I have spent some hours playing the review copy of Beneath, and to be honest, it left me with mixed emotions. The concept of the game is excellent - a survival horror shooter far beneath the sea, with weird creatures and dark secrets everywhere. You can easily sense the passion and hard work put into it by the developers, two brothers. However, the game still has a lot of polishing to do to live up to its full potential.
Atmosphere is the overwhelming part of Beneath. Sound design, lighting, and mood level induce a sense of confinement and alienation in the dark ocean. It's scary in a good way - this kind of claustrophobic horror that burrows beneath your skin. Strolling through the submerged hallways or sensing something slipping alongside you, it's really tense.
Gameplay starts on a good note - you have a couple of guns early, and the gunplay is decent. Leaning out from behind cover using Q and E is helpful and helps in combat. Things go awry, though, soon. I found an upgrade table but didn't have enough components to use it, making it useless. Power cells, an early mechanic in the game, are confusing. The first time I attempted to use one, I did not realize I had to transfer to another spot on the map because there was no indicator.
There are also some nutty design choices that fail. Like, there are gas-emitting eggs, and guards don't react to them. Guards also don't react to zombies - they just stay there instead of attacking them. There is nothing to loot in the majority of the rooms, and enemies never use healing items. I also couldn't upgrade my weapon because I never had enough resources and only found one upgrade station throughout the entire game.
And finally, there is the plot. It starts with science and biotech, yet suddenly flips to supernatural and mysticism. I could not understand what was happening and what the main character wanted, apart from staying alive. There are some notes and screens with data, but they reveal very little.
The combat is far from what it could be. The crowbar is underpowered, and the hit range is too low. You can't jump over anything even a chair. That's a complete immersion killer. And when you head-shot a zombie, it keeps walking around, which is incorrect and kind of funny instead of scary.
Graphically, the game is quite alright, but the volumetric lighting is too much - all you can see is fog, and it's more visually appealing when you turn it off. The game is also having some issues with the visual effects like water or gas that make it hard to picture what is happening.
Despite all that, I still preferred the game over not liking it. The world is interesting, and it's obvious the developers have a good idea. They're a small team, and on their part, they've done an incredible job of creating such a huge and lush world.
If they fix the bugs, improve AI, and balance the upgrade system, Beneath could become something really special. Right now, I’d say it’s worth keeping an eye on - not perfect, but promising.
Score: 68/100
A dark and atmospheric survival shooter with potential, but too rough and confusing in its current form. I’ll definitely check it out again after release.