I love the feeling I get when exploring a new level of Below’s gloomy, foreboding dungeon for the first time. From the enemies to the environment art to the sound design, everything falls into place perfectly to create a spooky atmosphere of unveiling the unknown, never quite knowing what might lie down the next flight of stairs. Then I step on a cheap instakill spike trap, have to start over without my stuff, and likely need to spend the next 30 minutes farming lantern fuel and bat meat so I can take another crack at it. Talk about killing the mood.
Almost all of my biggest frustrations with Below come back to it not seeming able to decide if it wants to be a moody, deliberate dungeon crawler with satisfying combat or a punishing survival-action game that never lets you relax. It’s at its best when it keeps that first goal in mind, wowing me with cool, subterranean vistas and enticing me with hard-to-find secret rooms full of useful rewards.
Source: IGN.com Below Review