UnderMine

In UnderMine, players control a series of procedurally generated player characters who are compelled to find their fortune in a dark and dangerous mine. During each run, players progress by descending through the mine's levels, exploring a procedurally generated series of rooms on each level, and gathering rewards. The player character must attempt to survive by defeating monsters in real-time combat and avoiding environmental hazards while collecting items and power-ups in order to defeat bosses. While the player's characters may often die as a result of being overcome by the game's challenges, half of the player's accumulated stash of gold as well as many unlocked equipment or upgrades are retained for use by a new character for the next run. Players may encounter and rescue non-player characters (NPC), who will then stay at the game's hub area to provide permanent upgrades or useful items for trade. Well-received. Critics praised its roguelike gameplay mechanics and dungeon crawling elements, and drew favorable comparisons to other games such as The Binding of Isaac and The Legend of Zelda series. A sequel, UnderMine 2, is currently under development.

• Title — UnderMine • Developer — Thorium • Publisher — Thorium • Engine — Unity Engine • Platforms — * Microsoft Windows • Nintendo Switch • PlayStation 4 • Xbox One • Released — * Windows, Xbox One • August 6, 2020 • Nintendo Switch • February 11, 2021 • PlayStation 4 • March 30, 2021 • Genre — Roguelike, action role-playing • Modes — Single-player

UnderMine is presented in an isometric view with the player in control of a randomly generated player character, referred to as the "peasant". Armed with a pickaxe, the peasant is tasked by Arkanos the Archmage to investigate the source of tremors within the mines and search for a missing blacksmith. Players could refer to a min-map which is present on the bottom corner of the user interface screen for navigation, and collect keys for the opportunity to reach previously inaccessible areas. Bombs may also be employed to find secret rooms. A range of potential enemies may be encounter during exploration, from mundane rats to fantastical creatures like Spate Flies who spit green orbs, green slime-like beings called Pilfers who attempt to steal the player's gold, and strange monsters which masquerade as treasure chests. Some rooms will feature environmental hazards such as spikes, oiled surfaces, or spinning blades snaking around on tracks. Bosses are designed in such a way that players need to utilize a combination of upgrades and skill in order to defeat them. Should the player character's health points drop to zero after taking damage from enemies or environmental hazards, they become permanently dead and is replaced by a new player character, which starts a new run-through for the player. The focus on items and character builds is a core element of the gameplay of UnderMine. Players retain half of their gold reserves upon their current character's death, which is stashed away to safety by a loyal canary familiar. Players can use the money to buy equipment and upgrades which also carry over to the next run. The discovery of powerful items called "relics" will greatly impact the probability of success for each run-through: example include floating boots that allow the player character to walk over the otherwise dangerous pits, a sewing kit that retains all ore reserves upon the character's death, or a "Keyblade" which increases swing damage for each key the player possesses. Player characters may encounter non-player characters such as a blacksmith, an alchemist, or a priestess during their journey. Once rescued, they will travel to the hub area and provide permanent upgrades to heroes in the form of statistical boosts, like increased health or damage output.

UnderMine is developed and published by Thorium, a two-person Canadian indie game studio founded by Derek Johnson and Clint Tasker in 2015. Both Johnson and Tasker met each other during their time at Canadian developer Relic Entertainment, and later made the decision to leave Relic to start their own studio and pursue their passion projects. UnderMine, Thorium's first video game project, is described as "darkly lighthearted". Johnson and Tasker consider UnderMine to be the sum total of the "highest quality ingredients" collected from the action adventure game, roguelike, and role-playing game (RPG) genres. Earlier video games which have influenced UnderMine include The Legend of Zelda series, Dead Cells, The Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, and Hyper Light Drifter. The gameplay mechanic of rescuing NPC's which would then provide the player with permanent benefits is inspired by the 1990s Super NES title Soul Blazer. UnderMine was released as an early access PC title for Windows, MacOS, and Linux on August 20, 2019. After five years of development, UnderMine officially transitioned from early access to a full release on August 6, 2020 for Xbox One and all PC platforms, as well as inclusion into Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service. A port for the Nintendo Switch was released on February 11, 2021, followed by the PlayStation 4 version on March 30.