Hi, everyone! It's time to Dig into UNDERGROUNDED!
In this corner, we'll be diving deep into some of the historical and cultural tidbits from the world of UNDERGROUNDED.
Maybe, after reading this, you'll see the game's world in a whole new light!
Today, we're going to take a look at the mysterious underground tunnel Scott finds inside the subway station.
The clean, bright station quickly gives way to something darker and grittier below. First thing to notice? The graffiti.
These wall-sized artworks capture the chaotic vibe of New York's underworld.
Manhattan really does have tunnels famous for graffiti, like the Riverside Park Tunnel, where layers upon layers of tags and murals create pure urban chaos.
Deeper down the tunnel, Scott runs into an old man. He's one of the so-called "Mole People," folks who actually live in New York's underground.
You might think, "So, just a homeless guy?" but reality is more complicated. Some work at fast-food places, some get pensions using a friend's address, and together they form surprisingly organized communities.
Many even have furniture, lighting, and TVs—not exactly whad you'd expect when you hear "life in the tunnels."
And then, pipes. Pipes everywhere. Ever wonder what they're for? Believe it or not, New York has been heating and cooling its buildings with steam for over a century.
Back in 1876, a man named Birdsill Holly invented a system that could heat an entire skyscraper from a single giant boiler.
The Empire State Building and other towers literally owe their existence to it. The catch? Corroding pipes.
That iconic shot in movies where steam bursts out of the street? Yeah... that's leaky underground pipes at work.
But the underground holds even stranger relics, like cargo tubes and an abandoned mystery train. These too are rooted in history.
In the 19th century, inventor Alfred Ely Beach secretly built an air-powered subway under Manhattan.
In just 58 days, he and his crew completed a tunnel and even set up a station decorated with chandeliers and a grand piano.
His dream was to cover all of New York with pneumatic trains… but politics killed the project.
The tunnel was sealed and forgotten until 1912, when workers digging the city's first real subway stumbled on its remains.
That wasn't the end of air-powered travel, though. New York later built a network of pneumatic mail tubes, zipping letters and packages around the city much faster than horse-drawn delivery.
The pipes Scott uses in the game are a nod to that quirky piece of history.
So, from modern-day steam to 19th-century forgotten trains, our underground journey has hopped back and forth through time.
But next time, we'll step into something even stranger: the very underground dungeon where history itself is all mashed together. Don't miss it!
《"Where are you today, Scott?"》
He's stumbled upon a retro arcade machine tucked away at the dead end of a sewer tunnel. What's waiting for him beyond it?
