Undungeon | Switch Review

“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.” This phrase is arguably one of the worst to hear from a parent, because it insinuates that they had high expectations for you and you weren’t able to meet them. And this is why disappointment is one of the most burdensome emotions to feel. We have expectations, whether deserved or not, for someone or something that are not met. After watching the trailer for Laughing Machines’ first game Undungeon, I found myself very excited and had quite the expectations for this game. Unfortunately, those expectations were not met, and I was sorely disappointed after playing it.

The Shift

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was a catalyst for the boon of the multiverse concept in modern entertainment, and Undungeon is another game to follow suit. However, it truly piqued my interest with the differences it seemed to be incorporating. This multiverse is in trouble, as the different universes start to blend, aka “The Shift”. You play as Void, one of seven heralds a god creates to determine the fate of the two worlds you travel to and their people. While this concept was very intriguing on paper, I didn’t feel that it was well executed.

The main objective is to find seven cores in each world and activate them at their pier. Unfortunately, I could not tell you why this is important, because the story is very complicated, at least for me, and it is buried in a whole lot of written dialogue. It is tough for me to follow a complex story when I am reading what feels like a novel because of the tendency for my mind to wander. This is a personal flaw of mine and is not a criticism of the game. Although, I felt teased when the game starts with some magnificent narration and sets the tone for the game, but turned out to be the only spoken dialogue for the game.

While the main objective is to find those cores, the fate of the many different characters you meet along the journey is determined by your interactions with them. Dialogue choices and completion of side quests can both determine your karma meter and increase the likelihood that you will save certain characters when you have found all seven cores for the world. This was an intriguing concept that I have to admit, I did not explore. During my playthrough, I did not do enough to save a single person because, after about two hours of playing and activating three cores, I was done doing side missions. Not because they were not interesting or overly complicated, but because I did not want to suffer any more of the combat of Undungeon.

Keep it Simple, Silly

Sometimes, we forget to follow the KISS principle and overcomplicate things. This is exactly what Laughing Machines did when they were too ambitious with the leveling and combat system in Undungeon. At its core, the game is an action RPG with a complicated leveling system.

First, you have a skill tree that is centered around your core. The core that is equipped has different slots that you can equip runes, which can increase attack, health, defense, luck, etc. The runes can be found in the environment or purchased from vendors. Slots on the skill tree can be unlocked by having enough XP, which comes in two canister types: small and large. Unlike most RPGs, you do not earn these canisters directly through mission completion, but (similarly to runes) can be found in the environment or purchased from vendors. You can indirectly earn these XP canisters if you receive them as a gift from the quest NPC, but it is not guaranteed to get XP by completing a mission. This XP is not only used for gaining rune slots but can also be used to combine runes, among other things that I will touch on later.

Another layer to this complex RPG system is that you can add different body parts (intestines, brain, etc.) to Void. These can increase health, attack, stamina, and defense stats. These require the “recipe” for each body part and also require different items found in the environment to create. Not only do these body parts give you additional health stats, but they also give you an extra life per body part you have. However, if you lose a life, a body section is broken and cannot be used until you regenerate it at the Hub. This costs you some of that precious XP. Unfortunately, you are likely going to lose body parts often, as the combat is challenging and complex.

The core gameplay centers around a hack-and-slash style, as the majority of weapons are melee-based claws with some weapons having ranged capabilities. New weapons can be found in the environment or can be purchased from vendors, which can have increased attack stats and/or different special abilities.

The actual combat is not complex, as you mash the attack button and dodge enemy attacks, with a sprinkle of special abilities that you do not seem to have enough of. But Undungeon adds another layer of challenge/complexity as it helps out enemies in the fights. First, if an enemy deals damage, it will get a damage buff, which stacks if they continue to do so. I was stuck while on the second world and had to drop down the damage percentage the enemy received to continue. Second, enemies have a higher rate of dodging an attack, even if your melee attack directly hits them. Finally, the player has a stamina bar, while enemies do not. In a game that feels like you need to always be on the offensive, the stamina bar was an unnecessary hindrance to combat. Not only could you not attack at will, but Void was consistently slower than enemies. So after successive attacks, an enemy could back away, regather, and potentially heal. When there were multiple enemies, this made it extremely frustrating since you could not pick off enemies one at a time.

To add to the complexity, the item selection during combat is too convoluted. You have to stop combat, sift through different types of items, and then after selecting, Void throws it and you have to melee the item. If you do not hit it in time the item can drop, and you have to pick it up again. Even worse, the enemy can also use that item. In turn, you can also gain items from enemies as well by the same mechanism, but I felt like I had to jump through more hoops than I should, especially with the advantages enemies get during combat.

Technically Speaking…

Something apparent from the onset is that Undungeon’s desolate world is absolutely beautiful. The 3D pixel art is very well-crafted, and the character models are excellent. As you travel through each section of the world, flora in the environment, as well as other characters will start to glitch. This is a brilliant choice as it symbolizes shifting between the different universes. While this is all beautiful and the two worlds are distinct, there is not much variety within the worlds, and each section feels almost like rinse and repeat, similar to the combat.

While the artistic “glitches” were intentional, there were plenty of technical glitches/flaws that hindered gameplay. First, there were multiple times while trying to travel to the Hub that the game had an error, and I would have to restart the game. Fortunately, when I loaded the game, it would load into the Hub. Second, when fighting on an elevated platform, if I dodged toward a ledge, I would fall off, die, and would have to start the section over again.

Lastly, one of the only ranged weapons had a lock-on feature, which is great when trying to attack different enemies. However, oftentimes it would lock on breakable objects in the environment instead of on the enemies. Also, I had an ally who would summon a post that could heal or fire projectiles. When he would summon these, this weapon would attack those instead of enemies. Hopefully, these technical flaws are more present on the Nintendo Switch and it runs smoother on consoles and/or PC.

Undungeon Final Verdict

I have to applaud Laughing Machine for having high ambitions for their first game. They tried to create an original game with an interesting concept. Unfortunately, their ambitions were a bit too high, as they oftentimes got in their way creating an overly complex story and combat system. The 3D pixel art is done fantastically, but there were plenty of technical difficulties that hindered the game. Given this game was first released on PC, I assume that it runs smoother on PC. I cannot recommend Undungeon on Nintendo Switch, but some people might have a better experience on a PC or different console. This game, however, is not for me.

To hear me talk more about Undungeon, be sure to listen to Episode 417 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 43:46 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Undungeon provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.