Hey, wanderers! We've just updated the game with a new patch to address some issues folks have had, as well as a balance tweak to... well, if you know, you know. Fixed an infinite loading bug Reduced the size of the crash .dmp file Slightly reduced the damage of a late game enemy
Hey, wanderers!
We've just updated the game with a new patch to address some issues folks have had, as well as a balance tweak to... well, if you know, you know.
Fixed an infinite loading bug
Reduced the size of the crash .dmp file
Slightly reduced the damage of a late game enemy
Thanks for playing, and feel free to join us in the Discord to share your thoughts!
https://discord.gg/uZrxeFw
Today we're excited to make the EXPLORE update available to everyone who owns BELOW. While some hardy wanderers have already braved the dark & brutal depths, many others perished along the way. The EXPLORE update is a new way to delve in with a less-punishing set of game rule
Today we're excited to make the EXPLORE update available to everyone who owns BELOW.
While some hardy wanderers have already braved the dark & brutal depths, many others perished along the way. The EXPLORE update is a new way to delve in with a less-punishing set of game rules. We hope it'll be perfect for those returning to the game as well as inviting all-new players to enjoy the atmosphere of the game on their own terms.
If you fell in love with the original game experience, don't worry! The unaltered game is still available, now called "SURVIVE" mode. Simply choose which mode you'd like to play from the main menu. Your progress in each mode is saved separately, so you're free to go back and forth without any trouble.
On top of this, we've also finally brought the game to PS4, where EXPLORE mode is also available. To celebrate this update, we're putting the game on sale until April 14th, and we'll also be doing some giveaways on our CAPY Discord. If you've got friends who you think might enjoy the new mode, this is a great time for them to check the game out!
UPDATE The update + sale may not be live for everyone just yet. We're working to resolve this ASAP!
Thanks for playing, everyone, and good luck exploring!
Hello, Wanderers! As you may have heard, we're going to be updating BELOW with a new mode very soon. This new mode, called "EXPLORE", will be launching alongside the new PS4 version as of April 7th, and we plan to make the update available to PC players via Steam on the same day.
Hello, Wanderers!
As you may have heard, we're going to be updating BELOW with a new mode very soon. This new mode, called "EXPLORE", will be launching alongside the new PS4 version as of April 7th, and we plan to make the update available to PC players via Steam on the same day.
EXPLORE mode has been created with community feedback in mind, and modifies many of the core rules of the game to encourage exploration for players who prefer a little more forgiveness than BELOW's original, ruthless design permitted.
(Don't worry - each mode has a dedicated save, allowing you to continue your progress in the original mode, now called "SURVIVE", whenever you wish.)
We've decided that we'd like to make this mode available a little early for PC players - this is both a sneak preview for CAPY's friends playing on PC, as well as a chance for us to ask the community's help in catching any last-minute issues with EXPLORE mode before we make it available to everybody on PC.
Here's how to opt in:
- Install BELOW from your Steam library
- Right click on Below's icon and choose "properties"
- Choose the "BETAS" tab
- Enter the following code: AIMHLSDAASMTCSPS
- Choose "Public - Explore Public Branch" from the drop down menu
See you Below!
We've also recently set up a CAPY discord, where you're invited to come and discuss BELOW and all of our other games. You'll also find a list of changes in the new mode pinned in the #below channel there.
We can't wait to hear what you discover in the Depths!
https://discord.gg/uZrxeFw
Hello, Wanderers - It’s hard to believe BELOW launched just over a year ago! Our haunting survival-roguelike may have been the most challenging CAPY game ever. We had the opportunity in 2019 to launch Grindstone, our quirky puzzle-battler, as well as to reflect on BELOW, and list
Hello, Wanderers -
It’s hard to believe BELOW launched just over a year ago! Our haunting survival-roguelike may have been the most challenging CAPY game ever. We had the opportunity in 2019 to launch Grindstone, our quirky puzzle-battler, as well as to reflect on BELOW, and listen carefully to feedback about the final game.
As time passed, one thing became resoundingly clear: people loved the brooding tone and melancholic atmosphere of the Isle, and we wanted to provide a way for players to experience that world without necessarily having to overcome the brutal test of endurance required to fully experience the world of BELOW.
This is what led us to create the EXPLORE mode of the game, which will be released with the upcoming PS4 version of the game this spring. (Xbox One and Steam players will receive the mode in future updates, as well.)
[previewyoutube=KsNLvjOh4-w;full][/previewyoutube]
The new EXPLORE mode tweaks and rebalances the game to present an experience that we think will be more approachable for many – and maybe even offer veteran players a way to return and relive their original adventure with less punishment.
At the end of the day, we’re excited for this mode (and the PS4 version we’ve just announced) to open the game up to even more players. And for the purists out there – don’t worry! The original experience has been preserved as SURVIVE mode, untouched and as unforgiving as ever. Whatever mode you choose, the world of BELOW won’t give up its secrets easily…
Thanks to all you Wanderers who have been with us since the beginning – and welcome to anyone new to the fold. We can’t wait to hear what you think of the new mode when it launches this Spring.
In the meantime, here is a breakdown of the changes you can expect to see in EXPLORE mode:
EXPLORE changes to survival:
No Hunger or Thirst
Can't drink puddles or bottles
Bottles still need to be filled with water for cooking soup
Soups restore health
Death's door teleport to island (Avoids the issue of jumping down without enough lamp juice to open the door)
EXPLORE Entity changes:
No one-hit deaths
No iron maiden
Fires don't burn out until you die
EXPLORE Damage:
All damage is bleed damage, giving the player time to stop the bleeding
Before I went home for Christmas last year, I had two firm ideas about Below based on, admittedly, only about ten hours of playing it. The first idea was that the game was a bit of a well-intentioned botch. The second was that, combat and exploration aside, what Below was really
Before I went home for Christmas last year, I had two firm ideas about Below based on, admittedly, only about ten hours of playing it. The first idea was that the game was a bit of a well-intentioned botch. The second was that, combat and exploration aside, what Below was really concerned with was fostering the slow realisation in its players that game design itself is probably one big roguelike.
My argument for this second point went something like this. Roguelikes - and roguelites, if you're willing to allow the term - are so good at creating stories because you have to commit. To play is to make decisions in a roguelike, and in a roguelike you have to live by those decisions to the very end. Below is definitely a roguelike (or maybe a roguelite, if you're willing to allow the term). Anyway, it's a dungeon-crawler: you wash up on an island, you mooch about in the beautiful pixel drizzle for a bit and then you discover a mountain with a very tall slot in it. It's a negative-space Monolith, beckoning to you from some kind of elongated version of 2001 (a negative-space odyssey).
In you go, and sure enough there are themed levels of dungeon to explore as you go down, down, down, navigating procedural rooms and their increasingly tricksy beasties as you grapple with shield-heavy combat and typical survival stuff that sees you expiring, over time, through hunger, thirst and the cold unless you salvage the things you need to see this triple-threat off for the time being.
Below, the long-in-development dungeon crawler from Canadian indie studio Capybara, finally has a release date, and it's very soon. The game will be released on Xbox One and PC (on Steam) in just over a week's time, on Friday 14th December. Below was first revealed during Microso
Below, the long-in-development dungeon crawler from Canadian indie studio Capybara, finally has a release date, and it's very soon. The game will be released on Xbox One and PC (on Steam) in just over a week's time, on Friday 14th December.
Below was first revealed during Microsoft's E3 2013 press conference and has been delayed multiple times, at one point indefinitely. I personally last saw it at GDC in 2016, over two and a half years ago. The game looked good and Capy boss Nathan Vella seemed upbeat. But it was later that year that it was delayed with no new launch window, and everything went quiet.
Below resurfaced at GDC this year, promising a 2018 release. Wes spoke with Vella around that time and he was, mostly, still upbeat.
