intelligent. hard. thrilling.

Great game. I couldnt figure out why i like it so much and what it reminds me of.
Then it hit me, is kinda like Systme shock with all the research and monsters and
story logs and looting everything.
Love the random levels, good replay value.

Death due to lack of oxygen? Check.
Death of starvation? Check.
Death of dehydration? Check.
Got bones fractured after massive blow from mutant, so could not run and got beaten to death? Check.
Beaten to death by zombie-like mutant? Check.
Got acid spit to the face multiple times and died? Check.
Got ground-smashed a lot by tank-like mutant and died? Check.
Got infected, did not find decontamination pills and became a mutant? Check.
Lost shotgun, because it became too hot after multiple shots and protagonist dropped it? Check.
Had to change pants at least twice because got scared to death? Check.
Backpack too small so you had to make a choice while scavenging between brand new shotgun and medipack? Check.
Ran with a crowbar towards mutant and yelled "for Gordon Freeman, you f**cking a**hole"? Check.

And the list goes on and on. This game is not even complete and it gave me more fun than most AAA titles from last two to three years. Tutorial and in-game help are very basic and the real fun and feeling of accomplishment comes from figuring things out by yourself. The challenge is real in this production. You can't yolo from room to room. You'll have to run for you life multiple times. You'll have to dodge. You'll have to prepare strategy for certain foes. You'll have to make food and water rations. You'll have to scavenge further and further into the danger zone. You'll feel terrified, scared, hopeless.

Why the hell are you still reading this? Buy this game. NOW. Play. Leave a review. Play more. Profit.

Subterrain is a top-down open world survival game set in an underground city on Mars that is currently available through Steam Early Access. In Subterrain you play as Dr West who has woken up to find himself in the abandoned detention centre of the afore mentioned underground city. You were only recently transferred to Mars after the man behind the city, Jeff Murray, invited you so you could continue to work on a cure for Alzheimer's review. After you find your way out of the detention centre and in to the rest of the city you soon realise the entire station is devoid of human life and now you share the city with a number of strange creatures all trying to kill you. Ultimately your goal in Subterrain is to survive long enough to find a way of Mars while completing missions and discovering what has happened to the city.

+Cool graphic style
+Fantastic atmosphere which creates a sense of immersion
+Already a lot of items, weapons etc.
+Good variety of weapons, ranging from hammers to plasma pistols
+Quite a few different enemies already
+Large map to explore
+Once you've left the detentention centre you're free to do whatever you want
+Good crafting system which not only allows you to make items from components but also allows you to break down items into components
+Good animations
+Quite a lot of environment interaction such as being able to drag chairs and tables around
+Interesting research system which allows you to create chemicals to enhance yourself
+Very friendly dev who is active in the game's forums
+Simple controls

+/-The UI is hard to get used to but once you've gotten used to it it's good
+/-No permadeath, since it's described as a "hardcore survival game" on the store front I would have liked to see

-Combat is repititive and pretty boring
-There's no map for the different parts of the city and it's very difficult to figure out where to go next at times, as of 03/05/2015 this is now implemented
-Quite a few spelling/grammatical errors in the text

Worth a mention:
-Currently there's quite a few placeholders in the game but of course they'll be removed as the game progresses through development

Verdict:
7

A fun top down survival game with cool graphics, a fantastic atmosphere. a large map and a lot of items already in the game. If you're a fan of similar games then I suggest you pick this game up or at least keep an eye on it.

***This review was written using a key provided by the Developer for review purposes***

El K.

This is a surprisingly complete early access game. If it weren't for the occasional small bug or fairly common typo, I'd think it was a complete game that steam had mistakenly labeled as early access. My first moment with this game was spent wondering whether or not the opening cutscene was supposed to have audio dialogue or not. My second moment was spent getting accustomed to the fairly simple controls and flipping through the brief and fairly straightforeward explaination of the games systems. After that, I spent some time wandering around the facility (in the wrong order because I wasn't paying attention, and noticing that your oxygen supply runs out in an amount of time I'd call "♥♥♥♥ all." Your oxygen tank will run out looong before your thermal will. It's an incentive to find and replace the broken filters/fuses in each sector and promotes a sort of "scouting" gameplay where you have to carefully plan your excursions until you get the filter/fuses replaced. I'm not sure, but I believe the filters/fuses can be destroyed or burn out. These filters/fuses are also vital not just for your genral survival, but also to push back the diseased hordes. The contagion that runs them doesn't like a warm, oxygen rich environement. The lower the entire facilities "infection" level, the safer you'll be. You also have to keep an eye on the facilities reactor, which will, apparently, be attacked by monsters occasionally. During that part of the game, it becomes a sort of tower defense. You can collect a wide array of "junk" items that can be broken down to obtain materials to create items you can actually use, and you can take items you have and research them to obtain the blueprints for that item, and the next most powerful version of that item. It's a very easy to use system.

I've gone to many game forums and seen many requests/recommendations. No game of this kind (sandbox/survival) have I ever seen where someone did not ask for the ability to take a ♥♥♥♥. It's well executed in subterrain, and is a far less persistant need than I thought it would be, considering a lot of games with defecation/urination often make you do it all the time. In the five hours I've played at the time of this review, the need for the character to take a ♥♥♥♥ has come up a grand total of once. Once. I thought when I got this game that it would be just another of the many pressing needs that had to be managed. It's not exactly tasteful, but it isn't nearly as distasteful as it was in any of the other games i've seen it in. It isn't really worthy of being a selling point though.

Overall, this is a good game, and as an early access game, it is a definete exception to the rule of early access games being garbage.

Buy this game.

It's that simple. Buy this game. Out of 125+ titles I've bought, this is my first review.

While the graphics and sound aren't superb, there's enough to offer a decent amount of atmosphere. The directional lighting adds to that further. The best thing about the game is the pacing element. The threat of overall infection is the "bad guy" constantly breathing down your back. This gives a constant state of urgency about the game, since the world isn't just waiting for you to gear up and fight the big bad - it's fighting back!

I've had more fun with this game than with many AAA titles. Many of them are just "fun" and have mild interest to wind down after a long day. This one... is dangerous. Instead of winding down I'm left with an adrenaline spike that makes getting to sleep difficult afterwards. Gotta go faster. Gotta beat down infected areas. Need better weapons. Infection getting worse. Enemies getting more numerous. Need to find the escape data or I'll lose the game. Enemies are getting stronger. Run. Heal as best you can. Base invaded. Forget healing, need to run. Forget looting, need to beeline for where the clues tell me the precious data is. Invaded again. Faster! Aaaagh! Crap. Learn from mistakes. Try again. This is a great ride.

The developers appear to be continuing to improve the product even though it's fully released.

The complexity is strong in this one. Subterrain is a top-down survival game, with heavy base-building elements. Its an interesting mix, that works surprisingly well. It is definatley unique - it does not 'remind' you of anything else out there. While the trailer hints at a horror-like atmosphere, thats not really how the game plays in reality. It can be edgy, but I haven't really seen many jump-scares per se.

Pros:
+You will get endless quality hours out of this game
+Great controller support and user interface
+Awesome complexity with base building and crafting
+Very polished feel and depth
+Feels very playable and do-able - a fresh breath from constant rogelike/lite permadeath deals

Cons:
-Very difficult to play on the big-screen due to large amounts of screen darkness
-Lots to learn with all the complexity involved, but its fed to you in a pretty reasonable way

Totally worth the money. Hours upon hours of survival gameplay to be had here.

25.10.2015 : (EARLY ACCESS)	v0.8.7.5	Really recommended!!

I love survival games. Definetely.
Subterrain is one of the best game inside this genre that has already houndreds of titles inside it.

Actually, at this current stage of development, is really nice playable withouth any sort of problem, and has a gameplay very similar to Project Zomboid, with the slight difference that you actually has a chance to escape (and yeah, it's based on MARS!).
Subterrain has a FANTASTIC dev team behind, that costantly update the game and provide support into the Steam Forum quickly.
The quality of graphic is quite simple, but you will forget about that when you'll notice the incredible atmosphere inside the map.

I strongly recommend to see the trello board to follow any update of the dev team, also you can check the current stage of development into the store page.

If you love survival games, this is a MUST HAVE.
Go grab it, and enjoy it!

This is a really fun and intersting survival game. If you like exploring, if you like crafting, if you like having to do things like restor oxygen and heat in order to safely explore areas, this is the game for you :)

The researching and crafting aspect are really cool, you really feel like you are just scraping by at first. The scavaging and exploration are balanced with the right amount of fear and curiosity.

This is really a cool game so far and I think its worth the money :)

So, after getting involved with helping out with Subterrain, my opinion is obviously extremely biased. However, I still defend my position by not being involved with Subterrain at the start. The game has improved a bit since I first started playing it, and many aspects of the gameplay have changed considerably based on player feedback. The gunplay is faster, there's an in-game minimap to help players navigate, randomization was expanded and a big chunk of content was added to the game. Even with all these drastic changes, Pixellore managed to preserve what made the game special in the first place. The changes were successes all around, as far as I'm concerned.

I love this game, and I'm proud to have contributed. It's not perfect and it's not going to be for everyone, but if you're looking for a top-down survival horror game with a bunch to read and a bunch to shoot, look no further.

The demo is a little out of date, so while you might get a "feel" for the game, keep in mind that weapons are much faster in the final game.

Subterrain is a top-down survival horror game where you have to manage the health, hunger, thirst, infection level and tiredness of Dr. Albert West while exploring the ravaged MPO Mars base. After escaping their prison cell, players need to research and develop guns, armor and other equipment to bring parts of the base back online while fighting the infection that's taken over while you were in confinement. It doesn't take long before you're thrown into the thick of it!

It takes a bit to get familiar with all the mechanics, but they aren't overly complex and are rather forgiving if managed properly. Dr. West is a rather capable fighter, able to dodge and block while using shotguns, pistols, SMGs, grenades and melee weapons to clobber all sorts of twisted horrors roaming Mars in the various districts with the goal of escaping Mars. To do this, players need to explore districts by connecting them back to the power system and taking a tram to the district of their choosing (similar in design to a dungeon). Unfortunately for the survivabilty of Dr. West, most districts are lacking working oxygen and thermal systems, requiring players to keep an eye on their oxygen and thermals while collecting materials, schematics and gear.

There's a rather robust crafting element to the game, in which players break down items to research them and develop better items as they improve their technologies. Crafting, material producing stations and research systems all have upgrades to expand their range of item creation.

Suberrain offers a bunch of difficulty levels, including one that disables menu saves and has permadeath, but also offers easier difficulty levels (though maybe too easy- stick with at least normal or above!) for those not wanting to weep over their keyboard when their character dies.

Over the course of a month the game has gone through a bunch of stable and impressive changes since I bought it; the developers are very responsive and are invested and proud of their product (as they should be!) and seem to be invested in continuing to update the game as time goes on and players continue to add feedback.

As an ARPG top-down shooter, or as a survival horror game, Subterrain is easily in the top running for both those lists. It's extremely enjoyable, and while there's a goal of escaping Mars, the game is fun enough to attempt to survive as long as possible.