Undermine | Xbox One Review

Surprise, surprise. Scott has discovered yet another roguelike. Clearly this genre falls into my wheelhouse, which is why I was eager to jump into UnderMine from indie developer Thorium Entertainment. The fact that this gem of a game was available to me on Xbox Game Pass solidified the value of that service even further. It’s the most addictive game I’ve played this year, and I simply cannot stop playing it. What makes it so special? Let’s “dig” in.

The Binding of Whom?

If you’ve been reading my reviews or listening to our podcast, you probably know I’m a massive fan of The Binding of Isaac. That game simply clicked for me early on and with a vengeance. UnderMine scratches the itch that’s needed scratching for years in a way I never saw coming.

The formula works very much the same, with a dash of Rogue Legacy thrown in for good measure. You play as a random miner whose goal is to enter a mine, clear its enemies, collect gold, and defeat five bosses. There are five areas, each tougher than the last. Your miner moves through each randomly-generated dungeon much like the Zelda-esque dungeons present in Isaac. Your only weapon is a pickaxe, which can be swung for a melee attack or thrown for a ranged one. The axe also doubles as your means of mining gold, which is vital for upgrades after each run.

Each stage has its own “item room,” which contains a random upgrade to make life a bit easier. Although these items are nearly as extensive as those present in Isaac, they have their own unique twist that make the gameplay very rewarding. Much like most roguelikes, the fun comes with finding that perfect combination that makes you feel like a god as you take down boss after boss.

I’ll Buy That for…a Piece of Gold

Gold is the key to progressing in UnderMine, since your skills are very poor at the beginning of the game. To acquire more, you must attack randomly-placed veins scattered throughout each board and pick up the scattered pieces. To throw a wrench in the fire, these little green slime creatures called “pilfers” attempt to grab the gold before you. So it becomes a mad dash to Pac-Man your way around each room collecting gold while avoiding attacks from enemies. It’s a dynamic that winds up being a lot more fun than you think, especially with later upgrades that could potentially make harvesting currency much easier.

As expected, you spend the gold you collect in a couple of ways. First off, there are shops scattered around each mine. You can choose to purchase health, bombs, or relics to improve your character’s stats. The shop items are only temporary, however. The real upgrades come at the end of each run. When you die, you’re transported back to a hub world where you can purchase permanent stat increases to things like your armor, damage, throw distance, and more.

The beauty of UnderMine is its adherence to the majority of check marks to a solid entry into this genre. The biggest of these is to be respectful of the player’s time. Rarely does a run attempt feel like a waste of time. There’s almost always at least one upgrade that can be made to make the next run a bit easier. Even if it’s as small as starting the next one with an extra bomb or two, you always feel like you’re better off than you were the last round. That’s vital when it comes to keeping my attention, and a big part of why I keep coming back to the game.

Aesthetically Pleasing

Screenshots don’t do UnderMine any favors. This game looks infinitely better in action, and truly needs to be seen in action to fully appreciate it. Sure, it’s a pixelated game outside of the realm of reality. But it succeeds in feeling both old and new at the same time. Each dungeon has its own theme to constantly remind you how far down the rabbit hole you’ve gone. And the bosses are very cleverly designed relying on equal parts memorization and twitch reflexes. The satisfaction you feel in taking down a boss after upgrading and finding that perfect combination of relics is fantastic.

I do have one small complaint, but it has nothing to do with gameplay. The gameplay clock doesn’t seem to give me an accurate representation of how many hours I’ve put into the game. Don’t get me wrong, I adore this game; but there’s no way I’ve played it for over 250 hours. I can’t tell if the clock is just continuing to run when the console is in sleep mode or not. Whatever the cause, it’s a bummer not knowing how long I’ve been in this universe.

Undermine Final Verdict

If you’ve heard me talk about this game on our podcast, you know already how in love with UnderMine I am. It’s the game I’m thinking about when I’m not playing it, but wish I were. The formula works perfectly for me, and I never get tired of it. I love when a game doesn’t make me feel terrible for dying at the end of a run. Instead, I look forward to spending my gold on upgrades, which in turn makes me want to start another run on the spot.

That’s an indication of a great roguelike in my book, when I can’t keep from succumbing to the “one more time” temptation. To me, nothing makes a game better than its ability to keep you from wanting to put it down. And I haven’t felt that way about a game this year quite as much as I did with this one.

This review is based on a purchased copy of Undermine (via Xbox Game Pass). It is also available on PC via Steam.