Below
TURNOUTTHELIGHTS,CRANKUPTHESOUND:PREPARETODIEMARTIN KITTS
PUBLISHERCAPYBARA GAMES/DEVELOPERCAPYBARA GAMES/RELEASE DATEOUT NOW/COST£19.99/$TBC
steps ashore, a camp fire is lit, and
that’s all. You are completely and
utterly on your own.
Not that games really need much
of a story or even a reason, beyond a
player’s natural curiosity to push ever
onwards, but Below literally gives you
nothing. What is this place? How does
this work? What am I supposed to do?
Below isn’t telling. The occasional
button-prompt when you can pick
something up is pretty much the only
help you’ll ever get, and we suspect
the developers only grudgingly put
those in there.We will rock clues
But somehow you will make progress.
Although it seems daunting to begin
with, it’s meticulously designed. The
clues are all around you, in a shape
in the rocks, in a glint of light on the
floor, in a barely heard noise in the
background. The people who made
this really knew what they were doing,
and had the courage to bury their best
work where only the most dedicated
players will ever find it.Originally unveiled
alongside the
Xbox One in
2013, Capybara’s
mysterious dungeon-
crawler had long
since passed from ‘eagerly awaited’ to
‘dropped off the radar’. And then, with
very little fanfare, it suddenly fell into
the release schedule, sent out to die
at the end of the pre-Christmas rush.
After all this time, Below is no
less mysterious than it was when
we first laid eyes on it. This is an
extraordinarily single-minded game,
utterly untroubled by everyday
conveniences such as tutorials, hand-
holding or any kind of instructions
whatsoever. It’s strange, confusing,
awkward and frustrating, yet never
less than intriguing, somehow even
charming in a dark, malevolent sort
of way.
An extended intro sets the scene,
the camera slowly closing in on a tiny
boat as it washes up on a deserted
beach. The remains of older boats lie
ruined in the shallows. An adventurer
So how does it actually work? The
aim, ostensibly, is to reach the bottom
of the cavernous dungeon that lies
beneath the island. Your adventurer
came equipped with a sword and
shield, and soon finds a magic lantern
that unlocks doors and drives away
the darkness in the catacombs. As you
descend, each new floor brings fresh
dangers and stronger enemies, until,
inevitably, you die.
Death is a constant presence in
Below, and succumbing to its chilly
embrace means a permanent end
for that particular adventurer. A new
boat arrives on the beach, a different
character steps off, and the game
appears to begin again. This is about
the point where people with only a
casual interest presumably start to
drift away.
This time around, things aren’t quite
the same. For starters, the lantern
has gone, resting with the bones of
the last adventurer. To get it back,
you’ll have to journey all the way
from the start to whatever floor killed
you, and of course now you must getshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
Roguelike survival
with an endless loop
of death and
discovery.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Scaling a wall, only to
find there was a door
around the corner.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Dark Souls players
might appreciate it
more than most.086 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE