Below Reviews
Check out Below Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 18 reviews on CriticDB, Below has a score of:
Below’s moody gloom and atmosphere is spoiled by mechanics that really cramp its central quest.
Read Full Review
Below is a unique experience that blends some of the most popular gameplay mechanics seen this generation into a hauntingly beautiful and ferocious journey of death, redemption and survival. Even with the new Explore Mode making the game more accessible, Below’s obtuse nature won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but the process of discovering and mastering the game’s numerous systems is a vastly enjoyable one.
Read Full Review
Below has a lot of things going for it artistically and that will help it to stand out from a growing library of rogue-likes, but it does struggle beyond its aesthetics. Some games attempt to tell a story and explain mechanics visually. The world in Below is more ambiguous than it is interesting, sadly. Some things can be discerned from exploration, but the game’s mechanics shouldn’t be coated in that same ambiguity. Below would have been better served with either clarity for the crafting and campfire system or simpler objects to work with so it’d only take a bit of...
Read Full Review
This one has been a long time coming. Originally announced way back in 2013 as an Xbox exclusive there were five years of delays and PR silence. But BELOW was finally released. So how does it live up to expectations?
Read Full Review
Below is an interesting game to dissect. My first few hours were enthralling. The gorgeous art style, hauntingly beautiful music, and Zelda-esque hack-and-slash combat were exactly what I wanted when I first laid eyes on it all the way back in 2013 when the Xbox One was first announced. Now, having spent more than 30 hours with it, there’s still only one word I feel compelled to say when talking about Below: interesting. You see, the further I trekked down Below’s procedurally-generated dungeons, the more I came to the realization that I enjoy the game’s concept and ideas more than...
Read Full Review
So what’s the point? Well, to look at it. To run around in the grass. To examine the strange ruins and wonder about them. To see the crystal crab monsters advancing when you fall over a tripwire, because somehow they know. To hear the clack-clatter-clack as they die, and fall into pieces. To say you did it, perhaps. But not me. “The caves are… beautiful... but so treacherous that only one warrior in a generation is drawn to them. And… the truth is that… we do not know… why because… nobody can be bothered to find out.”
Read Full Review
Below is a beautiful roguelike that nails its minimalist aesthetic, but fails in terms of gameplay. Here's our review...
Read Full Review
Uncompromising to a fault, Below is a unique and often hauntingly beautiful game but its punishing design eventually becomes a tedious slog, sucking out any intrigue or enjoyment of its initial hours.
Read Full Review
If you like to unravel a mysterious world that doesn't hold your hand, then you might find something in BELOW. If you're looking for an action-packed roguelite, BELOW is not it.
Read Full Review
Some players will relish the challenge, but I just couldn’t. Not in this game. Below puts its best foot forward in its early hours and then never stops losing steam. If the experience were somehow compressed into a tighter six- to eight-hour adventure, I’d confidently recommend it to a wide audience. As it stands, the game has a masterful command of ambiance, but it comes with too many caveats.
Read Full Review
I wanted to love Below for its amazing art, stellar sound design with echoing chambers and atmospheric music, and clever, inspired environmental storytelling. But their light isn’t bright enough to shine through all the darkness of the hunger, instant death, and corpse run mechanics, which actively get in the way of enjoying the world and the combat. Below simply leans too hard on roguelike and crafting elements, which create an urgent pace and conflict with its more admirable design ideas.
Read Full Review
BELOW will inevitably fuel heated debates over its quality. The monumental challenge it posed frustrated me nearly as much as its world enticed.
Read Full Review
Below is a dark, mysterious game that invites you to illuminate its secrets, then punishes you for trying. While it does a great job invoking a sense of wonder, thanks in part to its sparse, tense soundtrack, its genuinely great moments are spread far too thin. Below will certainly be a divisive game, but it offers a compelling experience for players willing to put up with a good amount of frustration and tedium.
Read Full Review
Below is an uncompromising trek through some seriously dangerous dungeons.
Read Full Review
Below is an experience shrouded in mystery and discovery. Your character is a mere speck on the screen, with a zoomed-out camera providing a sense of scale that shows how tiny you are in relation to a vast, often-unforgiving world. The highly stylized art style combines with Jim Guthrie’s enthralling soundtrack to create an immersive adventure that’s easy to get lost into. No matter how strange, everything in Below’s world feels like it belongs, from meandering foxes on a desolate beach to the soft breakaway of blocks as your lantern’s light creates a path through the darkness. But Below’s gameplay...
Read Full Review
There’s mystery but not enough magic in this brutal descent.
Read Full Review
Worth the wait, Below is a Rouge lite that doesn't hold your hand and asks you figure out the rules of this world on your own. It makes for a fulfilling, albeit difficult journey.
Read Full Review