UnderMine

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This Game Ruined My Life, and I Couldn't Be Happier"

Listen, I booted up UnderMine thinking, "Oh, a cute little pixel-art roguelike? I'll just play for a bit." That was 72 hours ago. I have not seen the sun. My family thinks I went on a soul-searching retreat. My plants died. My goldfish left me a note that just said "coward" before jumping out of the bowl.

AND I REGRET NOTHING.

This game is dangerously fun. Every time I die (which is often, because I'm an absolute gremlin for swinging at bombs), I just whisper, "One more run." The dopamine hit from watching my gold reserves grow is stronger than my will to live. The little peasant guy? Absolute legend. Dude gets hit by a rock, electrocuted, poisoned, and still keeps going like he's got a mortgage to pay.

The mechanics? ✨ Perfectly addictive. ✨
The enemies? Adorable murder machines.
The bosses? They will ruin you.
The pet system? 1000/10 would die for my canary again.

If you like risk, rewards, and the sheer thrill of dropping your entire life savings into a pit because you misjudged a jump, UnderMine is for you. Get it. Play it. Watch your productivity and personal relationships crumble. It’s worth it.

🔥 FINAL SCORE: 10/10 Would Yeet Myself Into a Hole Again 🔥

charming and fun game. It's not a perfect game for me personally, but there is a ton here to sink your teeth in to.

Fun game, love it lots.

Bought it blindlessly on sale last spring, played it only now, sadly didn't refunded it. The game in general is meta progression hell: upgrade swing\throw damage, throw range, upgrade shop, buy passive meta relics, and the most absurd buy upgrade your sack to loose less gold on death to buy more fucking meta progression, yes you save money with some % loss if you lose run, needless to say that economy in runs are fucked up. Floor structure is similar to isaac, the secret rooms(we will show you where are they with yellow paint replacement) are also here and, they are just cutted from isaac with similar logic of spawn. Talking about relics, they are mediocre, most of them feel useless and most of them unbalanced as hell, most of items\blessings give little boost to something and bite you with 3 times bigger penalty, feels like devs dont want you to build anything. Speaking of builds, i could not see any, every run i've had was just solo items something for this something for that, get some damage get some dogshit get bomb effect (wich you can get only 1). The altar room is also, another circus, yea there is some features with it but 90% of the time altar does nothing litteraly it just holds your item, why? I think god could not answer this question, why whould you want to save FUCKING ITEM FOR NEXT RUN maggot game. Talking about gameplay its boring, absolutely tedious, unenjoyable(for me) clearing of floors with only thing in mind: "i need to cary more gold to hub to do pointless upgrades". And oh, yeah the kys jump because dodgerolls are for loosers.
Update: just beaten the game, final boss have scripted as hell attacks, after beating run based last boss also unlocked weird othermine mode in wich you play absolutely separate game without allat meta progression dogshit. BUT you get perma unremovable curses every floor ...... maybe it's me don't understanding something or what but what the fuking idiot come up with this idea.

fire gameplay but the story is mid

Just grind and grind more, until you're strong ennough to take on the next boss...
The handful of bosses constitute the only actual content in between the ginormous grind treadmill that is the main gameplay. Which isn't fun to play, extremely repetitive, lacking variety. You'll get bored after just one hour of play. Synergies are almost non-existent and only a handful of relics are really useful in the whole game.
Use your run-earned money to buy ridiculously insignificant incremental upgrades, rince, repeat. Ad nauseam

(follow my curator page GenXPlayers for more retro and indie reviews)

Very fun, art is nice, and music is catchy. No sight of bugs either.

endless buffs
nice game

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.

STRONG RECOMMENDATION

Bad overall design of relics and blessings, no real variety, the best thing to do each run is focus on either swing damage or throw upgrades.

Binding of Isaac but with a friendlier paint job and true dungeon theme.

I like the progression and can see this getting addicting the more you unlock.

Fun game. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Surprisingly challenging at times, but when you do well it's very rewarding.

This game is one of the best roguelites you'll find, it's fun, addicting, and has a lot of content, from a lot of secrets and npcs to find in the mine, to several levels, each with unique enemies, style and soundtracks that always keeps the game fresh, can't recommend it enough.

Fantastic roguelite

Undermine is a roguelike action-adventure game with charming pixel art and dungeon-crawling mechanics. While it offers some solid gameplay moments, the experience can be a mixed bag depending on your expectations.

The Good
1. Charming Aesthetic:
The pixel art is visually appealing, and the dungeon designs have enough variety to keep the environment fresh. The attention to detail, from character animations to environmental effects, showcases a lot of effort and polish.

2. **Addictive Progression System**:
Undermine hooks players with its progression loop. Gold collection and upgrades create a sense of incremental progress, encouraging "just one more run." The introduction of relics and blessings adds a layer of strategy to each run.

3. Creative Boss Design:
The bosses in Undermine are challenging and engaging. Their unique patterns require skill and timing, offering satisfying victories when mastered.

4. Lighthearted Humor:
The game has a quirky sense of humor, often displayed through NPC interactions and flavor text, which adds personality to the otherwise grim dungeon setting.

The Bad
1. Repetitive Gameplay:
Despite its charm, Undermine suffers from repetition. Many runs feel similar, with limited variety in enemy types and room layouts. This can make the game feel grindy over time, especially if you're stuck trying to gather enough gold for upgrades.

2. Pacing Issues:
The early game can feel slow, as it takes a significant amount of time to unlock meaningful upgrades. Players may feel frustrated by the grind, which can detract from the sense of adventure.

3. Unbalanced RNG Mechanics:
While roguelikes thrive on randomness, Undermine sometimes feels unfair in its distribution of resources and power-ups. A bad streak of relics or blessings can lead to frustratingly difficult runs.

4. Combat and Controls:
Combat can feel clunky at times, especially when dealing with swarms of enemies. The hit detection isn't always consistent, and the controls lack the precision needed for the fast-paced combat the game demands.

5. Limited Long-Term Depth:
While the initial progression feels rewarding, the lack of significant endgame content or innovation means that Undermine struggles to maintain its appeal for extended play sessions.

Conclusion
Undermine is a game with heart, but it doesn’t fully realize its potential. Its charming art style and addictive progression loop are offset by repetitive gameplay, pacing issues, and unbalanced mechanics. Fans of roguelikes may enjoy the journey, but those looking for a highly polished and varied experience might find it lacking.

Overall, Undermine is worth a try, but it might not hold your attention for long.

Very grindy, takes forever to get almost nowhere.

I really want to like and get into this game but it is just TOO much on the "you have to die to figure it out" side of the genre. Honestly just too difficult from the get go to really get into

A really fun Roguelite. The meta progression system is great. Wish the controls were a bit tighter. Excited for the sequel.

must go deeper

I really enjoyed it! Not too long, but lots of fun. More like this please!

Pretty good roguelite, finished the game about 15 hours in. 7.5/10

game has pretty women good game

GREAT ASS GAME

Good game but very bad performance under Win11 capable to run 4k 3D games, but not this one... Low FPS and even lower with VSynk On. Why not revise this game and keep updates for new systems? Make it playable on 4k lol... Sys req for the game is low, but in reallity is very very high!

i've actually played this game for a couple thousand hours and it keeps getting better and harder. more unlocks, more curses and relics. replay value off the charts

If you like roguelike dungeon crawlers with addictive gameplay loops and upgrades, you'll probably have a good time here.

Game needs to explain things, it's annoying when you lose currency (in a funny way) and you're not told why

Great game to sit back and kill some time.

Game is ok, but after the second level it became very hard for me to move forward without getting anything new. So i decided to uninstall the game, instead of grinding through it.

But I guess, for everyone who likes repating levels with automatic generated maps, it's absolutely worth a try :)

Great roguelike with so much replay ability. Can't wait for the sequel.

Amazing game, 10/10. Spent $5 easily have 150+ hours of content. Such a steal. Can't wait for the sequel coming out!

Well executed roguelike. Doesn't do anything particularly new, but the pixel art is good and the gameplay is fun with a decent amount of room variation. Like most of these types of games tho, it does get a bit repetitive. And the small incremental gains between runs turns it into more of a grind than I would like. After about 3 hours, I'm ready to play on Easy mode if it had one just to see more stuff.

It's like an improved BoI, very enjoyable roguelike, if you like the genre, you'll probably like it.

yeet

I love it! While I was expecting it to be pretty good I didn't think I'd be so entertained. Everything about it seems polished and the passive story line is simple yet interesting. The upgrading systems are good and the level design it simple yet consistently fun. I don't think I'd try to play this game all the way to the end at once, but it will make a nice addition to my 3-4 roguelikes I like rotate through and play concurrently. Definitely worth the price I paid on sale and probably even worth full price imo. Keep up the good work Devs!

Excellent game, charming graphics, plenty of replayability. Highly recommend 🙏🙏🙏

the Randomizer makes all the difference !!! sometimes you don't hold keys to unlock stuff enough yes but thats how it's supposed to be !! the dungeon doesn't hold too much rules it's very random random ^^ and thats one of the main reason I'll keep playing

It's not great. I'll still play but I wouldn't say I'm getting net-positive enjoyment. Despite the cute aesthetics the game design is closer to older rogelikes in that it's quite punishing, unfair, and regularly outright cruel. Unlike those roguelikes no amount of skill, knowledge, or caution will grant you reliable success. Most of the rewards are actually punishments. I will get to that in a moment.

More than half my runs fail unexpectedly due to one type of nonsense or another. The most common way I die is going into a room and a chain reaction of damage starts that I have no way of avoiding. I write this review after a run was ended by stepping into a room where a rat had already triggered landmines at the door. The landmines damaged me, flung me into a trap which flung me into a bottomless pit. My being tossed about triggered another landmine that blew up a rock which dropped gold. You'd think dropping gold is a good thing but it isn't necessarily, as that immediately spawns pilferers who try to steal it. One of those was a larger variety which pushed me directly back into the hole I was just flung into, thus killing me. From a good run to dead in less that two seconds and having no control.

The cruelty comes from weirdness and malice. Hitboxes on yourself and things that can damage you are larger than they appear and movement mechanics are odd. You can duck for cover behind a rock by pressing left but slide up around the corner into danger. You can be next to a hole and slide into it. You can find a secret room that has a chest requiring multiple keys to get to. Oh it must be good right? You finally get to it and it's a mimic that has already taken a bite out of you. Next room there is another chest. Okay this is a roguelike so you learn and apply by opening and backing up. Oh too bad it was trapped with poison and you take 45 damage anyway. Now you are out of keys and low on health. Next room has health items in it, but you need a key to get to it. Haha. So fun. The same goes for blessings, items, and attack patterns. Sometimes beneficial items are detrimental to you in unpredictable ways. A few enemies I have encountered vary their attack patterns just enough to harm you occasionally by doing what normally avoids damage.

Still the game does provide a decent progression system, which is mandatory. The first room I entered in the game had ranged enemies across a pit I could not jump and my weapons could not reach. So this is not a traditional roguelike where, in theory, you could beat the game on any given run. In addition the game gives a number of ways to break it if you are clever and lucky but those are out of reach for some time upon starting a new game.

In short, the game rewards persistence and metaupgrades over skill or knowledge. You will die to nonsense. It has some unique quirks which detract from the experience.

Undermine is a great game and I highly recommend it for people who like roguelites. I felt like I had pretty much beaten the game (all upgrades obtained and practically limitless money) after about 20 hours but kept playing after that just because it's fun. After that first 20 hours, the enjoyment came from getting lucky combos to clear rooms fast or annihilate bosses.

By no means had I 100% completed the game at 20 hours, though. There is plenty left to do as far as end-game stuff is concerned and a few different ways to make the game more challenging, but I am not a completionist and the game is intrinsically more challenging after each time you complete a run.

There is also a competitive game mode where you do speed runs and your scores go on a leaderboard to compare yourself to other players. I am looking forward to Undermine 2.

I can't believe I've spent 30+ hours in this game and still haven't beat it. This game is hard! If you are looking for a challenging roguelike game with lots of hours dying and starting over to the beginning then this is for you. I will say it is incredibly fun and entertaining. I personally don't like starting over to the beginning and so I am moving this game to the archives. 6/10

gud

addictive great game.....just one more game

Berry good gaem

Most addicting game I have ever played in my life brother.

Undermine is really fun and challenging, even after all these years. I keep coming back to it. Bring the sequel!

Good Rogue-like dungeon crawl.

Great game! The art and music is so epic, and the story too!

Great game

The more i play the game the less fun it is because you realize there are a million different tiny bugs and rules to the game that just don't make sense like enemies having their attack damage you 1 second after completely disappearing from the screen and your hurtbox being taller than it is wide to certain chests drop their contents when being destroyed and others delete the contents
Maybe If you put 100 hours into the game or if you enjoy eating poop and kicking yourself in the balls you can enjoy the game but other than those types of people you might as well not play it