Posted on: January 9, 2022

Ryald_King

Games: Reviews: 6

Technically VERY frustrating

I'm a big fan of Fallout 1 and 2. Underrail reminds me of those games and I was initially enthusiastic about it. However, I'm about 30 hours in and I've lost interest in this game. The graphics look fine. The writing is awkward. The combat is mediocre and unbalanced, as the game starts off a bit on the difficult side, but then gets way too easy soon (this is on Normal). While I could live with all of the above, the game's technically primitive engine has exhausted all my patience -- the engine is worse than the engine of the original Fallouts! First, the maps world is split into many tiny maps. Imagine Vault City from Fallout 2 split into 8 areas, for example. While Fallout 1&2's load times are nearly instantaneous on today's PCs, Underrail takes several seconds to load each map. That is an issue because to get from point A to B you have to traverse a bunch of these maps -- so the load times really add up & break immersion. Combined with a lack of fast travel and slow walking speeds, backtracking is infuriatingly tedious. In addition to all that, there are often long wait times (longer than 5 seconds) between each enemy when it's their turn. So combat is insanely slow compared to Fallout, simply because the engine needs to calculate stuff all the time, despite my game running on a SSD, 32GB RAM and a 6-core CPU. My CPU usage hovers around 1-3% with Underrail. That suggests that this game's engine is completely unoptimized and probably poorly built from the ground up. It can only handle tiny maps and can't take advantage of any hardware released in the last 10-15 years. The interface also leaves a lot to be desired. It has zero scaling, so it is completely unplayable in 4K. I have to play it in 1080p on my 4K monitor just to be able to comfortably see the UI. I don't mind playing retro games, but there is zero reason to make them in an engine that is outdated by 25 years and systems that lack QoL. For example, the world map and pathfinding are garbage.

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Posted on: April 26, 2020

ericmax123

Verified owner

Games: 162 Reviews: 2

Great Game

Just finished. Apparently I spent 175 hours in this including expedtion! I think I spent like $20 for the pair. Good value for sure. I remember my first impression was that it was just OK. I after nearing the end of everything I could do around South Gate Station before the train was unblocked I figured the game was almost over. It felt like it was a mediocre experience fighting some rathounds and slightly more interesting in Junkyard. I still felt that classic Fallout/Fallout 2 were a little more fun, and something was kind of missing. Then I realized that yes those rocks around the caves can actually be breached. Then I found all kinds of hidden areas I hadn't seen before. I hand't seen the entrance into foundry and though that the one area at the front was it. I had completely missed rail crossing location. Then I got to core city and there was such a massive amount of content there there was much more diverse and interesting than previous stages. Then having the side quest with "Dude" was epic and hysterically funny and at that point I began to love the game. By this time I considered this game superior to classic fallout games that are some of my favourites of all time. Then I started into Expedition expansion and it adds a pretty massive amount of areas and quests (including aforementioned "Dude"), and blown away by just how massive this game is, and each stage keeps introducing new and interesting elements. Frustrations? For sure. There are a number of situations where game balance just doesn't seem fair or features seem introduced merely to annoy you. However, the solution is almost always to just go away and do other quests until you are high enough level. By late game, you will feel much more in control. I did a stealth sniper with psionic (metathermics), and not much else mattered. Aimed Shot/Snipe/Stealth, combined with frozen psi ability could manage most combat challenges.

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Posted on: July 2, 2018

pwny_express

Verified owner

Games: 416 Reviews: 6

Isometric RPG goodness - with caveats

While I love this game as much as the next person, there are some glaring issues that crop up. Chiefly, the biggest problem is that you'll be going at this alone the whole way; there is no party system in the game, making some sections INSANELY difficult when they really shouldn't be (seriously, I'm being killed by STRAY DOGS over here?!), and restricting how much you can carry (which is half the fun in games like this -- unloading a ton of shit onto a hapless shopkeeper after a good long dungeon run). As well, it feels like there are way too many skills used exclusively (or mostly) for crafting things; this could have been circumvented with party members that had crafting skills of their own, but again, no party system was implemented AFAIK. I'm not asking for the world here, just a buddy or two. Even the Fallout games had that much. On the technical side, you cannot move the camera around, meaning that if something is around a corner you'll never see it until you step over it or it comes after you. Also, the mines in this game are SO overpowered; most games are forgiving in at least giving you a few chances for stepping onto explosive traps, but in this game they pretty much obliterate your poor soul if you aren't a walking tank (maybe even then as well). And spotting them apparently takes an eagle eye (which I guess is realistic, outside at least), because you have to be practically on top of them or invest everything into your perception to see them from more than a few feet away. Speaking of traps, the bear trap and net are completely useless. Have the devs ever SEEN a real bear trap?! Those things can snap leg bones and cripple people when they go off, but in here they just take a few health off and hold you in place. And the net misses so often it might as well just be a bed sheet. Overall I do like this game for what it is -- someone's first commercial game -- but there are a lot of glaring issues that really show the amateur hour production.

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Posted on: May 3, 2016

mangodrink

Games: 275 Reviews: 2

Hard 10 hours, challenging 50+ after

I'd give 4.5 out of 5, mainly for minor quest-clue-solution annoyances and occasional typos. The mechanics are solid and challenges fair, and the first area of the game is kind of a mix of non-tutorial tutorial and weeder course, because your options are tight, resources seem scarce, and it all seems designed to really teach the player by dropping them in the deep end. Expect to replay the first 3-8 hours of the game a few times to get a feel for the skill points and stats economy and come up with a viable build that you can also enjoy playing (slow tank, mobile shooter, backstabber, trapambusher, etc.). It's a very tactical combat-oriented game, where even stealth and speech serve as tactical options rather than ways to avoid combat completely. Don't fret though, if you have a build you enjoy that manages to get through the first 6 character levels without too much reloading (and reloading is expected in this game, as it was in the old late 90s classics), you should have the start of a viable build to last you through the end of the game--just spend future points reasonably with combat first in your mind. Now, it's not all about combat, it's also a well-fleshed out world full of lore and immersive NPCs, factional culture, stories of things going on despite your toon. The game mostly avoids drawing attention to the old CRPG trope of the One Hero, instead doing a good job positioning you more as an investigator "fixer" type, doing tough odd jobs, but always incidental to the slow buildup of this subterranean area's developing events. That is, until your toon is in the middle of it! Individual characters may have "merely okay" writing and personality, but factions are multifaceted and avoid boiling down to being simple "good" or "evil" cutouts. You pick your sides and get the job done, and your toon's character comes out of whatever plays out, nobody judges except the factions you piss off. And you. Can you live with your toon's self? Can you survive the Underrail?

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Posted on: January 7, 2024

Cam.851

Verified owner

Games: 187 Reviews: 6

Deeply flawed and not respectful of time

OK, so this game has some highlights - it is huge, has good world building and good complexity. 'The Dude' is cool. Occasionally it is even atmospheric. However it is also bland in feel and graphics, and just not much actual fun. It loves trolling the player and adores wasting time. It has one of the absolute worst endgames I have EVER seen. We are talking a final segment that goes on forever, and has a lot of moon logic puzzles, Macguffin hunts/fetch quests, continously respawning (and dangerous) enemies, deliberately confusing corridors, and backtracking galore. Hell, it is even has a pixel hunt where a 100% necessary plot item is easy to miss if you don't hover your mouse over just the right spot!!! And the author has known about it for years and not fixed it!!! What. The. Hell. How is this 'game' highly rated? All the good aspects are outweighed and over-ridden by deliberate trolling of the player, particularly in that last segment. This is NOT the second coming of Fallout - which is actually enjoyable! - and it is not a very good game unless you are a masochist. If you are the sort of player who CAN give up on something once you begin, then fine try it. Somehow some folk seem to like it. But if you are like me, DON'T waste your time. (Yes I beat Underrail, may that one eyed monstrosity and the Deep Caverns he lives in rot in hell. If I wasn't so disinclined to quit something I started I would not have finished it, but my obsessive determination to finish stuff can be a warning to you. Don't buy this unless you like wasting your time.)

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