Going Under (Switch)

Going Under is the latest title by Indie Developers Aggro Crab hoping to break into the gaming world with this debut title. Playfully taking a dig at Startup companies and the cutthroat world of CEOS in a cheerful-looking Dungeon Crawler. Time to get your best suit on intern, we are going under!. 

Jacqueline is the latest intern for one of the most successful companies around, so successful they keep acquiring smaller start-up companies and developing their ideas, surrounding themselves in mountains of money and ignoring the fact that dungeons are appearing under their offices, that is until you started, guess what your first job as Intern is Goblin Slayer!. 

From the off you get a good feeling from Going Under, it’s such a colourful and vibrant title from the title screen onwards, there is just an explosion of colour everywhere which is usually the opposite when games talk about all-encompassing companies taking over everyone, the characters look like something directly off of Cartoon Network and it just creates such a unique visual treat, couple this with some buttery smooth performance and it just gives off a great cartoon vibe giving me nostalgia from the first time I saw titles like Jet Set Radio and Wind Waker in motion. 

The Hub world for this title is the main office, you’ll see all your work colleagues pottering around letting you speak to them and the NPCs that aren’t integral to your quest are silhouettes usually around the cafe area of the office. Each character has a distinct look to them and you can usually get what they are about from just seeing the character art, Research and Development dude, laid back barista, pretentious CEO, all the cast are here and it’s great to learn more about them during the game. 

So being you’re the lucky intern who has the task of sorting out the dungeons beneath the office you’re quickly ushered into the handy pipe leading down into the first failed startup which is a Caffeine fuelled nightmare, riddled with Goblins who are more than happy to put an end to your clean up. 

How do you deal with said Goblins? Well, you give them a smack, your fists initially aren’t going to do much damage to anyone so grab something from the world and give them crack, broom, cactus, chair, Pencil the world is your oyster for destruction. Here it starts the beautiful chaos of Going Under, everything is a weapon, everything can be thrown and the results may vary. 

Naturally, there are weapons in the game, swords, hammers, and the like but it’s the everyday items that really made me smile, running away from Goblins chucking pencils at them till I found some fire or a giant hammer which would tip the odds in my favour and send everything in the room flying. The physics in this game are fantastic in that everything tends to break or fly across the room when you come in swinging, enemies included, random explosions from something you haven’t noticed either catching you off guard or assisting you in taking down a pesky foe. Chaos is the name of the business and business is goooooood!. 

Like other Dungeon Crawlers, the dungeons are random every single time you enter, they all have unique aspects such as taking on jobs or the Tinder-style dating dungeon allowing you to take on an extra mission for rewards such as extra money, weapons, or a Girlfriend/Boyfriend to assist you on the floor you’re on. You have to make your way down to the bottom of the dungeon and face off against the boss, to assist you have a shop you can spend money at, rooms where you can get upgrades for the dungeon I.E making your melee stronger or if a foe hits you then they get electrocuted. 

The cast of the game are more than happy to give you quests to do while you are in the dungeon, if you complete these then they will become your mentor, they then offer you perks such as a credit card to help you overspend or shoplifting a random item from the dungeon store. 

As you get further into the game you’ll be able to take one upgrade into the dungeons with you if you have used that upgrade enough while playing to “endorse” it, you’ll also unlock the ability to install apps on your phone which hopefully give you the edge too, be it taking photos to daze the monsters or get yourself a nice little discount in the shop. 

Going Under was such a pleasant surprise, I had no idea what the game was going to be going in and I’m happy to say that it’s a title I have really had a lot of fun with and will continue to do so. After playing the recently released Hades and now this I can say the status of the Dungeon Crawling/Roguelike fusion genre is at a very healthy place right now. 

Going Under has that addictive gameplay loop that is vitally essential while making you feel like you’re making progress by letting you keep digital currency to buy more upgrades to find in the dungeons. The story is fun and presents quite a bit of comedy but doesn’t quite have the hook to get you really really invested in, the gameplay on the other hand exactly the hook you need, and when the dungeons get really chaotic, win or lose you know you’ve had a lot of fun.