As a casual who only dips into this when they add a funny new skin, Zero Build Mode finally brings the streamlined experience I always wanted from the game: a massive reduction in the number of quiet and confused moments that sat awkwardly among the insanity of an average match’s moment-to-moment survival. Stripping away the construction materials and mechanics (save for the tactile and tactical satisfaction of demolishing walls and floors) improves the pace of play so much, turning a battle for building materials into a more focused super-arena shooter that spans an entire island and at least three hundred multimedia franchises.

As the number of included IPs continues to balloon-bus exponentially, there’s really no reason I should be bored on the plains overlooking Tilted Towers, and Epic are happy to provide me with literally any excuse to avoid playing the game properly - it’s an overwrought joke at this point, but just standing around watching Goku hit the griddy is genuine unpretentious whole-hearted all-American entertainment, and I’m oddly proud of the devs for taking a shitty zombie wave-defense game all the way to this, cultural implications be damned. There’s just something about our programming as a species that makes us predisposed towards finding anime mascots doing club dance moves funny and we have to accept that and move on in enlightenment. Drop the vain expectation of good taste and come as you are to this cocaine-insane royal rumble where you can drive-by kamehameha Indiana Jones while he’s listening to Doja Cat on a jukebox shaped like Darth Vader’s head. It reminds me of Jedi Outcast roleplay servers in the early 2000s, where people would import the Dr. Dre and Doomguy skins from Quake III: Arena and challenge you to lightsaber duels in a map based off that Jim Carrey Grinch movie. If you like Smash Bros. or Multiversus or Gmod or Dante From The Devil May Cry Series, you’ve really got no excuses. It’s all the same thing.

These moments of maximal franchise expression do genuinely seem to lead to something bigger, sometimes, though… Today I did a random Duos with a guy dressed as the stonks meme and instead of gunning for glory we just drove a Major Lazer-themed speedboat along the coast while listening to an Eminem song about drug addiction and wanting to kill yourself (PEGI 12+). When the song was done, the radio faded out to a voice clip of Travis Scott telling us that he really believed we had what it takes to get that Victory Royale. Despite his pride, we died unceremoniously on a trampoline moments later. As our corpses bounced up and down with comic timing, the killcam revealed that Vegeta had been in a water tower with an AWP the whole time, watching the shore from a safe distance. What even is this? I genuinely do not believe there is another game out there that is offering these deeply stupid and satisfying emergent experiences.

Some of the most charming characters, with impressive witty writing and humor, nicely bundled in a challenging roguelite experience that will push you to the story's finish and then some. NameBrand.

Going Under is such an anomaly to me! On one hand, we have some really impressive writing that made me actually laugh out loud, and the other, is a remarkably fun roguelite gameplay loop experience. Yet despite that, I don't regard it as a masterpiece... it's good, but it's not great. I've spent a lot of time with the game lately, and I've been trying to figure it out. I think what it boils down to, is balance and repetition.

Looking at the Steam global achievements tells an interesting story that lends a little credence to this I think. More than 50% of players are lost after completing the first dungeon. The first of 8 dungeons. The game technically gets easier the longer you play it just like any other roguelite. As you complete missions, your "mentor" will give you greater buffs, you'll be able to purchase more skills, and you'll be able to find your favorite skill and bring it with you, no questions asked, into a dungeon at the start of a run. Plus, with each dungeon completion they give you an extra heart to start. So what gives?

The game is really reliant on its combat loop. Find weapons, fight, dodge roll, break weapons, find more weapons, annnnd loop. In that sense, it plays like Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild had a baby. I found it to be really engaging and because of the skills, I never thought it got stale, though I think there are many people out there who will get tired of it fast. But, the issue I have with this loop that plays into a lack of balance, is that it's very easy to get overwhelmed.

The enemy variety in Going Under is really fun and they're all themed incredibly well (themeing all around is absolutely stellar), but I think there's a tendency for the enemies to completely overwhelm the player starting in the WinkyDink dungeon. Besides weapons breaking, spawning tanky enemies, and MORE enemies is pretty much the only way the game can put the heat on you. This is all well and good usually, but when you've got a combat system that relies heavily on the "one on one" fighting formula, it's really hard as a player to make adjustments and force the system to work for you when fighting large groups, either by flailing wildly, or using the Z-targeting one enemy at a time in the hopes you can kill them off one by one. Even then, it's unforgiving, and without an animation cancel during some attacks, you just have to hope you can get a killing hit in while mashing the dash key to maybe escape danger.

Even still with the game being overwhelming at times, and the combat loop getting a bit old, it's not insurmountable to beat. I kept coming back to the game for the witty writing, and the opportunity to interact with the other characters in the office space hub area. My desire to continue the plot greatly pushed me to the end of this game, and from other reviews I might guess the same, as it seems the writing is universally praised. And if you're trying to lap up all the dialogue, you'll probably complete all of the side quest lines and level up all the mentors, which gives you a significant buff, and it was from one of those I was able to get into a groove and finish the game. This took me about 15 hours. Was really bummed to see that post-game completion (and after all the side quests) you can't talk with the characters anymore... they just stand around ominously...

Now, if you're still interested in the post game you can try and complete Impostor mode... which I personally believe is downright impossible without assists. They essentially strip the "lite" out of roguelite, smash all of the dungeons together, add a new final boss with three phases, and expect you to beat it. No additional hearts from story mode. No pinning endorsed skills. No mentors at the start of the run. And it is impossible. I'm not sure who play-tested this and got Aggrocrab to think it was alright to ship? Lol. See, I think it's the story's progression and Jackie becoming stronger that REALLY lets you overcome the balance issues while you're fighting in the story. But removing those, and having no alternative way to become stronger in impostor mode beyond just mastering enemy attack patterns... It's just a peek behind the curtain that let me know that this game really is just haphazardly mechanically mish-mashed together. After 20+ attempts I turned on assists and that was the only way I was able to beat it ONCE. And they think you want challenges on top of that? So broken! So unbalanced. It feels like they just don't understand their own game or the genre it lives in.

That being said, I really want a sequel! I want more witty dialogue and funny references to the sadness of the modern worlds working class. I want to talk more with those characters and I want more opportunities to pet Eclaire. I think the team at Aggrocrab could make some adjustments to the balancing and have a smash hit sequel, and I hope I live in the timeline where that happens. Going Under is an incredible game that's just bogged down by a few things that I think is just the result of it being their first game. Regardless, I will definitely be following this studio closely as it grows.

Also, no idea where to put this, but I loved the music. It haunts me in my sleep and also sometimes when I am awake because it's really good and catchy, and I enjoyed it paha.

banger story that doesn't waste a single beat and makes use of every single character in a refreshing, fulfilling narrative style that took me by surprise. I got stuck in this game way more than I did any other but I also found myself very invested in its characters which the game shows a lot of respect for.

it's a shame that it'll never be localized but I can kinda understand why. at the end of the day, a spin-off such as this is pretty niche but I gotta hand it to the team for dedicating their work towards preservation of what we love about ace attorney over making it more generic and marketable to everyone else. good show!