Undergrave from Wired Dreams Studio and QUByte Interactive will take you on a journey through the Void Realm in a roguelike adventure. Check our Undergrave review!

 

Undergrave from Wired Dreams Studio and QUByte Interactive will take you on a journey through the Void Realm in a roguelike adventure. The indie dev and publisher combo previously gave us turn-based dash ‘n slash Red Ronin on Sony’s last-gen console, and they’re now back with a different yet familiar experience. You must use your character’s three distinct abilities to try and survive the Underworld and its many deadly inhabitants.

Your abilities are to throw, dash, and jump. Each ability will consume some of your stamina, which recovers over time but seems to run out at the worst of times. You must, therefore, manage to stay one step ahead of your enemies in order to outsmart your opponents, trying to make the right call at the right time before it’s too late. You can move your character one square at a time with the left analog stick or the D-Pad and can perform the aforementioned throw, jump, and dash abilities by pressing the Square, Triangle, and Circle buttons as needed.

 

Press one of the buttons, and you’ll see the stamina cost – a.k.a. how much AP that ability will consume. You will also be able to control a cursor that will allow you to select on which square on the grid the action will be performed or, in the case of the dash, in which one of four directions your character will run. Defeat all enemies while trying to lose as little HP as possible, and a teleporter will pop up, thus making it possible to leave that small area so that you can jump to the next level, so that you can do it all over again.

Enemies won’t move until you move or perform an action, so you’ll be able to take a breather whenever you need it. It’s always a good idea not to rush into things so that you can properly assess the situation and think of the right strategy to survive each battle. There’s certainly a degree of strategy involved since you can’t attack enemies without your weapon in your hand, and throwing your weapon will leave you vulnerable and open to attacks until you manage to grab it from the square it landed on. You can also use your sword to dash and slash through an enemy if needed.

 

After every set of levels you complete, you’ll be taken to the upgrade room. Reaching an upgrade room will save your progress and your upgrades, making it possible to take a step back and close the game so that you can return to it later. If you close the game at any other time, your progress will be reset. In an upgrade room, you’ll be able to select from the available upgrades to boost your character. Will you heal your wounds? Will you increase your max AP? Or maybe, just maybe, you’d like to lower the cost of your dash by a single AP point?

The game has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to try and add to your collection. Given the game’s nature, it will not be an easy journey. The list includes 5 Silver trophies and 9 Gold trophies. What will you have to do to get those trophies so that you can move one step closer to that new Platinum? You’ll need to beat the game at least once, unlock the two additional characters, and defeat each boss in the game. There are also some miscellaneous objectives, such as dashing into two enemies at the same time, being damaged by two enemies at the same time, or defeating 100 enemies.

 

Undergrave is a fun roguelike adventure in which you’ll take things one step at a time. When you move or perform an action, enemies will react and move closer to you or perform one of their actions, so you’ll always have to be thinking one step ahead to stay alive for as long as possible so that you can hopefully manage to finish that particular run. There’s a full trophy list for you to try and add a new Platinum trophy to your collection, but it’s not going to be an easy one. Undergrave is out on PlayStation 4 with a $4.99 price tag.

Disclaimer
This Undergrave review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by QUByte Interactive.