The Land Beneath Us GBAtemp review
Computer
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): May 13, 2024
- Publisher: Dear Villagers
- Developer: FairPlay Studios
- Genres: Strategy, Roguelite
- Also For: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Right out of the gate, you’ll experience a wonderfully unique combat system. Traversing the grid in the four cardinal directions, and as you do, you’ll find weapons to equip to each of these directions. Combining combat and movement leads to a very strategic combat flow, as you have to both worry about dodging attacks as well as delivering them. It’s very easy to shoehorn yourself into unfavourable positions by aggressively pursuing enemies with specific weapons. Oftentimes, boss fights feel like a dance as you weave between dodging and attacking.
Of course, weapons aren’t your only tools in combat. In classic roguelite fashion, you’ll find a variety of relics with passive buffs or unique modifiers to maximize the effectiveness of your chosen weapons. Weapons themselves have plenty of conditions and effects to utilize as well. These range from status effects, AoE impacts, cooldown reductions, and even on-kill effects. There’s quite a good variety, and the further you get into the game, the more you have to play with. My only issue is that there’s no way to trim down the list of options, so it can actually become very difficult to form a build when sifting through too many items.
You also gradually unlock a range of “chips” which are special abilities activated by inputting a specific combination of movements. These can have a massive impact on your gameplay, offering things like a heal, a damaging attack, traps, or character buffs. You’re able to improve or randomly generate new directional inputs to activate each chip.
After beating a level, you’re able to modify it to increase the difficulty. I’m hoping the developers widen the range of things you’re able to do; currently, it’s a tad restrictive. I love being able to create chaos to overcome in roguelites. As is, it’s probably fine for most players.
Most of my gripes with the game tend to be fairly minor. The English translation is lackluster at times--a majority of weapons and relics are fine, some may be a bit confusing the first time you pick them up, but the story dialogue almost feels machine-translated at points. Some of which have very, very poorly strung-together sentences that read terribly. Luckily the story is a fairly minor aspect of the game, it’s not a massive story-rich RPG, after all.
I didn’t encounter too many bugs until the very final level, where I had multiple minor issues. I’m hopeful the developers will be able to squash these bugs as they don’t seem too complex. It’s not uncommon to run into late-game bugs in games when you’re allowed to play pre-release like I was. Upon returning to the same level post-launch, I noticed most of the issues I had were fixed. I’ve left this in because I like to highlight when developers actually fix their game.
The Land Beneath Us surprised me. I enjoy indie games, but it’s rare I just randomly stumble into a lesser known upcoming title and get blown away by the sheer fun and enjoyment of it. This is a really unique and well put together game. I can only hope in the future the devs will continue to expand it, adding more enemy variety and such. But as it is it’s a very enjoyable experience, and I was pretty much glued to it for 20 straight hours. There’s a good amount of variety between weapon and relic combinations. If you’re a fan of Crypt of the Necrodancer but don’t have the musical ability to hold a beat, this is your jam.
Verdict
- Interesting combat system
- Great visual design
- Well balanced gameplay loop
- The English translation is clunky and awkward
- Slightly buggy
