Subterrain is an intersting indie game that ate up a lot of my time. I could rattle of a list of maybe 50+ games this has elements of. It is a mashup of several styles of games and draws inspiration from things like metroid and minecraft, project zomboid, system shock 2, teleglitch or even Dungeon Crawl, sword of the stars: the pit, and does a decent enough job putting a lot of concepts and mechanics from these titles all together into it's own thing. In this way, it feels a bit like Shovel Knight. The game is kind of fun to play but I found myself at some point becoming very impatient due to the way the game will pace. It is a bit claustrophobic to begin with and it's extremely long haul.. lots of minecraft style hoarding and collection of resources, and some really dicky type gated mechanics and R&D schemes the player is forced to abide by (R&D isnt quite the additional layer in a game in Subterrain like it is in a lot of management type games)

R&D works a bit like this: find the object metroid style then wait a lot time to research it then wait more time to build it again. also stop what you are doing to go back to the base to perform each step. this becomes a bit anal and becomes some strange micro management time mechanics and choice and consequence based on how you might choose to spend time and what you choose not to spend time on (kind of cool)

What's it about? essentially like in Jurassic Park for SNES, things have run amok and its only you left to restore some space facility that's got nastis lurking about system shock 2 style. as you travel from place to place or do this or that you get hungry thirsty, sleepy get more sick with the alien virus etc... a whole lot of elements that feel like a classic RPG, but this is strangely NOT an RPG and while it works.. it feels a bit weird to not be an RPG... indeed, as you kill zombies and other nasties you dont get any progression for your character outside the gear you come across and research or upgrade... but its very limited and things are kept almost arcade simple in this regard... (which seems strange with the manamgent of your resources, times, and character stats) but it indeed plays very arcade style. i mean it just looks like hotline miami and combat is a bit similiar too even. the game itself feels a bit like a mix between teleglitch being an arcade real time action game, with the inventory hoarding and managmeent and clearing of dungeons like sword of the stars the pit there is however a macro strat element to it which is both a blessing and a curse. there are times its just very tedious to manage what you have to do on a day to day basis (Stardew Valley) and also plan ahead. as you crawl through the sci fi dungeon you have to restore power restore oxygen and heating to each floor or area (sometimes a generator is on a different floor) as you make progress you slowly (after a year and a day) unlock better gear, and the game also spawns tougher enemies. combat is very reflex oriented and timing matters, and you have to pay attention. its very easy to get jumped in the dark, not see something coming the other way (line of sight is present) or just fudge the keys. your character can also get penalties like crippled limbs or blood loss, not to mention just running out of oxygen at the wrong time. Ultimately this is a grandiose game, and it reaches for a higher ground, weaves a ton of things together and make a presentable case for a few genres, still seeming to have it's own voice and do something new. It's also fairly polished, and the core premise of clearing dungeons in the dark with some funky experimental weapons that dont have the best reliability carries with it a satisfying thrill and real sense of danger. Because ti pulls these things off this is pretty much the complete package when it comes to what one might hope an indie game by a small studio to aspire too...

Unfortunately i just dont find myself with enough patience to play this one without cheating at some point. Its downright insane how hard this is with or without cheating... (And cheating really does ruin the game in this one because it's supposed to be hard and harrowing...) Aside from that I have a few other gripes:

While it's not a bad thing that this game doesnt have RPG mechanics (because what is here works fine really) I find something inside me screams, 'I want my RPG!' It feels weird to have everything else BUT the RPG. The direction Subterrain went with this is something I dont think I've ever seen a game do. You always see some shoehorning or creeping in of some kind of goofball RPG mechanic for characters in games, even if simplistic or lame. here it seems like the opposite, so much about this game includes things that often will have a place in RPG... Yet really in Subterrain all we have is a few weapon choices, an armor choice and maybe some temp stat penalties (or increases) from drugs/injuries, but the only real progression is made through the very static and barebones research that crawls at a very very slow pace. My guess is this wasnt implemented because it would throw off the balance.

Gate mechanics: I have mixed feelings on this one. it seems to work well with the design but without usage of a guide wandering to find the things needed to make progress in this game is quite tough. I mean if you specifically want to look for something to upgrade something and you want to get past that gate you are basically stuck! Essentially you must clear and explore everything (as oposed to any typical dungeon crawler) or you risk missing a core item. at least they are made more noticable in some way... and there are rather good hints about where things are in game... but you could also potentially miss it anyway if you werent careful. The game also doesnt keep best track of where you found something exactly, you only have your Shock2 styled logs... which are quit helpful but it would be nice to have a personal log that said I found

micro/time managament crawling through a dungeon and fighting is fun. messing with your inventory or calculating what needs to be hoarded and what can go isnt. combing over a whole level to find a generator in the last room to turn those lights on when you are almost out of power for the flashlight and weapons and now have to go back to base to recharge is annoying as **** and it always seems to happen in this game lol. experiencing 'setbacks' that result in you having to leave a dungeon early (forgetting something) and subsequent 'backtracking' is also a big pet peeve in this game but also seems to play a core part of play. scrambling for a battery in your backpack as you are getting attacked so you cant fight back but getting the backpack UI closed since you take damage is curtains!

monotony: the game is crazy slow and you literally will feel the pacing of your marooned situation. the game gets a bit harder and somewhat interesting but overall its very much the same thing over and over again and it just feels a bit drawn out. Clearing a single dungeon is an all day thing without cheats.

ultimately fun game, it does a lot of the things i wanted project zomboid to do (and it feels more like system shock 2 than everything i've yet played that advertised itself as such) but its still tedious to play as intended. pretty fresh take on rogues, crawlers and more static elements of turn based games. this actually breaks from the mold a bit just enough to commend. This is really sound and proper game design, but not everyone's cup of tea. While I can see a lot of clever things were done to improve some minutae (accessing key machines from one location once upgrade was a fantastic idea) I think that a few hot key reserved slots for basic things like meds, drugs, etc would be a plus and could easily be done with upgrading the suit. Taking it a lot further: a lot of things would maybe have been improved with RPG progression. the monotony could be broken up a bit just enough by it, and would make the R&D actually feeel a bit rewarding. Also some gated related logs in form of a player progression journal would be very helpful.

if you like rogues or crawlers and are OCD this (or future titles by Pixellore) is pretty awesome and worth looking at. if you take a glance and think of only hotline miami this might drive you up the wall/bore you to tears XD It's a game easy to love for it's uniqueness and polish, but easy to find frustrating when it tests patience.

Played on easy. Used cheats. V.1136. Was a good time. For a while didnt think i'd make it.