Survival games are all the rage these days and they’ve all
sort of blended together at this point.
In order to stand out they have to do something different, which is
exactly what Subterrain does. How does
top-down, sprite-based, sci-fi, survival horror on Mars sound to you? That description definitely got my blood
pumping, which is why I wanted to review it, and I’m glad I did. It handles survival in fresh and interesting
ways, is genuinely creepy, and looks and sounds pretty gorgeous all
around. It comes with a pretty steep
learning curve, but Subterrain is worth a look. See our full review for details.
Game Details
- Publisher: Pixellore
- Developer: Pixellore
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Survival
- Pros: Creepy atmosphere; well done survival elements
- Cons: Steep learning curve with tons of subsystems; small text;
- MSRP: $17
Subterrain takes place at a colony on Mars that has been
overrun by a terrifying infection that turns people into monsters. You play as a former doctor who, after an
accident, was put in prison and charged with murder and wasn’t evacuated with
the rest of the people when the infection hit.
After breaking out of your cell you are then free to explore the colony to
not only try to escape, but figure out what really happened and see what you
can do to fix it.
The gameplay in Subterrain is fairly similar to other
survival-style games. You have to find
food and water, weapons and armor, and can craft new items with the junk you
find. In addition to managing thirst
and hunger you also have to monitor body temperature, sleep, your hygiene, and
even go to the bathroom when the need arises.
All of these things to keep track of and stuff you have to do means that
Subterrain is kind of overloaded with mechanics and subsystems to keep track
of, which makes it pretty difficult to get into at first. The game overwhelms you with tutorial after
tutorial after tutorial – all giant walls of tiny text - for the first solid hour
and it is, honestly, kind of off-putting.
If you can get through the tutorials and wrap your head
around all of the subsystems and mechanics, though, Subterrain is an incredibly
engrossing and satisfying survival game with a horror twist. At first your priority is restoring power
and finding weapons and items and survival tools in mostly safe-ish rooms. As you explore more and more you start
finding rooms full of enemies and contamination and have to start really
considering risk versus reward. The
longer you wait to tackle tough sections, however, the more the infection
spreads and the more dangerous the enemies become, so you really have to think
about every move you make because everything has consequences. Heck, even turning on life support / heat in
certain rooms is a gigantic risk because it actually promotes the growth of the
contagion making the room even more dangerous even if the environment is easier
for you to survive in. Everything has
consequences, and that is kind of awesome.
Gameplay takes place from a top-down perspective and the
game controls a bit like a twin stick shooter.
You move with one stick and look / aim with the other stick, so it is
fairly straightforward. There is a wide
variety of weapons to find and upgrade and hidden items tucked away all over
the place, so exploration is very satisfying.
The levels are procedurally generated, too, so the game will change
every time you play it. There are
multiple difficulty options, including a permadeath mode, which keep things
interesting as well.
While Subterrain is definitely a horror game, I wouldn’t
necessarily say that it is scary. The
game has a very creepy atmosphere with fantastic sound effects for creatures
and the colony rapidly deteriorating around you, and the lighting reaches just
far enough you never know what to expect.
You never know what is lurking around the next corner or in the next
room, and because basic survival is such a vital part of the game, wanting to
keep your character alive is where the fear factor comes in. This is pure survival horror, but done from a
fresh and unique perspective.
The presentation in Subterrain is pretty nice all around
with an appealing retro visual style paired with a modern soundtrack. With that said, the rooms and corridors you
explore do have a bit of a repetitive look to them, which can make exploring
harder since it isn’t always easy to tell what you have and haven’t already
seen, but you figure it out. The music
similarly is good, but there aren’t enough tracks so you can get tired of the
main theme pretty quickly.
All in all, though, Subterrain is a fresh look at the
ever-popular survival genre that even adds some survival horror to the mix to
really make things interesting. It can
overwhelm you with subsystems, even more so than a typical survival game, but
if you stick with it you’ll find a satisfying and fun new experience that genre
fans, as well as sci-fi / horror fans, can really sink their teeth into.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.