Below

Between the swearing sky and the sea, through the chilling gusts of wind and the rain that covers the eyes, a flimsy boat is torn in an unknown direction. At any second, his persistent procession may be interrupted by a wave that accidentally finds the side or a lightning bolt hitting the mast. And yet, the tiny ship manages to break through the grumpy elements and crash into the moist, life-saving sand. In order for a mysterious passenger in unusual clothes to leave him a moment later.

First of all, a Canadian studio Capy is known for “Super Time Force” and “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery”. While the first is a more or less familiar iteration of “Contra”, the second is an extraordinary audio-visual experiment built on the bones of a classic point-and-click adventure. It was not always a fascinating, but at the same time a complete and quite convincing statement about the illusory nature of video game boundaries.

Despite the fact that it is based “Below”, the new Canadian game, has elements of the classic “The Legend of Zelda”, emasculated almost to perfection over the years; its attitude towards the player is exactly like “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery”. She is a direct successor to the ideas of Shigeru Miyamoto's brainchild, who was not afraid to turn into a dark corner of a fairy forest where you can see a bloody glow at night, and the wind sweeping through it smells of smoldering flesh.

In other words, “Below” is an older and darker version of Link's adventures, deliberately taking the player out of his comfort zone. The camera in it is also recorded under thunderclouds or under the arches of damp caves, and the gameplay is based on exploring the world, solving simple puzzles and fighting against all sorts of evil spirits. But nuances of varying importance easily overshadow its illusory secondary nature.

After leaving the ship, the main character sets foot on a small rocky island: the sand rustles pleasantly under his feet, the wind breaks through the greenish grass, and the rain washes over the majestic stone statues. It soon becomes obvious that this piece of land is not an accidental stop for a traveler stranded at sea, but a majestic monument to a terrible mystery lurking in its depths.

The first mechanic that did not have a place in the classic parts of “The Legend of Zelda” is the crafting system. The hero's condition is influenced by three indicators: hunger, cold and thirst, which either tend to zero over time or due to changes in external conditions. As soon as they reach the bottom, the vitality will begin to loosen their grip, and in a few moments they will coldly drop the hero into the clutches of death.

At the same time, dying in “Below” doesn't equate to defeat; it's just another break in the curve that leads inexorably to the final. As soon as one hero goes to the next world, years or centuries later, a new adventurer sets in. To avoid this fate, you have to look for supplies for making traps and equipment, as well as food. This aspect not only keeps you in constant tension, but is also one of the pillars on which the logic of the entire gaming world is based.

One of the game's slogans is “Explore. Survive. Discover”. It would seem that there is nothing unusual about him, but due to numerous dangers and the need to survive, he is an intricate synonym for “death”. And although it is quite possible to complete the game without dying, death prevails over everything that happens in “Below”, just like in famous FromSoftware's works.

But if, as read by the Japanese, death represents defeat, one way or another throwing the player back, then Capy it is part of a continuous cycle that can both harm and contribute to its progress. This dualism is achieved through the crafting system and the overall structure of the game. Due to the fact that exploring mysterious depths is a slow and laborious process, resources to continue it, especially food, are often not enough.

The catch is that when a new hero arrives, the island is not only filled with enemies again, but fish also appear in its streams, and nutritious vegetables sprout in its tall grass. In addition, a new adventurer can get to the remains of his weak-willed predecessor and profit from his supplies. Reading “Below” takes on an ominous and unique context: dying in it is one of the possible ways to move forward, because although the game does not say it directly, it does in every possible way hint that cynical sacrifice can make life easier.

In the usual sense, there is no story in the game: throughout its entire length, none of the characters say a word, and all information is drawn from the environment and, in several cases, from the names of items. The inhospitable island, shrouded in unrelenting storms and resembling a saving flame to which arrogant moths fly from all sides, is in fact a womb that goes deep into the sea, at whose bottom hungry chthonic evil slumbers.

To cope with it, the heroes need to find the fragments of the magic lantern. The beauty is that the local world has a clear structure: about a quarter of the locations are intertwined in an unchanging and interconnected tangle, with secret passages and secrets. The rest of the dungeons change when the hero dies. While most of the fragments, without which it is impossible to reach the final, are hidden in “static” locations, the rest are hidden in caves that are tirelessly writhing and full of danger.

The most outstanding part of “Below”, for which all flaws can be pardoned, is its audio-visual appearance: the fire glare on the wet floor, the surroundings cast picturesque shadows, and against the background of this eerie splendor, the wind howls, drops crash loudly against the floor and something indescribable swarming in the dark corner. This richness of images creates amazing tension and a truly unique atmosphere.

Another extremely interesting feature that grew out of the local visual component is the insignificance of the characters against the background of the game world. Since the camera is cluttered under the ceiling most of the time, the character is so tiny that his death seems natural. Everything indicates that it is just another grain of sand that will take time sooner or later.

It is partly due to its external gloss that “Below” places a clear emphasis on exploring the world. Death and a life that has lost its usual form coexist in its alleys, which exudes longing and despair; everywhere you can see the traces of ancient civilizations that have learned the delights of cannibalism and of shapeless darkness that oozes primal horror. It is diving into unknown depths, supported by significant speculations about the essence of what is happening, that fascinates the most.

Unfortunately, for all its charm, “Below” is not without its roughness. One of them is undulating complexity. The caves below the island are divided into levels, and each of them poses a new danger, either a stronger enemy or an intricate trap. But if they are able to unbalance at the first collision, then once you find their weaknesses, the tension disappears. On the one hand, this order of things is an understandable indicator of the development of both the main character and the player, on the other hand, it indicates low complexity and a shaky balance.

The second contradictory feature is the regularity of the action. The abundance of enemies and traps makes the cost of error absolute — one wrong move, and the hands of the newly arrived adventurer will sink into the pockets of his chilly predecessor. Therefore, for the time being, you have to move around locations with extreme caution, plunging into darkness step by step. Most of all, this process is like leisurely horse rides in the recent “Red Dead Redemption II”, which can bewitch some and put others to sleep.

On top of that, the crafting system does not work well. If cooking has a positive effect on the gameplay and increases the already high level of tension, then the ability to create traps, arrows and other useful things makes little sense. It's trite because finding the torch itself is much easier than finding a few items needed to create it.

Although “Below” lacks a coherent story, it has a natural and devastating ending. In addition to the fact that it fits perfectly into Howard Lovecraft, he manages to question the player's past actions. Who were all those characters in peculiar robes resembling ritual robes really? Why were they drawn to imminent death in an orderly string, like an army of obedient ants? And how pure were their motives?