Info about UnderRail:

Official game description:
Underrail is an old-school turn-based isometric indie role-playing game that focuses on exploration and combat.
The game is set in a distant future, when life on the Earth’s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-states that, it seems, are the last bastions of a fading race.
The player takes control of one of the denizens of such a station-state whose life is about to become all that much more interesting and dangerous, as our protagonist is caught amidst the conflicting factions of the Underrail as they violently struggle to survive in the harsh underground environment.
COMBAT
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The game's turn-based combat features many different weapon types - pistols, rifles, crossbows, energy weapons, sledgehammers, knives and more, each with their own advantages and drawbacks.
PSIONICS
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The player is also able to learn powerful psionic abilities from one of the three psionic schools:
*   **Metathermics** - Burn your enemies alive or freeze them to death.
*   **Psychokinesis** - Use the power of telekinesis for offensive or defensive purposes or electrocute your foes.
*   **Thought Control** - Assault the minds of your enemies by overloading them, instilling overwhelming fear, creating deadly hallucinations and more.
SUBTERFUGE
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For those looking to avoid direct confrontation, the game offers a set of subterfuge skills. Move around the world in **stealth** like a shadow, **lockpicking** doors and **hacking** computers. If people have something you want, you can often just **pickpocket** them. But if it does come to blows, you can use devious **traps** to stack the odds in your favour.
CRAFTING
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Underrail features an elaborate item crafting system. A vast majority of the armor, weapons and some other items encountered in the game can be crafted, and some are exclusively acquired through it. Crafted equipment tends to be superior to that which is scavenged or purchased in terms of raw numbers, provided you are investing in your crafting skills.

Release date: Dec 18, 2015

Categories: Turn-based Combat, Turn-based RPG, Isometric Action-RPG, Character Progression, Crafting, Stealth Gameplay, Psionics, Exploration, Faction Management, Post-apocalyptic


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Exceptional Story and World-Building (weight 0.55): The game is praised for its deep, engaging lore, well-written dialogue, and immersive world-building. Players highlight the narrative's consistency, originality, and ability to create a believable post-apocalyptic setting.
- Brutal but Satisfying Combat (weight 0.44): The turn-based combat system is described as challenging, tactical, and rewarding. Players appreciate the strategic depth, variety of tools, and the sense of accomplishment from overcoming difficult encounters.
- Immersive Atmosphere and Soundtrack (weight 0.27): The game's bleak, claustrophobic atmosphere, combined with a haunting soundtrack and ambient sound design, creates a highly immersive experience. The music and visuals enhance the post-apocalyptic setting.
- Expansive Exploration and World Design (weight 0.2): The game features a huge, handcrafted world with interconnected maps, rewarding exploration, and a lack of filler content. The open-world design encourages immersion and discovery.
- Robust Crafting and Looting Systems (weight 0.18): The crafting system is praised for its depth, allowing players to create powerful, customizable items. Looting and hoarding mechanics add layers of strategy and progression.
- No Hand-Holding, Player Freedom (weight 0.12): The game trusts players to learn mechanics without quest markers or tutorials. This design choice enhances immersion and rewards exploration and ingenuity.
- Significant DLC Expansions (weight 0.12): The Expedition and Heavy Duty DLCs add substantial content, including new zones, factions, and gameplay mechanics. They are praised for improving quality of life and extending replayability.

Common complaints:
- Extreme difficulty punishes players (weight 0.75): The game features a steep and inconsistent difficulty curve, with frequent spikes that frustrate players, especially beginners. Many report that even the easiest settings remain challenging, requiring extensive save-scumming or external guides to progress.
- Poor accessibility for newcomers (weight 0.56): The game lacks modern quality-of-life features, such as quest markers, clear tutorials, or beginner-friendly difficulty options. New players often struggle with unclear mechanics, punishing progression, and a high barrier to entry.
- Unforgiving build mechanics (weight 0.35): Character builds are rigid and unforgiving, with no respec options. Poor early choices can render the game unwinnable, forcing players to restart or rely on external guides to avoid softlocks or excessive difficulty spikes.
- Frustrating late-game design (weight 0.23): Late-game areas, particularly the Deep Caverns and Expedition DLC, are criticized for excessive difficulty, resource scarcity, and poorly designed mechanics (e.g., mutagen puzzles, enemy swarms). The final act is often described as grueling and unsatisfying.
- Broken stealth and enemy mechanics (weight 0.19): Stealth mechanics are inconsistent or outright broken, with enemies detecting players regardless of stats or perks. Enemies often swarm, stunlock, or ambush players, making combat feel unfair or tedious.
- Outdated graphics and UI (weight 0.16): The game’s pixelated, isometric art style and outdated UI are polarizing. Many players find the visuals unappealing or difficult to navigate, detracting from immersion and accessibility.
- Lack of fast travel and navigation tools (weight 0.1): The absence of fast travel and a clear map makes navigation tedious, especially in late-game areas. Players report frustration with labyrinthine environments and slow travel times.

Gameplay feedback:
- Deep character build customization (weight 0.68): Players highlight the game's extensive character build variety, including melee, stealth, psionics, and weapon-specific builds. The system allows for min-maxing and irreversible specialization, emphasizing strategic planning.
- Turn-based tactical combat (weight 0.48): The game features a turn-based combat system with action points, environmental interactions, and tactical depth. Players note its high difficulty and reliance on build optimization and positioning.
- High difficulty and scaling (weight 0.27): The game is praised for its unforgiving difficulty, requiring strategic play and persistence. Difficulty settings adjust enemy toughness and mechanics, catering to both newcomers and veterans.
- Post-apocalyptic exploration (weight 0.24): The game's subterranean post-apocalyptic setting (e.g., metro tunnels, caverns) is a core focus, rewarding exploration with unique items, secrets, and immersive world-building.
- Interconnected crafting system (weight 0.24): Crafting is a robust mechanic tied to multiple skills (e.g., mechanics, electronics, chemistry). It allows for powerful, customizable items but is criticized for lacking depth in some areas.
- Old-school CRPG mechanics (weight 0.19): The game embraces classic CRPG elements, such as chance-based combat, deep character progression, and systems-heavy gameplay. This appeals to fans of traditional RPGs but may frustrate modern audiences.
- Vague quest design (weight 0.19): Quests often lack clear directions or markers, encouraging exploration and dialogue-driven progression. This design choice polarizes players, with some appreciating the freedom and others finding it frustrating.
- Faction and choice consequences (weight 0.15): Player choices and faction reputations have severe, often irreversible consequences. Faction-based quests and genocide mechanics add depth to the narrative and gameplay.
- Dual XP systems (weight 0.09): The game features two XP systems: Classic (earned from quests/enemies) and Oddity (earned from exploration and unique discoveries). This encourages diverse playstyles.
- Perception and stealth mechanics (weight 0.08): Stealth and perception checks play a significant role in gameplay, with mechanics like enemy detection and theorycrafting adding layers of strategy and immersion.

Performance notes:
- Optimized for low-end hardware (weight 0.1): The game runs smoothly on low-end systems, including tablets, due to its 2D nature and efficient optimization. Performance is stable with no major lag reported.
- Game crashes and freezes post-update (weight 0.05): Players report frequent crashes, freezes, and long startup times after a large update, particularly in Borderless Windowed mode. Some instances even brick the game entirely.
- Resolution and display issues (weight 0.05): Players encounter problems with resolution support, including missing video resolution options and poor UI/dialogue visibility, affecting accessibility.
- Menu and combat bugs (weight 0.03): Occasional lockups occur during combat or player death, and menu selection bugs disrupt gameplay flow, requiring fixes for smoother interaction.
- Steam Deck compatibility (weight 0.02): The game works flawlessly on Steam Deck, indicating strong compatibility with handheld and portable devices.

Recommendations:
- Deep RPG for hardcore fans (weight 0.74): The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy deep, complex, and challenging RPGs with meaningful choices, tactical combat, and high replayability. It is not suitable for casual players or those outside the CRPG niche.
- High replayability (weight 0.4): The game offers extensive replay value due to build diversity, faction choices, and exploration-focused gameplay. Players can spend hundreds of hours experimenting with different playstyles.
- Classic Fallout successor (weight 0.3): The game is frequently compared to and recommended for fans of classic Fallout (1/2), Arcanum, and other old-school RPGs. It is praised as a worthy successor to these titles, offering a similar depth and challenge.
- DLC and bundles recommended (weight 0.3): Players are encouraged to purchase the Expedition DLC for quality-of-life improvements or to buy the game in a bundle with all DLCs for the best experience.
- Save often to avoid frustration (weight 0.15): Due to RNG-heavy combat and punishing difficulty, players are advised to save frequently to avoid losing progress or facing insurmountable challenges.
- Recent changes spark criticism (weight 0.09): Some players advise against purchasing the game due to recent patches that introduced balance issues, RNG problems, or other frustrations. Rolling back to a previous version is suggested by some.
- Adjust difficulty for experience (weight 0.08): Players are advised to choose their difficulty carefully: Normal for learning, Easy for newcomers to turn-based RPGs, and Hardest only for those seeking a punishing challenge.
- Wiki usage debated (weight 0.04): Opinions vary on whether to use the wiki: some recommend it for guidance, while others suggest avoiding it to preserve the challenge and discovery of the game.
- Developer dedication praised (weight 0.03): The game is recognized for its attention to detail and the developer's commitment to creating a deep, immersive, and well-crafted experience.

Other player notes:
- External resources required (weight 0.05): Players frequently rely on wikis, guides, and pre-made builds to optimize their playthroughs, as the game lacks in-built support for complex mechanics. Poor wiki organization exacerbates this issue.
- Upcoming expansion anticipated (weight 0.05): Players express excitement for the *Infusion* expansion and the sequel in development, highlighting strong long-term engagement with the franchise.
- Community-driven support (weight 0.05): Players actively support the developer, contribute to localization efforts (e.g., Chinese), and engage in build-related discourse, fostering a dedicated community.
- Mixed player experiences (weight 0.04): While some players enjoy the game’s music and invest significant playtime (e.g., 87 hours), others request refunds within minutes due to frustration or mismatched expectations.
- Game demands high effort (weight 0.03): The game is often compared to a 'college course' due to its complexity, with a fanbase perceived as masochistic for enjoying its steep learning curve.
- Technical and version issues (weight 0.03): Reports of technical problems, including filtering warnings and patch-related bugs, impact the overall player experience and accessibility.
- Modding limitations (weight 0.02): The game's serialized and packed files make modding difficult, restricting player creativity and community-driven content enhancements.
- Graphics improvements celebrated (weight 0.02): The 10-year anniversary update introduced notable graphics enhancements, which players appreciate as a sign of ongoing developer commitment.
- Minimal spoilers in wikis (weight 0.02): While wikis are poorly organized, players note that spoilers are minimal and do not detract from the exploration experience.
- Political/social commentary (weight 0.01): Some reviews include political or social praise for the indie developer, though this feedback lacks direct gameplay relevance.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.27): Players experience frustration primarily due to the game's punishing difficulty, lack of accessibility, and poorly explained mechanics. Key issues include brutal combat, unforgiving build restrictions (e.g., no respec options), and reliance on RNG or external guides to progress. Repetitive or tedious systems (e.g., backtracking, inventory management) and unclear quest directions further exacerbate the problem.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.1): Satisfaction stems from overcoming the game's challenges through strategic planning, mastering builds, or uncovering its depth. Players praise the rewarding combat, meaningful choices, and immersive world-building, especially after investing time in learning mechanics. The sense of achievement from beating difficult encounters or discovering hidden content is a recurring highlight.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): Disappointment arises when the game fails to meet expectations, particularly in narrative, polish, or design coherence. Players cite issues like poor writing, unfulfilled potential (e.g., lackluster DLC), or technical problems (e.g., bugs, localization gaps). Some feel the game punishes creativity with restrictive mechanics or artificially inflates difficulty.
- Excitement (weight 0.08): Excitement is driven by the game's addictive gameplay loops, such as exploration, crafting, and build variety. Players highlight the engaging atmosphere, tactical depth, and replayability, often describing the initial hours as captivating. The anticipation for sequels or hidden content (e.g., Easter eggs) also fuels enthusiasm.
- Admiration (weight 0.06): Admiration focuses on the game's craftsmanship, depth, and innovation within the CRPG genre. Players commend its world-building, attention to detail, and ability to evoke classic RPGs while offering modern complexity. The dedication of the developers and the game's mechanical soundness are frequently praised.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.04): Nostalgia is triggered by the game's resemblance to classic isometric RPGs like *Fallout* or *Shadowrun*. Players appreciate its retro aesthetic, challenging gameplay, and atmospheric soundtrack, which evoke fond memories of older titles. The game's ability to recapture the spirit of 90s RPGs is a key emotional draw.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Appreciation centers on the game's immersive qualities, such as rich lore, thoughtful mechanics, and respect for player intelligence. Players value the developers' long-term commitment to refining the game and its unique blend of post-apocalyptic themes with deep gameplay systems.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Enjoyment comes from the game's strategic combat, exploration, and character customization. Players find satisfaction in overcoming overwhelming odds, experimenting with builds, or engaging with the game's world. The blend of classic and modern RPG elements is often cited as a source of fun.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Enthusiasm is fueled by the game's depth, replayability, and cult appeal. Players express excitement about its unique setting, randomized events, and the freedom to experiment with diverse playstyles. Long-term engagement (e.g., 300+ hours) and anticipation for expansions contribute to this emotion.
- Recommendation (weight 0.02): Recommendations stem from the game's complete experience, particularly its tactical combat, storytelling, and replayability. Players often suggest it to fans of classic RPGs or those seeking a challenging, immersive title. Advice on build planning or sticking to a playstyle is commonly included.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Amusement arises from the game's absurd or humorous elements, such as creative build descriptions, sarcastic critiques of its difficulty, or unique mechanics (e.g., 95% hit chance resulting in misses). Players enjoy the game's quirks despite its frustrations.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is directed at specific design choices, such as unfair difficulty spikes (e.g., Junkyard A mission), poorly balanced patches, or game-breaking bugs. Players feel punished by restrictive systems (e.g., crafting, progression) or forced to rely on save-scumming to progress.
- Resignation (weight 0.01): Resignation reflects players' acceptance of the game's punishing nature, often after prolonged frustration. Some give up due to overwhelming difficulty, reliance on external tools (e.g., wikis), or the need to restart playthroughs. Requests for refunds or abandoning the game are common outcomes.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is tied to the game's sequel or future updates, with players eager to see improvements or new content. The unique mechanics and challenging gameplay also evoke excitement for replaying or exploring additional features (e.g., DLC).
- Immersion (weight 0.01): Immersion is driven by the game's atmospheric world-building, serious tone, and detailed lore. Players appreciate the lack of hyper-ironic humor and the focus on creating a believable post-apocalyptic setting with engaging dialogue and history.
- Challenge (weight 0.01): The game's steep difficulty curve and lack of hand-holding are seen as challenges that require self-reliance and experience. Players acknowledge its unforgiving nature but often frame it as a test of skill or adaptability.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance stems from specific design flaws, such as overpowered enemies, cumbersome mechanics (e.g., reloading, vendor placement), or repetitive tasks (e.g., backtracking). Players feel these elements disrupt the flow of gameplay without adding meaningful depth.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy is derived from the game's replayability, build variety, and overall experience. Players celebrate the sense of accomplishment from overcoming challenges or discovering new strategies, often replaying the game multiple times.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love reflects deep admiration for the game's unique identity, challenging gameplay, and immersive world. Players describe it as a 'dream game' or a standout title that resonates with their preferences for hardcore RPGs.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Hope is tied to expectations for the sequel or future improvements. Players express optimism about returning to the game with better builds or seeing the developers refine its mechanics in subsequent releases.}