UnderMine

Pretty fun but runs are very long and tiring

Base game is fun. End game is not. For the cost though, it's still worthwhile.

Undermine is a great roguelike with some roguelite mechanics, very zelda-like and perfect for anybody searching for a dungeon crawler. You have to learn mechanics, so I am very frustrated with the negative reviews with like 1-3h playtime in which you cant learn anything properly. It is not an easy game but once you learn it you can win every run on normal difficulties. For me it gave me 250h of entertainment, has great visuals and vibes. The gameplay loop was very satisfying for me and I hope to see UM2 shine too :)

Not a fan of roguelikes, and never have been. Something about spending hours getting to a point, only for it to all be lost. But this game man, I love this game. I don't know what about it makes it so appealing but it IS appealing. It was one of the first games I got on my computer, then I bought it again on steam. For four years, I've had this game, and it still hasn't gotten old. Recently 100% it, not because I was close, but because it was just fun enough to keep going. Can't recommend this enough, it's a crime it's so poorly known. (also seed 13812176 for a consistent potion loop)

After nearly 6 years of waiting for the 90% off price of just $2, all I can say is it was easily worth the wait. Perfect game to play for an hour here and there, FULLY engaged with the game and zero regrets.

My Score: 9/10
Prologue
Gold, such a valuable and coveted yellow metal, has been used since ancient times as currency and a symbol of value, having been used to finance both good and bad things. With this historical size and prestige, it makes sense that even in fantasy worlds like this, Gold is so desired and valuable, and when the king of the kingdom of Delvemore, a medieval fantasy kingdom, discovers a huge mine full of gold to be explored, he immediately orders his servants to begin exploring the depths in search of the valuable metal to fill the kingdom's coffers, and perhaps a little of the pockets of the mine workers. ^^
Unfortunately for everyone, it doesn't take long to discover that these mines were far from ordinary, presenting very strange characteristics, such as every time a miner enters it is organized differently, full of monsters with an insatiable desire to eliminate humans, full of the most treacherous traps and falls, the environment and creatures changing completely every few levels down, and perhaps the most heinous of all, a veritable gang of Slimes that can appear anywhere in the mine and will shamelessly try to steal the precious gold. I hope you are ready to face all of this and even more new miner. ^^
Pros:
+ A true Roguelite where the deeper you go into the mines, the greater the dangers but also the rewards.
+ Different environments as we go deeper, each with their own unique creatures.
+ Very creative creatures, not all of them will attack you directly, some will summon allies, others will leave "gifts", and some of the attacks will do nothing, unless you attack them too, just to name a few.
+ Your trusty pickaxe, in addition to being used for hitting, can also be used as a boomerang that always finds its way back.
+ Very charismatic characters that can be found along the way, and sell very useful improvements.
+ Very nice graphics in pixelated style.
Cons:
- Like any good Roguelite, death will smile at you many, many times, so be prepared.
- Unfortunately, the protagonist's appearance is decided by drawing lots, but if you don't like the first one, you can draw lots again as many times as you want in the mirror.
- Throughout the game you can create new relics, as soon as you equip your character, but whether you end up winning or losing, from the next attempt onwards you will need to rely on luck to get the same relic again.
Game mechanics
And here begins the journey of our protagonist, one of many men and women ready to explore these mines in search of gold, equipped with they trusty pickaxe, as main weapon for melee attacks, and which curiously is also an excellent boomerang, always returning to its owner on they journey downwards. With every four floors changing to a new environment with new creatures, but also new ones finding new allies, who will return to your base and will be very happy to sell you improvements to make you better able to survive, or those who will come after you. ^^
I say this because there are two paths, you reach the bottom of the mine and return with all your gold and glory, or you die through one of the countless ways, leaving only a part of the gold you collected and all the improvements you bought for the next miner, who will try to follow the same path, but remember, we are talking about a mine that is always changing, like every good Roguelite, so always be ready for the unpredictable, for the creatures and traps will do everything to stop you, but nothing that a few good hits from your pickaxe, bombs, jumps to escape the traps and lots of food to recover health cannot solve. ^^
Art and sound
Produced by the Thorium studio team, I must say that I really liked the game's pixelated art and graphics, each type of environment that we encounter as we descend is unique, from the creatures including the bosses and characters to the walls and decorations, made in such a way that even passing through the same environments several times, they didn't seem repetitive or always the same thing. The soundtrack and effects are also good and pleasant to the ears, I just found it unfortunate that it was a bit easy to get distracted from it, especially when you're struggling in the last remnants of life. ^^
Conclusion
UnderMine, an experience I had full of ups and some very down, pardon the pun, the game is a very good Roguelite, with a very slow start, having to be careful in each new room so as not to be the last, but as you gather resources and knowledge, you become more and more powerful and better equipped to go further and further in the next attempt, but always with death ready to smile at you again and again, but never unfairly. Thus becoming a game that I highly recommend especially for those who like the genre, I guarantee that you will have many and many hours of fun, besides the sequel is a little over a month away from being released at the time I write this review. ^^

Undermine is a fun and addictive rouge-like, but it is not without it's faults. If the faults didn't steamroll into each other they wouldn't even be as problematic. I'm recommending the game only cause there is no middle ground on steam reviews.
Issues:
Depth- This game has a lot of inconsistencies with mechanics, but the most glaring is depth. This game plays like an isometric, but it's really a top-down. You can stand behind walls, stones, and other objects in the game. These things give cover, and clearly shows that the world has a depth about it. This effect however is misleading as you have no depth as a player despite your shadow being directly under your feet showing a concept of depth. If a ranged attack comes at you from the left or right, you still have to move your entire body (which is very large when considering the size of most enemies) out of range. Which isn't an issue if the game sets this concept up for you by not allowing you to be "behind" other objects in the game or if they would make the player smaller.
Jumping-
The dodge mechanic in the game is jumping, but again there's inconsistencies with this. Jumping or leaping enemies can still be attack about half the time, so the idea of jumping being free of damage feels unreliable. This rolls into the issue with depth that just makes it more frustrating.
Hitboxes-
There's a lot of times in the game where I watch my character take damage from an attack that hasn't fully executed. The game freezes when you die, and I have lost count how many times I stared at the space between me and the enemy that killed me.