games presentation, from the unique look to the sounds, everything is just slightly off and while it is not bad, it isn’t the best. When you see the Fizzle office for the first time, you will notice that things are bright and colourful, that is not the case once you venture down, which helps provide a contrast for the world. The problem is there is a filter effect or something across the entire game, which gives everything a grainy look and when you are in the sun-soaked office of Fizzle, it looks wrong. This is not helped by character models that look more like deformed lumps of clay, given movement and if that was the only way to see the characters, it would not be an issue, but when you see story moments, or talk with folks, you get very detailed and well done art.

The problem is Jackie in the art looks like a normal person, even if she talks with people that look like Muppets most of the time, in action though, she is barely a dozen shapes all attached to make a person-type shape. It doesn’t look right and it hurts the game, thankfully it is saved by enemy design. While the enemies are pretty generic in their overall types, they have enough charm to be something you might in a Pixar short.

On the audio side, things are a little ok and little not, starting with the good, at least once you are in the dungeons, you can enjoy a selection of tracks that are catchy and help push your forward. When you are above ground, things are a little less catchy, the tune, whilst ok had a hook to it, that just irritated me and maybe that was intentional, due to the corporate nature, but I doubt it. On the people side, they use sounds, like Banjo-Kazooie to indicate speech and while some are soft tones, others feel more bass driven and none of them feel connected to each other.

Going Under is a unique entry into the rogue-like genre, it has a very unique and on the nose poke at the corporate world, but still keeps it light for those that have no idea what that is like. The gameplay loop is solid, emboldened by use of apps, when you find them and give you can tip the scales in your favour, before you descend into the midst of hostile takeovers. The presentation is one of the games weakest parts, which is a shame as there are some nice touches that deserve more of a chance to shine.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Team17

The Pros

+A solid gameplay loop, made accessible thanks to options to make it easier for those new to the genre

+A wonderful take on the corporate culture that is everywhere these days

The Cons

-It is short and while replaying dungeons will give you more to do, the overall story is limited

-Visually, it is complicated and it breaks you out of the experience, when you have to try to understand things