The Darkness Below
ELEFTHERIADIS SAVVAS · 2026 · RPG, Dungeon Crawler, CRPG, Indie, Singleplayer
PC
Mostly Positive80% · 74
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About The Darkness Below
A Classic First-Person Grid-Based CRPG — Rebuilt with Modern Depth
The Darkness Below is a large-scale, single-player dungeon crawler inspired by the golden era of 90s RPGs — Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, Might & Magic III–V, Lands of Lore — rebuilt with deeper character systems and modern stability.Explore a handcrafted fantasy world through first-person grid movement and fast turn-based combat.Train skills by using them. Advance through expertise tiers. Shape your party through meaningful progression and choice.This is a true old-school CRPG — without the old technical limits.
What Awaits You
• 40+ handcrafted maps spanning villages, cities, wilderness, towers and multi-level dungeons• 30+ quests (main & side), woven across an interconnected world
• 50+ unique monsters, each with custom actions and tactical behaviors
• 40+ spells across multiple elements and expertise tiers
• 30+ skills, improved through active use and specialized trainers
• 15 races (with selectable subraces) and 7 professions, each shaping long-term character growth
• 50+ feats to refine your build
Deep Character Systems
• Skill-based advancement (use skills to improve them)• Expertise tiers: Initiate → Apprentice → Adept → Master → Grandmaster
• D&D-inspired challenge checks (passive & active)
• Spell slot allocation system
• Elemental damage & resistance mechanics
• 8 battle conditions (Poisoned, Maddened, Cursed, and more)Build carefully. Train deliberately. Specialize with intent.
Combat & Exploration
• First-person grid movement (mouse & keyboard, fully rebindable)• Blazingly fast turn-based combat
• Recruitable NPC companions with distinct combat roles
• Interactable world objects: levers, locks, traps, banners, secret mechanisms
• Local map, world map, and completion trackingCombat rewards preparation. Exploration rewards curiosity.
Itemization & Loot Depth
• 300+ handcrafted base items• 50 enchantment types with dynamic magical item generation, creating thousands of equipment combinations
• Handcrafted relic items placed throughout the world, tied to quests and specific locationsFind rare relics. Forge powerful builds. Optimize your party.
Designed for Classic CRPG Fans
The Darkness Below is not a simplified retro experience.It is a full-scale dungeon crawler built for players who enjoy:• Structured progression
• System depth
• Tactical combat
• Exploration without hand-holding
• Meaningful character buildingIf you miss the weight and structure of classic dungeon crawlers — this is built for you.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
AI SLOP FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! First author asked AI to create DnD-like RPG system. And it did. It added good amount of skills with some of them never being used in the game at all. Like stealth or quickhand. None of these are never... literally NEVER ever used for anything in game. Neither in game mechanics nor checks. Many other skills are just used once. I guess I should also mention that despite skill hints mentioning different skill levels like apprentice, master, grandmaster you'll never actually level any skill beyond apprentice. But even in this case the only difference it makes is that characters can use +1 weapons/armors which doesn't make any difference (except for magic). This is your "Deep Character Systems" in authors imagination. Then author asked AI to write a storyline. I guess it was written earlier in times when AI context was smaller. This is why story starts with Lovecraftian horror and ends up with Matrix-like glitches of reality. Haha. Secondly author created levels using AI. They all look alike - tree-like mazes with 3x3 and 2x2 rooms. Many paths leading to dead-end or empty room having neither loot, nor monsters. City is a tree-like maze, dungeon is a tree-…27 found this helpful
Casters don't start with any spells and people on the forums say you don't get them for quite a while. The music & sound are very basic and rather grating. NPCs already start to reuse the exact same AI-generated portraits 30 seconds into the game. Why did they need to reuse them if they're generated by AI? Couldn't they just generate more? If you're gonna use AI, make the most of it. I can do better on my phone in 20 seconds. And combat feels pretty bad - enemies just disappear without any sound when they die? I couldn't find anything to sink my teeth into here. Just play Legend of Amberland 1-3 instead.6 found this helpful
Overall, i had fun playing this game, and its nice to play an RPG that isnt endlessly complex........ but some of the puzzles are frustrating and it can be tough to remember who gave you a quest. I appreciate that it adheres to the classic crpg rulebook, but its sort of limiting. The gear, and magic systems seem underdeveloped. Worth playing, but dont expect a big finish to he game.3 found this helpful
If you're a fan of Might & Magic, Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore, etc... this game was made for YOU! I started the game not really taking it too seriously because I honestly thought it was going to be another poor soulless attempt at making a CRPG... This game is oozing with spirit and you can feel the love. This game just took me back to the early/mid 90s... without the frustration. Very intuitive gameplay, easy to jump in and start questing. I enjoyed the character creation... although it could use a bit more masculine Knight, Barbarian and Paladin portraits. Some of the portraits are good and some of them look very stock. Overall I was amazed by the world the developer(s) have created. I didn't play too much but what I played I loved and I can't wait to come back to it. I missed the Sale but bought it anyway... I feel like $16.99 is still a bit much but I'm glad I bought the game. It's totally worth it if you're of big fan of the genre and want to play a New CRPG that's something like the classics. I play some of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLSh370oV2Q&t=1s2 found this helpful
Fun retro clone to Beholder or Magica.
Thenk you, this is realy very exciting!!
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