GOING UNDER
Well worth spending your Styxcoin on
Ever had a job shape up to be not as advertised? Well, unpaid intern Jackie literally ends up in over her head. Working at the swanky offices of Fizzle (which makes carbonated meal replacement drinks) ostensibly to help with marketing, she’s given the grunt work of… diving into failed businesses to clear out the pesky employees who rise to the surface?
As Jackie you face the likes of the (literal) boss Hover Hands, suffer the Curse Of Burnout, venture into the aetherial co-working space, and stab monsters with tablet pens and thwack ’em with laptops, all while levelling up your mentorships to gain buffs as you run and re-run dungeons. Going Under has a great sense of humour as it lampoons techbro startup culture, chuckle-worthy comedy seeping into every aspect of its design. There’s a lot of heart and charm underneath, too.
Each failed startup is a four-level, procedurally generated dungeon (be it the hustle culture of Joblin, where workers are contractually obligated to complete any task; Winkydink, a dating app where users can only use emoji, staffed by loving demons; or the Styxcoin mines, where the failed cryptocurrency still struggles on). They all open up fairly early on, so you can choose the order in which you take on challenges.
HOT DESKING
Each time you try a dungeon you start with a mostly fresh slate, though you can unlock skills that then might possibly appear, and you can ‘pin’ a skill to start with if you’ve used it enough. Mentorship boons, like hoovering up extra cash to spend in the dungeon’s shop, or a meditation room that gives you an extra skill per floor, give you an edge too.
The structured approach to each dungeon ensures there’s always a sense you’re making progress, and being able to choose the order in which you tackle them means you won’t feel stuck for long. Things kick into higher gear for the second half of the game, but you still feel like you have the tools to play strategically (and a suite of accessibility options means you can level the playing field).
Eventually some of that choice flattens out as you work out the best ways to play. Each dungeon has standout weapons and power-up apps that are obviously better than the aptly labelled office ‘junk’ like laptops and tablet pens. But everything has its use in a big brawl, and the way you can go from smacking enemies to hurling a comically large coffee pot at their head from across the room feels dynamic. The 3D space is used smartly without making encounters hard to read.
This may be a roguelike, but it’s not too gruelling for the uninitiated. In fact, it’s not particularly tough even on the base difficulty, nor is it too long. It’s a warm adventure that’ll have you chuckling and one-more-go-ing your way right to the credits.
“EACH FAILED STARTUP IS A FOUR-LEVEL, PROCEDURALLY GENERATED DUNGEON.”