I first saw Going Under ages back during a Nintendo Direct. It looked forgettable, so I skipped it. Then I saw some streamers play it earlier in the year, and it looked good, but not like . . intentionally seek it out and pay $20 to play it on Steam good. Well it turned up on Game Pass and welp here we are.

It’s a cute fun game. It leans heavily on software development industry tropes, extensive meme references and the Corporate Art style . . but somehow it does it in a non-cringey way? It’s legitimately shocking that it comes off as endearing and not as HELLO, FELLOW MILLENNIALS. Functionally it’s a pretty straightforward third person roguelike dungeon crawler action game . . but the setting and premise are wholly unique, and the approach to combat mechanics is refreshingly different.

Weaponry in the game is largely scavenged and improvised. You’re grabbing laptops and monitors off the ground, pencils and protractors, potted plants, foam fingers, etc. Weaponry is themed to 3 failed startups, so in Joblin you’re grabbing miscellaneous office gear, in Styxcoin you’re getting mining equipment and servers, and in Winkydink you’re getting heart-themed spears and anime body pillows. I cannot think of any other game where I’ve beaten demons to death with an anime body pillow.

Structurally there are 3 dungeons, each with two difficulties. There are a hell of a lot of modifiers, though. The skills you pick up largely determine your playstyle, and they’re random apart from one you get to pick on the outset. Skills are just as varied as the weapons, at least 74 of them based on achievement descriptions, but probably more on top of that. Most are various buffs, increased damage, better throwing distance, elemental effects, etc. Some have cost/benefit, like +4 temp armor for -1 health. And they’re all jokes. Good Jokes!

It’s not an incredibly long game, but it’s got some great replayability. Difficulty is pretty fair. Skill curve is reasonable. Diversity between dungeons is great. All I can complain about is that the three “big” boss fights that take place roughly 50%, 90% and 100% through the game take way too long to re-try. Especially the final boss. You have a long-ass walk, unskippable cutscene, and THEN the fight starts.

The only mode I haven’t spent a ton of time in is the “Impostor” mode. Normal dungeons are 3 levels then a boss. Impostor is a megamix mode of all the dungeons, something like 11 levels. 2 levels, a boss, then 2 levels and a boss from the second dungeon, and so on, then one final boss. And you take nothing in with you, no mentor, no default skill, it’s 100% scavenge. I’ve done one run and it was a slog. Probably going to try again tonight. Probably not going to 100% the game’s achievements, though, as one of them is to collect 100% of the bestiary and the means of collecting the bestiary blows.

Strongly recommended. It’s amazing at the price point of however much Game Pass costs. Even at $20 retail it’s a solid choice on any platform.

2022-08-25 - Addendum⌗

Somehow I completely forgot to mention that the soundtrack has some absolute #1 bangers on it. So good.