Below, Rusted Gods

This was a good game. I ended the first run in about 3 hours after being dared to play it by some of my friends. No ♥♥♥♥♥♥ jump scares or useless nonsense. Straight into the story and brilliant right till the end, with some truly spectacular moments. I do not like horror games, but this one might have changed that.

Honestly, this is my platonic ideal of a horror game. Being able to finish it in a single session is a genuine plus for me, horror feels most effective in short bursts. Does an excellent job grounding the player within the setting, and unlike some of it's contemporaries, I think it fully utilizes the medium of interactivity to create a credibly intense atmosphere. Despite only interacting with them through text, I found myself with a genuine fondness for the 4 men I sent to meet untold horrors beneath the earth. I wish it had ended differently for them. Admittedly I startle pretty easily in these games, but I really liked the moments where the game capitalized on the mounting tension, very well-paced imo. That being said, the atmosphere is the real star of the show. Thick, oppressive, like a layer of evening fog. Only gripe I could make is that I did have to reload a save when the progression bugged out, but I only lost 5 or so minutes of progress so it wasn't a big deal, but it did break the tension a bit. Very easily recovered though, was able to slip back into being immersed again within minutes, such is the quality of the setting here. Love this game. Need more like it. …

its a pretty nice walking sim, i cant really tell you about my experience without spoiling much but its a walking simulator with good atmosphere, it was a little short but that doesnt mean that its bad. all in all I recommend this if its on sale

Enjoyable

There is no way only 5 people working on this mission. At least 4 two-men squad should be in dispatch. Also there should be at least 2 technicians for the electrics, 2 intercom operators, 2 audio and video recording operators, 2 guards, 1 janitor, 1 operating commander, even maybe one nightshift coffee service. All in all, the settings doesn't make any sense. I'm very familiar with Soviet era working systems, this is not how we work at that period. So the No.1 negativity of this game for me is the whole "1 operator who has to do everything in a squad/band-based job" setting. No.2 negativity for me is after the power cut off, I can't find any clear instructions in game to make the power distributor work again. Not a single clear hint for me to know what to do next. And looking back to the hallway seeing that mutilated woman hanging on the ceiling isn't terrifying at all. It's just annoying to hell can't figure out what to do next without watching YouTubers playing this. Developers should add clear hint or instructions in this game, and fix some clicking mechanism issues for the clickable items. No.3 negativity is the voice acting. It sounds like non-native speaker read the…

Below, Rusted Gods was really an "in for a penny, in for a pound" sort of deal. I bought this game because the art was good, the premise intriguing, and it is hilariously cheap. I expected something half decent and instead was treated to one of the best horror games I've played. The game is well optimized, in my opinion, so that you can enjoy the horrors beyond comprehension at a reasonable graphics setting, and the audio is *chef's kiss*. The game builds its atmosphere in fantastic fashion, and plays it wonderfully, preferring long, agonizingly slow burns to satisfying payoffs over cheap jumps, though you'll encounter your fair share of sudden, full-bore terror. The intrigue is played with similar skill: enough information and implication about the horrors below to hook you, enough to give you a glimpse, but not enough to answer the real questions. As such, the unknown is the most terrifying part of the game, and there is so much you don't know. For $8, I can't recommend it enough. What a game.