It Lurks Below Review Summary

Praised for Diablo-style loot and replayable procedural worlds, but frequent freezes, no co-op, and punitive death mechanics hold it back.

Strong Overall Player Reception: Many reviewers describe the game as fun, good, and enjoyable overall. This positive sentiment appears repeatedly across several clusters, indicating broad player satisfaction.

Diablo-Style Randomized Loot: Players highlight randomized weapons, armor, magical equipment, and crafting materials as a core strength. The loot system is frequently compared to Diablo-style systems with varied stats and magic find.

Procedural Worlds Boost Replayability: Procedurally generated maps keep exploration unpredictable and create a fresh experience each run. Combined with high replay value, this adds long-term appeal for many players.

Active And Responsive Developer: The developer is described as awesome, hardworking, and constantly engaging with the community. This active involvement is appreciated and noted positively by reviewers.

Potential Interest From First Impression: Some reviewers describe the game as potentially interesting or somewhat fun before deeper play. This indicates a positive but not overwhelmingly strong first impression for a subset of players.

Frequent game freezes reported: Players report the game freezing after a few minutes, often with audio still playing, and sometimes linked to cloud saving. This is a critical stability issue preventing basic play.

No multiplayer or co-op: Players express disappointment that there is no multiplayer or online co-op available, limiting the ability to play with friends.

Punitive death mechanics: Losing all loot and equipment on death cannot be disabled, and retrieving gear is nearly impossible if you die again in a difficult area. This frustrates casual and new players.

Feels incomplete and unfinished: Several players feel the game is incomplete and unfinished, lacking polish and content.

Crashes on title screen: Some players cannot get past the title screen due to repeated crashes, making the game completely unplayable for them.

Survival needs fuel mechanics: Players consistently mention hunger, sleep, and food management as core survival mechanics. This includes finding food, avoiding starvation, and managing sleep while battling enemies.

Diablo and Terraria mashup: The game is widely described as a mix of Diablo and Terraria, combining elements of both. It blends ARPG mechanics with sandbox survival and building.

Survival action RPG hybrid: The game combines survival elements with action RPG and dungeon crawling. It features sandbox exploration, loot-driven progression, and crafting.

2D survival crafting sandbox: It is a 2D side-scrolling game in the survival/crafting sandbox genre. Players build, mine, and explore in a 2D perspective.

Terraria and Starbound comparisons: Reviewers frequently compare the game's appearance and style to Terraria and Starbound, though they note the gameplay is different. It is also compared to Planet Centauri.

Frequent and persistent crashes: Many players report ongoing crashes that occur regularly during gameplay, sometimes every 5-10 minutes. The problem is severe enough that restarting is often the only temporary fix.

Game freezes during play: Multiple reports describe the game freezing after a short time, with audio continuing in some cases. This makes normal play impossible for many users.

Smooth performance on high settings: Some players report the game runs perfectly at 1440p maxed out, with smooth performance and good coding. This contrasts with the many crash reports.

Game becomes unresponsive: Reports include the game stopping responding while playing, and in one case a solid black screen with audio still playing. These are severe freeze states.

General stability complaints: Some feedback simply mentions poor stability without further detail. These are broad but consistent with the more specific crash reports.

General recommendations: A few reviewers give a simple recommendation to buy the game, try it, or give it a chance. Some say it's a good game overall and worth playing.

Not recommended at current state: Several reviewers explicitly cannot recommend the game in its current unfinished state, citing insufficient content, bugs, and poor stability. Some suggest it should be removed from the store until fixed.

Recommended for Terraria/Starbound fans: Fans of Terraria and Starbound are often recommended this game for its 2D sandbox survival and looting aspects. However, some warn that it is not a true replacement and to look elsewhere for a full sandbox experience.

Wait for sale: Many reviewers advise waiting for a discount before purchasing, citing the game's price relative to its content and unfinished state. Some recommend buying only on sale or at a deep discount.

Recommended for Diablo fans: Many reviewers recommend the game specifically for fans of Diablo and Diablo 2, noting its ARPG and hack-and-slash elements. It is frequently described as a must-have for Diablo enthusiasts.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $19.99.

Game completion: 10.0h.

Session length: 8.5h.

Endgame: 25.0h.

Reports indicate the game often clicks after the early tutorial, invasion, and hunger friction; getting past the tutorial is explicitly tied to the game getting much better. Other players enjoy the loop immediately or find it repetitive later, but the clearest time-to-fun evidence points to 'clicks after.'

Reported time to anchor: 3h.

Friction: Unclear or tedious tutorial quests; Constant enemy attacks and Commander invasions before the tutorial boss; Hunger and food management before a stable food supply; Tedious mining and manual inventory/block/seed swapping; RNG-heavy item progression for specialized builds.

Old-School ARPG Loot Hunter: Grinds gear, experiments with classes and builds, and evaluates the game through an old-school ARPG lens. Motivation: Reliving the Diablo-style loop of building characters, hunting loot, and chasing meaningful progression. Stance: buy.

Survival Sandbox Explorer: Explores procedural worlds, gathers resources, crafts and builds, and may avoid high-pressure survival modes. Motivation: Exploring, crafting, and building in a Terraria-like survival sandbox with light RPG and action layers. Stance: sale.

Hardcore Challenge Grinder: Plays hardcore mode, accepts character deaths, repeats runs, and grinds low layers or endgame content for optimal gear. Motivation: Testing builds under harsh conditions and chasing incremental power through hardcore runs and min-maxing. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The provided reviews indicate a playable but not seamless Steam Deck experience. Recurring friction includes small UI scaling at high resolutions, weak menu and controller support, and the need for manual troubleshooting such as driver updates, file verification, cloud save changes, and resolution or game option adjustments. No evidence in these reviews points to mandatory Proton Experimental toggling, external launchers, anti-cheat failures, battery drain, or frequent crashes.

David Brevik as Developer: Many reviews highlight that the game is developed by David Brevik, the creator of Diablo and a legendary figure in the industry. This is often mentioned as a key selling point and context for the game.

Comparisons to Diablo and Terraria: Players frequently compare the game to Diablo and Terraria, noting similarities in mechanics, style, and overall feel. Some also mention other games like Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and Starbound.

Mix of Diablo and Terraria: The game is often described as a blend of Diablo and Terraria, combining ARPG elements with 2D sandbox building. This unique mix is a common point of discussion.

Favorable Comparison to Diablo 2: Some players compare the game favorably to Diablo 2 in terms of quality, indicating that it meets or exceeds expectations for fans of that classic ARPG.

Early Access and Ongoing Development: The game is currently in Early Access, with ongoing development and plans for future improvements. It is not yet fully balanced, and the developer is actively working on it.