This is some very nice pixelart. Sure, the first area and some monsters do look a bit on the generic side and, yes, character design is a bit too "round" for my taste. But all is forgiven by the simple fact that, despite actively going for a retro low-quality style, they still added jiggle physics. Lmao 10/10.
Undermine is a roguelike game (rogue-LITE if you wanna be specific) in which you descend into a mysterious magical mine to kill monsters, descend more and die. It tries to combine two very different systems common to other games from the same genre. Permanent upgrades you buy before each run (seen in something like Rogue Legacy) and the ability to build your own characters as you play with the randomized items you find (like in The Binding of Isaac).
An interesting idea on its own, and it feels almost natural when you think about it, but I don’t believe it was well implemented, particularly the “permanent upgrades” side. Maybe If I was more knowledgeable in game design I’d be able to tell you exactly why it is like that, but I’m not, so let’s see if I can explain myself, to the best of my limited abilities.
While exploring the mines you obtained gold, which you use to buy said permanent upgrades; more damage, more health, better potions, etc. Each upgrade gets more expensive the more you level up each aspect of your character. The problem is that most upgrades are very minimal, and most of the times, don’t feel worth it on their own. On top of that, each time you die, only 50% of the gold you were carrying will be given to you. You can improve this numbers with more expensive upgrades, but only go up to 95% for some reason. Because of all of this, the game feels very grindy, needing 2 or 3 good runs upgrade one thing at later levels (depending on skill, of course).
The other side is better though, getting stronger with random stuff you find, but I do have some complaints. You have two ways of attacking, a sweep and a throw, so you probably are going to try maximize one of those as your stronger move. The problem is that you effectively divide your item pool in two, add on top of that some useless items and you find yourself with very limited options for your build. You can specialize also on bombs and potions, but I found those too unreliable in the heat of the fight to be useful.
In other news, the story tone is very weird, 99% is lighthearted with a very out-of-place serious 1%. The HUD covers a bit of the screen, sometimes hiding traps or gold. For some reason you can jump in this game but it feels very floaty and never satisfying to use.
Conclusion: Is Good overall with smaller problems that bring it down. That said I did consider uninstalling more than once and if it was longer I'd have lol.
