The New Classics #43: Undernauts – Labyrinth of Yomi

 

The Backstory: At that point, I was seriously afraid I would never live to see another original first-person dungeon crawler from Experience Inc. Their last such release was 2017’s Students of Round 2, an Xbox One title released only in Japan; since then, they’ve focused mostly on the Spirit Hunter trilogy. But lo and behold, Undernauts is here to prove that Experience Inc. didn’t forget their strongest suit indeed. Well, colour me relieved! 

 

 

The Game: Aridity is thy name, game. Forget about lush environments and anime aesthetics à la Demon Gaze; Undernauts is all about Wizardry-like dryness, from its realistic character art to its no-frill dungeons. It’s very much a design choice, and it’s a highly cohesive proposition. It starts from the dry yet complex MC creation interface, keeps going in the story told through fixed screens, gets stronger in the arid dungeons that don’t even bother trying to look good, and culminates in the non-animated battles. 

 

 

Obviously, all that dryness doesn’t bother me in the slightest: I’m here to explore every nook and cranny of every single dungeon and kill stuff, and Undernauts provides ample amounts of both. Exploration is made smooth and nice by items that allow you to create shortcuts, as well as an auto-move option that is just perfect when you wanna go back to base. As for combat, it’s definitely on the smooth side as well: random encounters are few and far between, and foes are visible in the field and can be engaged at will — or not. 

 

 

Another thing that screams old-fashioned FPDC is the absence of handholding in all things fighting and character creation. You soon get to create a bunch of crew members to accompany you; and there are just so many awesome character models, both exclusive and hailing from former Experience Inc. games, that you may easily forget to balance your team. Then you may end up in battle with a bunch of characters that just cannot act, because they have melee abilities and you put them in the rear line. Too bad, so sad — your mistake, b*tch! Another modern game would have informed you of your poor choice, but not Undernauts: that game lets you figure things out on your own. And guess what? I luv it. 

 

 

The Verdict: First-person dungeon crawler, Experience Inc. and a retro approach to game design: really, I don’t need anything more to be on board. Welcome to the collection, buddy!