Underrail

[Ross Scott]

Genre: RPG

Year released: 2015

Ross's rating: Unrated

Link to game:

https://af.gog.com/game/underrail

Free to play: No

GaaS: No

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[Eshanas]

I can't recommend this game enough. If you like old style, non-hand holding RPGs, this is the game for you. 

 

And if you don't like the Esp/Psi stuff, don't worry. I played a weird stealth/assault guy (wanted to be a sniper). It works out...if you manage your equipment and stats right. That said, builds are necessary for this game, think of them as unofficial classes. And if you DO like Psionic stuff, you can become a near-unstoppable demon.

The lore is rich and the setting - a collection of underground train stations divided into different groups - your crazy gangs, your not-so-goody-two-shoes-knights-in-shining-armor, your morally ambiguous rebels, your crazy cult, your weird off shoot humans, your survivalists - is fun. There are two main plot-lines depending on what side you pick. Choices matter, and people who you kill stay dead - and everyone can die. If you did a genocide run in UnderTale or Fallout 1 or Morrorwind, you can do that here. You do end up at the same place, sure, but for different reasons. I think there are four main endings.

 

There are some planned DLCs and one has come out, expanding the level cap from 25 to 30 and is leveled accordingly. It added Jet Skis, Shotguns, and Swords. If you want, you probably could just don some heavy armor and go to town on the underground.

 

GaaS: It's on GoG and I've gotten the .exe with no problems, moving it through multiple drives. This applies to a lot, if not most, GoG games so expect that to come a lot.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Eshanas (see edit history)

[okasion]

Fallout 3. Here. Give this game a chance- don't regret later buying the latest "Fallout" from Bethesda. Also, Styx is a bro.

[Surname117]

Doubt: Plays like Fallout 2 but something is missing.

[Ooferino]

Heard that UnderRail is like the original Fallout games (just less clunky). Played it; didn't really enjoy it. Decided to play the Fallout 1 and then 2, loved the heck out of them. To be honest, the UI wasn't that clunky. Felt sad that I'd finished Fallout 2 and decided to retry UnderRail. I still don't enjoy it. There's no 'soul' to the game (which is hard to say because apparently it's a passion project).

 

[Konrad]

I gave it a chance and didn't like it.
It felt pretentious and didn't respect the players' time. I'm biased though as I don't like games who have a hard difficulty just for the sake of a hard difficulty. Look player, this game is hard because the world is hard and unforgiving, so let's show this by making arbitrary choices to make the game hard and unforgiving for you.
I'm so done with that.

If it had an easy mode and no level cap (Level caps are my pet peeves) I would enjoy it so much but now it's just a hard pass.
It's probably good if you are able to see past that.

[zaps 4565]

this is strange to see ross showing an old school RPG like this but it is fallout 1 and 2 but much more refined but hard has some good looking art and 

unlike some other RPG that are trying to get the fallout 1 &2 feel down much more and the music is good 

 

I also hear that it was made by only 2 people

but why is this game here of all places I have no clue  

[Fascist_Grapefruit]

The best CRPG since Fallout 2 and I can't believe it was made by like 6 Serbians, god bless them.

Some people complain it's too hard, but that's because this isn't a generic Bioware, Obsidian or Bethesda RPG where enemy strength is tailored to the player and it's possible to skip half the game with speech checks. In Underrail you have to assume that some people can't be reasoned with and some horrors are just there to eat you so you should gear up accordingly.

If your build is garbage you are gonna get mauled to death by radioactive dogs in the junkyard, alternatively, if you survive the death dogs then you are probably good for the rest of the game. That's the early game bottleneck to test crappy builds and you can always rely on other people if you don't like creating your own characters. I personally just went with automatic rifles and heavy armor for my first playthrough and I had no issues.

I also never got tired of reading random dialogue from NPCs, they aren't like your typical wikipedia lore dumps you find in so many western RPGs and actually say things that feel believable. Like the hobos in the ghetto actually feel like authentic hobos, awesome. The story and setting are neat too, the tunnels are inhabited by fully fledged societies instead of living in the garbage 200 years after the apocalypse like in Bethesda's Fallout.

You can also choose to gain exp by exploring and digging through the garbage instead of murder so that's another plus for me, I dislike how in many RPGs you are incentivized to practically drive entire species to extinction in order to become stronger because all that does is encourage people to brute force their way through games instead of using their brains. Combat is fun regardless because it uses time units like in X-COM so there's a lot of freedom regarding murder.

There are also some issues with this game such as excessive backtracking, but I don't care, Underrail resonates with my lizard brain and I want more.

[Arseniy Yavorśkyi]

turn-based combat, therefore hard pass for Ross. hard pass for everyone else, because — allegedly — you have to read wiki guides before you even stand a chance in this game.

[UnwashedMashedPotatoes]

Now as A fan of the game I agree with the fact this game needs you to read up on the game especially on higher difficulties. Now about the game having no soul it has one and it's difficulty of the game, It likes to kick you down with hard fights and skill checks, making you find a different way to solve an issue and more often then not reading up on character builds is somewhat required and playing on oddity can make the game take forever to get through, however they did fix the clunky ui in an update early this year

Edited June 6, 2022 by UnwashedMashedPotatoes (see edit history)

[WhiteFlame]

Not a bad game. Certainly more on the good side, but not without minor problems. Mainly I don't like map (especially that there is no map in one certain giant city for no good reason) and trading system (I understand it, but trading is really not a reliable way to make money, probably it was exactly the point). And I certainly skipped much less dialog here than in famous big RPGs. This game have a lot of ways to take care of your enemies, and you will need to get rid of lots and lots of them. Practically this game is about combat, but it have ok story and very interesting side ideas, events and conversations.  And best thing about it - even if you slightly cheat in this game it still remains hard, make you think about how to use items that you have to survive another fight. Just don't change default difficulty, but you probably want to change default experience system (cause I am not sure oddity one provides you with enough of it). 

 

As for the cheats, I just gave myself highest stats and skills possible on character creation, and keep giving myself maximum possible skill points on level ups. Also I gave myself tons of money in both currencies of the game, to remove need to micromanage selling stuff. I think If you just gave yourself same "unfair advantage" on character creation and give yourself infinite money this game will be just playable enough for everyone who skipped it before because it's hard. Cause it will still be hard enough

Edited June 11, 2022 by WhiteFlame (see edit history)

[WhiteFlame]

On 6/11/2022 at 5:47 PM, WhiteFlame said:

Not a bad game. Certainly more on the good side, but not without minor problems. Mainly I don't like map (especially that there is no map in one certain giant city for no good reason) and trading system (I understand it, but trading is really not a reliable way to make money, probably it was exactly the point). And I certainly skipped much less dialog here than in famous big RPGs. This game have a lot of ways to take care of your enemies, and you will need to get rid of lots and lots of them. Practically this game is about combat, but it have ok story and very interesting side ideas, events and conversations.  And best thing about it - even if you slightly cheat in this game it still remains hard, make you think about how to use items that you have to survive another fight. Just don't change default difficulty, but you probably want to change default experience system (cause I am not sure oddity one provides you with enough of it). 

 

As for the cheats, I just gave myself highest stats and skills possible on character creation, and keep giving myself maximum possible skill points on level ups. Also I gave myself tons of money in both currencies of the game, to remove need to micromanage selling stuff. I think If you just gave yourself same "unfair advantage" on character creation and give yourself infinite money this game will be just playable enough for everyone who skipped it before because it's hard. Cause it will still be hard enough

 

Just finished the main game (and maybe will finish DLC too, but I am kind of uncertain, cause I am already at the maximum level and there will be no more growth with a lot more hard fights ahead). So...even maximizing myself in everything but equipment it was long and somewhat hard. Especially last boss...which you can actually beat easier if you consume all the enhancing drugs you have. Otherwise it was unbeatable for me (well maybe if I was doing full combat build with all the needed feats...and crafted myself best equipment possible). Anyway, point is that this game is...something. On harder difficulties it might as well be "prison sentence game", but kind of fair one.

[WhiteFlame]

On 6/18/2022 at 5:23 AM, WhiteFlame said:

Just finished the main game (and maybe will finish DLC too, but I am kind of uncertain, cause I am already at the maximum level and there will be no more growth with a lot more hard fights ahead). So...even maximizing myself in everything but equipment it was long and somewhat hard. Especially last boss...which you can actually beat easier if you consume all the enhancing drugs you have. Otherwise it was unbeatable for me (well maybe if I was doing full combat build with all the needed feats...and crafted myself best equipment possible). Anyway, point is that this game is...something. On harder difficulties it might as well be "prison sentence game", but kind of fair one.

Well...Just finished the Expansion for the Underrail. Or you may say DLC, but it was pretty big (not as big as main game still) and... It was really really good. Story is much better than main game in my opinion, and I experienced less BS during combat. And it have one really really good NPC, that speak about some really interesting philosophy. I guess now I actually like this game

[Surname117]

Good/Great: I know I already review this, but I since revisited it. It is really good, but make sure you pull one of the builds from the forums and play on a harder difficulty.

[kerdios]

On 6/25/2022 at 6:29 AM, Surname117 said:

Good/Great: I know I already review this, but I since revisited it. It is really good, but make sure you pull one of the builds from the forums and play on a harder difficulty.

harder difficulty? do you get more xp and loot for that?