''Below'' is an

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

developed by

Capybara Games Capybara Games is an independent game studio based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The studio was founded in 2003 from a collection of Toronto IGDA members. The company is most known for developing 2011's '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP' ...

. The game was announced during Microsoft's

E3 2013 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3 2013) was the 19th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California with many press conferences taking place at nearby venues including the Nokia Theater, ...

press event, and was indefinitely delayed in 2016. It initially released on Microsoft Windows and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

on December 14, 2018, with a PS4 port released in 2020. The game received mixed reviews upon release.

Gameplay

''Below'' is an

viewed from a

top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

with

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing game, role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedural generation, procedurally generated level (video gaming), levels, Turns, rounds and time- ...

elements. The

player-character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

is a "tiny warrior exploring the depths of a remote island". The game is about exploration, though that goal is contingent upon the character's survival. Microsoft's Phil Spencer described the game at

as a "creative take on

gameplay" in a "mysterious world". The environments are randomly generated. The game is designed to be difficult, with "brutal but fair combat" and

permanent death Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the ...

Development

''Below'' was announced at Microsoft's

event. The project had been in development for years. The company had discussed ideas for the game, particularly the difficulty element with Capybara's Kris Piotrowski. Capybara compared the game to " roguelikes of yore", as a "roguelike-like" with design choices like

and high difficulty. The game punishes recklessness and is designed for fair, but rigorous combat. Capybara president and co-founder Nathan Vella called the game the company's largest by number of features, artwork, and development time and difficulty. He described the game as a "super video game-y video game" for its aesthetics, soundtrack, and

game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-sha ...

. While the game is mostly single-player, the multiplayer aspects are important in some of the world's areas. In March 2014, Vella said that the game's development progress was hard to gauge, but its foundation was laid. Its first playable demo was scheduled for the April PAX East 2014. To create and emphasize scale, Capybara chose to make the player-character small and use a dramatic tilt-shift photography effect. ''Below'' was expected to release simultaneously on Microsoft Windows and

, and would be a timed exclusive on Xbox One for a limited time. The project was indefinitely delayed in mid-2016 while Capybara turned to finish ''

OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes ''OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes'' is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game developed by Capybara Games and published by Cartoon Network Games. It is based on the show ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' and was released digitally on January 23, 201 ...

'' for Cartoon Network. Below was released on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows on December 14, 2018. A

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

version and an easier difficulty setting was released on April 7.

Soundtrack

Singer-songwriter Jim Guthrie composed the score. His compositional work on a previous Capybara's release, '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'', led to their ''Below'' collaboration. Capybara has described ''Sword & Sworcery'' as a game built upon Guthrie's music, and ''Below'' as Guthrie's music built upon Capybara's game. The soundtrack for the game was released over three albums: ''Below (Original Soundtrack)'', ''Below OST - Volume II'', and ''Below OST - Volume III''.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

with an overall score of 71. It was nominated for "Game, Original Action" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, and for "Best Sound Design for an Indie Game" at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alice Bell criticized the game's insta-death traps and slow progression, but praised the game's world and atmosphere. Colin Campbell, writing for

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

praised the mystery and visuals of the game, but disliked the repetition of the levels. Destructoid's Jordan Devore praised the ambience of the game but criticized the pacing, saying "''Below puts its best foot forward in its early hours and then never stops losing steam".''

References

External links