I'm glad Alex covered this game. Giant Bomb is seriously lacking in simulation coverage. The only other person that likes racing games is Jeff, and that's only if it's flashy and arcadey.
It's fine I think if the game doesn't appeal to him. Pretty sure the game may not appeal to ME though I'm fascinated by it anyway. Dark Souls also (initially) fascinated me but eventually became something I shy away from whenever it is used as a descriptor. Try as I might I just cannot hang with those games for long, and believe me I tried. I can see and respect the methotical nature those games have, I suppose. Am I automatically wrong then for just not feeling it? I'll still maybe give this a shot as I am feeling its mood but I can tell it is close to the same.
This is yet another situation, though, where I am obsessed with the masterful soundtrack despite not having played the game.
After playing hours into this game I found the Dark Souls comparison to be only adjacent and not direct. Below has firepits and you have to collect your stuff, but Dark Souls was really more about leveling up and beating extremely hard enemies with brute force and action, where the enemies in Below are rather easy and more a system to provide one of the main resources for the journey. You don't level up, you just have stuff you collect that helps you, and the experience when you died what not to do next time. Exploration is the foe to defeat in Below.
For the most part I'm enjoying the experience, that said:
-The survival mechanics are probably the worst element of this entire game and one that seem to hold it back from being an otherwise chill, exploratory experience. Managing hunger just sucks and adds absolutely nothing to the game apart from an arbitrary timer that keeps ticking down.
-Running back to your corpse is typically not a huge issue but sometimes you get incredibly far down where doing the runback can be a journey in of itself. I've definitely literally died of hunger trying to get back to my corpse in the past, not to mention that not having the lantern can be a bummer in some areas.
-The way unlocking fast travel through bonfires is a one time deal is also a very harsh design choice. Once you dump in the points it feels like you should be able to travel between bonfires like you do in Dark Souls 2/3.
I keep getting sucked in by the mystery and making your way "below" the mountain and uncovering new shortcuts is weirdly satisfying. But the above issues make this a tense experience for me rather than an enjoyable one. I'm in a place that is extremely far away from the shortcut so if I die the runback to my corpse is quite literally over 30 rooms long - on top of that I've used up all of my food so I have to hope and pray that there will be rats or bats around that let me fill up my hunger before the next shortcut back to the surface. All of this is making me feel anxiety while playing in a bad way because if I do die I just don't know if I'll have it in me to forge through all those same rooms back down again.
I can only hope they patch this game to maybe alleviate some of the hardcore notions which serve only as stumbling blocks or nagging reminders rather than fun challenges to overcome. There is nothing fun in being out of food in an area that generally has no food growing in it and relying that whatever algorithm is working in the background will eventually give you something.
It's a real weird hate/love relationship because visually I'm really loving it and I also enjoy this peaceful exploration aspect. If I could just flip some switch and turn off hunger forever I think my enjoyment would jump up like 100%.
I found two tricks to always having food. I think it's too helpful to warrant spoilers.
-First, the cave that's by the first firepit on the first beach always has an extra bottle in it. If you go further into that cave to the next room you get either arrows, a spear, or armor. If you get a spear you can capture all the fish in that room for at least one stew in one of the two bottles you have now.
-Two: Through level two you find another beach on the northwestern side of the map. The elevator shortcut to the top is here. There is plenty of food to grab on the beach, and a firepit. Once you have this shortcut it's not too hard to grab the extra bottle and make your way down the shortcut back to get to level two or three. Now you can easily stock up on food and multiply the amount of bottles you have each time you collect them from a corpse. I've ended up having so many bottles filled with stew that I'd run out of space.
Edit: For those who don't know ,animals are the main source for food and there are plenty, sometimes hard to notice sources. It felt mean killing them at first, but you get used to it. I hope I don't loose a reward for being so murderous.,
You guys can use and carry around those torches in your inventory for light when you lose your Lantern.
Also you walked past a shortcut at the second campfire you go to, the game is very much designed like Dark Souls or other games like it that shortcuts are opened up as you progress that make the trips Below a lot shorter. The game is also very nice in that it shows you how many and the general direction of all the exits are from each room from the map screen.
Also if you tap the shield button it does its other action which in the case of the Shield is a bash that can stun the guy who blocks all the time.
OMG yes! I was yelling at the screen every time Dan was being an idiot. Sure, this game has a reeeally high learning curve without any type of tutorial or encyclopedia that explains anything, but c'mon. YOU GOT A TORCH! Stop complaining about it being dark you idiot! You can also hit the spike traps with your sword to set them off so you don't have to worry about accidentally running into them. I hated those spike traps too, but once you are hit a few times you learn not to blindly run into them. Why isn't he grabbing all the items!
This game thrusts it on you to be cautious, patient, observant, and prepared. For those who just want to dash and slash this game will be quite frustrating. But once you learn how to temper yourself and pay attention to what is going on around you and take every step with discretion it will open up and reward you. It's difficult and frustrating because its just different than what we expect of games. There is a point where it clicks. I don't think a lot of people will get past that point, especially since level 2 and 3, which are early into the game, are really dark if you don't have a light source like a torch or the lantern. (you can explore to get other items later that replace the torch or lantern for light). My runs now usually last a few hours before I die, and at this point, now that I figured out most of the games systems, it is totally on me for being an idiot or being too bold. It doesn't feel as unfair as it does into the first few hours of the game when it's dark you don't know anything.
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