The game was originally intended to have some sort of co-operative elementthere without the lantern’s enemy-
dispelling powers. As if that wasn’t
enough of a challenge, the layout of
the floors you’d previously visited has
been randomised. Here’s where the
game waves goodbye to the last of its
casual players.
But there are a few ways things to
make the journey a little less arduous.
You’re just never told about them, and
it’s entirely possible to struggle for
hours before realising that you can
store items at a camp fire, or that you
can unlock a strange dream-closet to
make equipping the next adventurer
a bit quicker, or that you can create
a one-off teleport to warp directly to
a floor. There’s upgraded equipment,
too, some of which is hidden
amusingly close to the start.
None of this makes the game
easy, and you’re still going to lose
adventurers at inconvenient points.
Dying before you’ve located the
lantern is particularly troublesome,
as the abstract map only points
towards your most recent corpse, but
in general it’s the desire to get back
to where you were, as fast as you
can, that causes avoidable deaths.
Progress is only ever going to be slow.Tough it out
Towards the bottom of the dungeon,
things take a turn for the horrifically
difficult. You’ll need to have mastered
the crafting system to create the most
potent tonics, and to have figured out
the balance between warping straight
to a difficult level or re-entering the
first few floors to farm lesser enemies.
Sometimes it’s necessary to accept
that a character is basically doomed,
and spend the last moments before
he starves or freezes to death trying
to make his gear easier for the next
one to find.
Below is absolutely not a game that
everyone is going to feel affection for.
Blundering into a trap in the darknessis not much fun, and watching your
hunger meter dwindle away in a level
where there seems to be no food is
just really annoying. But if you’re one
of the lucky few who truly get it, the
early effort will be more than paid
back in the long run. You found your
place in its lightless world, you got
out alive, and you did it all yourself.
Good for you. QA SOLID
PASS
Belowis available on
Game Pass, so
subscribers have
nothing to lose by
trying it out. Judging
by the tiny
percentages for
everything bar the
achievements you
can get on the first
couple of floors, the
vast majority of
people have probably
spent longer
downloading it than
actually playing it,
which is an entirely
predictable shame.
Having the game
present such an
unfriendly face was a
brave artistic choice,
but after so many
years of work we
hope it was worth it.“Below is not
a ame that
everyone is
oin to feel
affection for”
FAR LEFT We
should mention
that the
soundtrack in
Below is
incredibly good.
RIGHTIn the
absence of the
lantern it’s
essential to
craft some
torches.OXM VERDICT
A special
experience for a
certaintypeof
gamer. Try it if
you’re brave.8
LEFT You can’t
tell what the
potion you’re
going to cook up
is until you
finish it.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 087REVIEW