Underrail Review: A Fallout Meets X-files Post Apocalyptic RPG that you just can't miss!
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- Time Code:
Character Creation and Progression - 4:57
Gameplay -12:55
Story & Lore - 40:12
Companions (There aren't any) - 48:06
Secondary Mechanics & UX - 48:34
Sound Effects & Mix - 54:29
Music - 55:39
Voice Acting - 56:57
Graphics - 57:02
Performance & Stability - 58:25
Other Considerations & Final thoughts - 58:50
NeverKnowsBest video:
• A review of every majo...
So NeverKnowsBest accurately identified Baldur's Gate, Fallout and Planescape: Torment as the most influential CRPGs of all time. Medieval fantasy and Post Apocalypse are arguably the most popular themes in the CRPG world and Baldur's Gate II and Fallout are its genre-defining pillars. That explains why we've had a slew of games who have tried hard to build upon the legacy of these timeless classics. Some games like Pillars of Eternity have tried to adhere very closely to their sources of inspiration in terms of, not only mechanics, but also aesthetics, level design and atmosphere. Some others like Underrail have stripped their source of inspiration to the core and used as the main ingredient for a dish that's rich in taste due to the plethora of other influences. The X-files, Blade Runner and Running Man influences are strong in this one!
let us not forget that most of the game has been made by just one guy Stig (started back in 2008)
Styg and its a team of roundabout 3-4, dont forget Yogi for writing and Phyrg for coding, and Mac for art
True. Mad respect for that.
stig dog?
Underrail is one of the best turn-based games I've ever played. In my opinion it is a worthy successor to Fallout. I highly recommend it
Same here. I've been playing it since back the early days on Steam. It really is one of the best Fallout spiritual successors out there. I can't wait for the next one - Underrail Infusion. Which is currently in development.
Underrail is so captivating, I was first kind of put off by the difficulty talk but ended up putting 90 hours into my first playthrough. In no other game was I ever so on edge, especially in the later stages
btw, the guy who did the underrail ost did the neo scavenger ost, his name is josh culler
Remarkable work.
I'm not a huge crpg fan, and I drop most the ones I play. But after seeing never knows best video, I casually stashed it on my steam. A year later, and I finally decided to play it and boy is it one of my favorite games of all time. Between the level design, fun writing, setting, brutal hardcore tactical and survival difficulty, it reminds me of a cross between post appocalyptic crpgs, dark souls 1 specifically, and deus ex. I absolutely love this game (when I don't hate it). The level design is the best I've seen from the genre.
Yes. Underrail is brilliant in most respects.
50:40 Hey, I used the same barrel! Except I only stored stuff for sale in there, and did appreciate having lots of different containers for different types of stuff at home. Also, while having workbenches might not be necessary, they are useful, as they give you skill bonuses, allowing you to craft things you normally wouldn't.
I love that you mentioned that builds aren't as important as people say in the game. Everyone seems to be saying the exact opposite thing. So far the reviews have been repeating how much you need a super optimized build to even have a chance to beat it.
People say the game is ugly but for some reason I find the graphics attractive:) I picked this up on GoG sale and considering playing this as my next RPG. Divinity OS 2, Expeditions: Rome and Bard's tale 4 are contenders too.
That lean beef patty exercising clip got me so distracted btw....so very distracted 🥲 That was cruel.
Anyways...great review. That's what I'm trying to say here.
Yes man! Eveyrone says you cannot beat this game unless you have an uber optimized build. And that is just not true. You need an ûber optimized build IF you want to bypass the games tactical challenge and do stuff like kill the boss in one turn. But even if you just "play it by ear" and re-load a couple of times (or ten) you can beat every fight if you figure out your actions. And, to me, THAT's where the fun's to be had in this game. And yes... Lean beef patty, yes. hehe.
There is a hard blocker in the second city that determines if you can get in to chapter 2 (?). If you dont have a build that can beat a difficult combat dungeon or have the ability to craft dynamite to get around it, well tough luck. I guess you have to restart. It gets even worse if you play with the trinket experience mode because that means you cant grind respawning enemies to get to higher levels.
There might be other ways to get through it but I have not played this game for several years so I dont remember. There might be ways to cheese the combat encounters there, but again I dont remember.
@@chuckwood3426 From what I understood from this review, there is in fact a way around most things in the game even if they seem insurmountable. May require a lot of head scratching though before finding the solution. But the solution is always there.
@@Lulasz there is. I just ran with my intuition.at the time I was creating my character an nothing stopped me ib the game. You will have to reload again several times and use some creative thinking. That's what combat is about in this game.
@@YeOldEntertainment Yea, but we have no idea if your intuition produced a strong build or not. FYI I also played blind and got through that dungeon on first attempt with a guns and mechanics build that could craft a powerful sniper rifle. But I have heard about others who made less optimal build and had to restart or quit.
I actually liked how the game started. I am so tired of the standard "you are the chosen one" narrative. I hate how Skyrim rly rushes you to become a dragonborn. I hate how in every main Fallout game you are thrown in to the world with some super-duper important task. Why can't we start on a low key? Why can't we just be a normal person who doesn't have "FATE" written all over their face? Give us some time to just kinda feel the world and to find our place in it before throwing the inciting incident on our heads. That would allow for more smooth transitioning from being just a normal person to becoming the agent of fate. It makes it easier to immerse ourselves in to the world as well as providing some contrast between character's mundane normal life and their adventure (because if everything is special - nothing is).
Idk how many ppl share my views on this topic. But personally i rly love presence of everyday life in the story before everything rly kicks off. I postponed my dragonbrorn saga by a few hundred hours, and i narcissistically avoided doing the main quests in Fallout games for a very long time constantly struggling to find RP reasons to go and do something else. But in Underrail i jumped on to the main quest right away and was pretty happy with how it went. It felt very natural from the role-playing point of view. We start as just a person that just got their citizenship and a job on the station. We then proceed to do our new job and learn the ropes. We begin to understand how this world works and where are we in it. And then things are starting to go a bit out of control creating a natural fear for the future of the station that just became our new home. I like playing characters that are starting from the bottom and slowly working their way up. Maybe cause i am slavic and i do not share the love of westerners towards plain and shallow power fantasy. In my eyes the power (including narrative form of power - aka your "the chosen one" status) only rly worth anything when it is achieved after we go through struggle and hardship, not just given you from the get go. So for me the beginning of the game was actually one of the highlights - i loved it.
Same. When I found all those people being held hostage in the abandoned bunker towards the beginning, and the team I raided it with said "whelp, not our problem" and I decided I would be the hero, kill the baddies, and save the townsfolk by myself..
And realized after 7 failed attempts I straight up could not save them.. because I was not some big bad ass action hero, they had me outgunned 5:1, and I was _just some guy_
And I had to walk away, leaving the innocents to their fate.
That shit really hit me, I had never felt that in an RPG before, powerless but like not in a bad way, just realistically what am I alone going to do against 5 armed enemies with beginner equipment and training
Thank you for leaving a comment. I agree with the trope of the “chosen one” being overused and irritating. And I agree that the dragonborn in Skyrim is the best example of how bad it can get. It was crude and lazy and straight out… boring. However, I think that you are conflating “having stakes” to “being the chosen one”, the latter of which was never even mentioned in the video.
In the original Fallout or in Shadowrun Hong Kong, you aren’t a “chosen one”, you are not the person who was “born under a sign” and is meant to fulfill some BS prophecy, nor the son of an evil god who has been called on to put an end to him, nor some similar silly cheap BS. You are a slightly-above-average-joe who has a personal stake in the matter at hand. You’ve been entrusted with this task because the people didn’t have too much of a choice or because you were slightly more qualified than the others, it has little to do with "fate".
In Outward for example you are the most average member of the community of Cierzo, but you still have to pay your grandmother’s debt if you don’t want the community to confiscate your house.
The main character in a story just has to have a personal stake from the get go, regardless of whether he/she is an average joe/jane or the chosen one. This is a basic principle of story writing (in the east and the west) and it applies to every form of entertainment that is structured as a story, be that a film, a book, a tv show or a videogame.
And Underrail is clearly the case. There is an overarching story with plot points, rising action, climax and falling action. You won’t hear me complain about the lack of stakes in games like Mount & Blade, Vagrus (the sandbox path) or Kenshi. These games are meant to be sandboxy and the stories they tell are more like snippets that are there to make quests relevant. But we can pencil the lack of personal stakes for the main character as a flaw in Underrail because the game is structured as a story. Whether or not you forgive this flaw or simply grant zero importance to it is a different discussion.
If you were hooked up because of the freedom you had as a player and that flaw didn’t bother you, then all the better for you, because you ended up enjoying 100% of the game instead of 75-80% as was my case. But having stakes and having the freedom to do whatever the hell you want, aren’t mutually exclusive things. You can have both of these things in a game at the same time. Again… take Outward as an example, you “have” to pay your debt or lose your house... but you can just leave town and never look back, if you so wish to.
In Underrail (and then again, in its expansion) this flaw is directly compensated (after act I) with a very strong overarching mystery. It does a very good job of generating intrigue and maintaining it all the way through to the end.
@@YeOldEntertainment thank you for a detailed answer. I will be short as english is not my 1st language so writing is difficult.
As far as Fallout 1 goes - i do consider it to be one of the "chosen one" thing. Yes, you are not a child of some demigod or anything, but as far as the story goes - you practically are treated as the chosen one. The vault gave you a very important mission from which depends their life. Why you? Why not a squad? A team? No, the story treats you as the chosen one. And as for the stakes - as far as i remember there are no loved ones or close friends and relatives in that vault. As a player - i didn't care if they live or die. As my character - i couldn't rly tell how much she would be worried, as we didn't get to learn more about those ppl. Maybe everybody there hated her and bullied? Who knows. I could've imagine something, make my own headcanon, and i did so. But it was because the game was lacking in this department. So i didn't rly get any stakes there. It was just a burden that i wanted to ignore.
Now imagine how cool it would be, if we didn't start the game in the cave outside the vault but instead - we started more like in Fallout 3 (and i do hate Fallout 3, but i did like the "growing up in the vault" part), where we grow in the vault, doing some chores, going on a quest to kill some radroaches with our friends. Maybe there is a chance to romance one of our friends during those moments. Have a date (or a party with friends if we don't engage in romance). Fight off some bullies together. Just spend some time doing just normal life stuff. Normal post-apocalyptic vault dwelling stuff. And then one day suddenly an accident appears - the water chip gets broken, and btw - WE are the reason why it got broken. So the angry mob pushes us outside of the vault, they want us to get another chip or die in wasteland for what we accidentally done. Our friends and the potential love interest are looking at us, they are too frightened to do anything. And then the door shuts closed. Our adventures begin. NOW we have stakes. Because now we are emotionally invested in those characters. Now we want to save them (or maybe - let them rot for how they treated you, if you so happened to not get any friends during your earlier quests inside the vault). Now it is not just a boring "you are the chosen one" story. Now we have emotions and drama. Now it is interesting.
I didn't play Outward - but it sounds like an ok start.
You say that Underrail is not an open world. But i kinda disagree. For a big portion - it is an open world. At least - to me it felt that way. It is about as open as Fallout 1/2. And open world RPGs should not be treated by writers as books or movies. It is a very different beast. In open world RPG you create your own story, your own path. While the main story is just something that connects all those small pieces in a larger whole, to create the feeling of greater purpose by the end of it all.
I feel that many of those "high stakes" main quests create a bad forced narrative that limits players RP potential, while all the "stakes" it presents are empty and pointless cause there were no time for the player to create any meaningful emotional connections with the characters or the world. If you want to create stakes - fine, but it will take time and character development. You can't just tell me "be worried about those NPCs, their lives are in your hands" if you didn't first make me care about them. And Underrail actually made me care, as i begin to like the ppl on the station. So when troubles started - i did care. I was worried about the station. I was worried about Gorsky and his gang shenanigans in Core city. Now with that - it had some stakes alright. I never felt that in Fallout 1 towards ppl in the vault (F2 at least tried to make some personal connections with the tribe at the start, but it kinda falls flat at it in my opinion).
I guess i am rambling at this point. But basically - i kinda get what you are saying, but i do disagree.
In my opinion open world RPGs should not focus on a fast and eventful start that right away points you as a special individual that the entire world depends on. Instead it should just let you breath and live a little in this new world that you've found yourself in. It should be focusing not on you but on the world around you. And after you settled in - then it might hit you on the head with the inciting incident and present some real stakes.
No worries, mate. English is not my first language either and some people even make fun of that here on the channel.
As for your answer. It does seem like you care about there being stakes. Telling by what you wrote, your problem with the original Fallout is more like the stakes were insufficient, and I get it. Yes, the only thing that hints at you being an important member of the vault is the guy saying: "just stay safe o.k.". But I can see why that wouldn't carry any weight with you and why you would simply not care about it. That's exactly how I felt with Wasteland 3 for example: they give a brief explanation about the importance of your mission, but it's all about "doing it for the people back home", but I really didn't give a rat's arse about the "the people at home" for the same reasons you pointed out, I was told nothing about them or what my relationship was with any of them. Good point.
I guess when I was in my early 20's back in the eary 2000's, Fallout's was enough to get things rolling for me, but for some reason Wasteland 3's weren't.
I think Underrail IS open world, I never said the opposite (I think) what I said is that it's not like Mount & Blade or Kenshi in the sense that these games lack an overarching story-like narrative, and that's why in those games having an initial thing-to-care-about isn't as important as it is in games that follow a story-like structure and narrative. I do think Underrail is more openworld than most people give it credit for: it is huge and there are no mandatory railroads (pun not intended) for you to follow. And this is one of my favorite things about the game.
@@YeOldEntertainment i do care about stakes, yes. And i do like mysteries and a greater overarching stories. My problem here i think was that you said so many times that Underrail doesn't have stakes, that i thought that your point is that any RPG should just immediately make you the chosen one center of the universe or else "there are no stakes".
And i think that Underrail has stakes. They are not screaming "drama" but they are there. You start your new life at the new place - surely you would feel a need to make a good first impression, and perform good at the job. Also the job is directly linked to the security of your station aka your new home - so you must be invested in it, don't you? After all it's not like the game makes you a pizza delivery person, your job on the station matters and in my opinion it absolutely should matter to your character - as they basically work to keep their new home and ppl at the station (that unlike F1 you can directly interact with) safe. Yet you kept saying how the beginning of the story has nothing to do with you and your character - so that is why i thought that what you meant by that is that the game didn't make you the next "legendary savior of the world" in the first 5 minutes.
I guess somehow you just missed the stakes in Underrail just like i did in F1.
Also unrelated but i just remembered the worst implantation of stakes in RPGs i have seen yet - Fallout 4. That start not only completely failed at making me care about the story but also greatly limited the array of characters that would fit the narrative. Never before i had to make so much headcanon for a game and rewrite so many dialogs in my head to be able to at least try to enjoy the story. Bethesda writers should resign.
Excellent review of one of the most underrated games out there.
defenitely not a game for everybody, but if it is for you, it is one of the best you'd ever play.
On top of the NeverKnowsBest fantastic RPG retrospective, I highly recommand Strat-Edgy review of underrail for those who are still not sure if this game is for them.
He absolutely nailed it, and was very funny doing so.
love this game but had a traumatic first playthrough, took the dudes quest too early and ended up stuck in the military base . Had to restart. tough love
Yeeeeeeeeeesssss!!!! Exactly!! that happened to me! But you know what is sweet as fek??? fetching the oil (or whatever it is he asks you to get) EVEN if you are under-level? The feeling of accomplishment is too damn high!
@@YeOldEntertainment my build was bad too. Did not know to minmax
Speaking of user experience, one of my main complaints would be lack of wall transparency, meaning that any object that behind a wall (from the perspective of the camera, not player character) would be invisible and untargetable, unless you press the highlight key.
Another one is something that's actually related to what I recall you mentioning as a positive in some of you other reviews -- contextual actions, in particular trap disarming. In order to disarm a trap you don't have to press "4" (or otherwise select appropriate skill) and then left-click the trap, you just left-click the trap. But because left-licking a tile means moving onto that tile, I would often end up stepping on the trap instead (particularly the bear traps, due to the shape of their sprites). So they way I see it, Fallout's supposedly outdated UI is vindicated.
User experience isn't THAT bad in this game. Or at least, it isn't now. When it first released, it didn't even have a map. So in order to explore, you needed to draw one yourself on paper. Yeah... But they've made improvements over the years.
I've tried replaying classic Fallout after I've played Underrail, and found the UX to be so much worse. Having to right click, then mouse over something, then click the icon to inspect or pick up or interact, then after you are done having to right click again to go back to the default mode where left clicking moves your character - now that's bad UX. Maybe it's better with trap disarming in particular, but it's tedious and time consuming the rest 99.9% of the time. And it's the same with other elements. How is skilldex better than quick invoke? And what about having to equip an item to be able to use it, or going into the inventory every time you want to do it, rather than just pressing a quick panel shortcut key. Unrerrail is rather modern in comparison to the RPGs of the 90s and early 00s, even if it inherits some of their flaws. I agree that it misses a lot, like maybe a hotkey for disarming, auto-disable or confirmation request of movement over dangerous terrain, outline for distance that you are able to sprint, and XCOM style chance to hit preview for each enemy when you are about to move, and item comparison, etc. But maybe they'll fix all that in the second game (if it's still in development).
I'm sure people already told you this but you can know all you need to know about the Acorn by taking it to Azif. And you can find out parts of the story about the creation of the faceless from somewhere, but I forgot. I think you need good rep with them or something? Or maybe on one of the old biocorp terminals in the DC.
Unfortunately the surface world is a mystery and I hope the creator elaborates on it in the future, but he left a hint in the upper UnderRail that tells you the world above is probably frozen over
Even on dominating its hard to make a build that wont finish the game, unless you really try to screw yourself over. Ive got 2k hours with 9 runs of dominating under my belt. Just recently finished DOM with 12 reloads (most stupid) and can say that most builds are viable. Good review hardly see anyone review this title anymore, excited for new underrail hype when infusion comes out.
Yes yes yes! 80% of the time a "build doesnt work" the player just doesnt know what options they have available. I remember my first Beast Encounter was horrible and I thought "my build cant beat this" but on my second playthrough I discovered gas grenades which made the fight a breeze especially on harder difficulties.
My first build was a recommended one stealth smg's with ied's. It was a blast, caltrops and molotovs, nades, and mines. Moment they caught me I was done tho. I'd pay to forget everything and play it without what I know now.
so i can go in blind and have fun? No need to google bulids?
@7218234 No need, but I do recommend having a plan for the type of character you are going for.
Just check the list of feats and which one synergize with your primary weapon type of choice.
Feel free to ask for any advice, I will gladly share.
@@7218234 There's a character builder available online, where you can look up all the perks and plan out your approximate build.
You know the Developer intended the game to be Save Scumming when it literaly tricks you into falling to your death in a specific mutant encampment.
Yes I remember taking close to 50 hours rage quitting and trying again to learn this. But now 700+ hours in its a blast
aha! you see? I'm glad you decided to play it again.
This is basically Fallout 3, except good.
Your watermark in the bottom right is really distracting
No it isn’t
Your mum is really distracting
Boy if that little watermark throws you off , I think it is a me problem than an US problem .
One of the best turn based fallout likes i've every experienced. Scares the crap out of me every time i start a new game. Over a hundred hours. Great fun. Stig is working on a sequel.
Hmm, on my first playthrough as a sniper I killed the final boss with one well-placed critical. On my second playthrough as a laser-toting scientist I managed to lose one pneumatic fluid cylinder on the way to the boss, so I wasn't able to test the build (but considering the high damage of lasers, I assume the outcome would've been the same. I will now try a melee build and see how it goes (dropped my psyker playthrough somewhere in the middle).
My dear dude, try some varied PSI builds, when they go online you're a mindshroom junkie cave god (and even at the start, it's hard to find anything else with more dmg and CC than PSI). Just take enough CON for Fast Metabolism, at least 10 WILL and 8-10 INT (max out both throughout, and if there's something left, put it to CON), pick 2-3 PSI schools (Methatermics for huge dmg, often in AoE, as well as some CC; Thought Control for silent high dmg and lots of CC, especially with a feat Locus of Control; and either Psychokinesis for high single target dmg and stuns, or Temporal Manipulation for buffs, debuffs, and a weird dmg chain), then if you take 5 STR and 6 PER (your starting INT has to be a bit lower then, but it may be worth it, and if you combine 6 PER with Snooping starting perk, you can discover most of the secrets), you can take Guns, and use Shotguns as sidearms for mobs/finishing CCed crowds/times when you're low on PSI points,, then maybe 20 points into Throwing so you wouldn't kill yourself with an occasional granade (gas grenade/molotov + PSI Force Field FTW!), then just enough crafting to make yourself PSI Beetle armor, PSI Headbands, PSI meds, and a Shield Emitter (later, at first found/bought ones are better), and just throw a few points there whenever you can, for me Lockpicks and Hacking are a must, as for Stealth - you build it up to ~40 and just use black tabi boots and some black fabric on your armor, and you'll get to 80-90 effective in no time (and it can be good for PSI to ambush people with your murder spells). So you max 2-3 PSI skills, Guns (don't have to be maxed, but would be nice to make them an effective secondary weapon) Lockpick&Hack, a lot of points into Persuasion and Mercantile, and the rest of your points can be spread to build up a bit of Throwing, Stealth, and all the necessary crafting skills. I usually got to 20 Throwing and 40 Stealth around GMS Compound, and started investing those spare points into crafting, so I could start crafting things to survive Depot A, after doing all other Junkyard quests and exploring as much as possible. Imho PSI builds are the most fun and very, very powerful + since you only get 8 spell slots with max INT/10 INT + a headband extension, you can have very varied playthroughs, depending on which spells you take with you and specc for them with powerful feats (ofc, you can change spells depending on situations, but that drains your remaining PSI points, so you want to do it, when you're already dry). Yer a cave wizurd Henry, you just need to take mindshrooms, lots of mindshrooms, also smoke a kind of PSI crack in a pipe to regen, but that's fun!
I restarted a couple of times and I realized to never go too greedy and spread yourself too thin chasing those shiny things. Getting soft-locked and learning hard lessons is it's own special kind of dopamine hit in this game.
Exactly!
Great review Alex. This one's going to my back log. I will note that I can't play all the games you and neverknowsbest reviews because of time constraints in my life now,so there is some tough decisions to be made(because I truly like them all). You two together really help me decide what to omit over others. Just to share my omissions had to be; fallout series, Pathfinder series, Neverwinter nights and solosta. These games I am sure are awsome in their own ways and maybe way down the road I will go through them but there only soo much time and new games keep coming out! Dang! My chosen CRPG's series that I touch are Divinity's, the Pillars, Dragon age(origins only) Baldur's gate's, icewinddale(2 only) and now underrail so I can get a little fallout ish in there.
I just hope with Underrail I find some small QOL mods to deal with those secondary mechanic tediums you mentioned
Well the ones you did choose are la crème de la crème . Note that, although I think Fallout 1, 2 are very much also crème de la crème... if you did not play them for the first time back in the day, and if your are not an 80's kid... there may be a very steep learning curve because their core mechanics may come off as very dated.
@@YeOldEntertainment oh yes for sure. I did only recently play the Baldur's gates games. I rely on mods that smooth out those more annoying dated mechanics, but not in a way that upsets the difficulty balance(Example: fast walk speed to use in areas u have been in). Doesn't look like fallout 1, 2 have the extend Baldur's gate does with mods. But I think I will still try them way down the road. Maybe like a retirement backlog lol.
I didn’t know Christmas was early this year! Now I don’t have anything for you… :(
Thank you, Alex!
I think that the reason that this game is considered to have a necessary build, it that there is *a certain point* that it is too difficult to progress. Though to be fair at that "*certain point* even with my copied build I had to be very careful. I'd like to point out that I have played this only on oddity difficulty though, if i played it on classic it might be different.
What are these points you're talking about?
I hear many people complaining that the game is sensitive to build, but I don't understand what's the point. Have completed the game 8 times by different builds.
Environments in this game absolutely phenomenal, lots to study for artists and writers.
Great content dude, now I am going to binge watch all your videos... subscribed
Thanks man! Welcome aboard!
"Tides of Nebula - Dopamine" for an opening jingle? An interesting choice.
I knew the day would come.
@@YeOldEntertainment Do you mean I was the first?
Or is it more like "the day when some snob _discovers_ what me and all of my subscribers established ages ago" :D
Either way - brilliant album. I rarely buy entire records, but this was one of those one of a kind occurrences.
Underrail is easy to explain to a Fallout fan (the isometric ones anyways):
It is a better turn-based combat game, but a worse CYOA game.
Yup. Pretty much nailed it there with that explanation.
I'm honestly surprised you didn't already do this video
Your review got me interested in this game that (checks steam library) I bought and forgot about completely. Ty sir
Edit: didn't even ever play it, just completely forgot about it.
Hopefully you're going to have a blast with it! Endure the first moments... and you'll love it.
I like how you use a Stratovarius album as an example. They've always been very programmatic 😀.
Pragmatic and dramatic... don't forget the Tolkki Kotipelto drama from a few years back.
Underrail is one of the few games I've taken the time to 100% simply because its simply that good. Everything is upgraded imo from fallout (except no followers :/ ) and feels better. Story is 10/10 and as good if not better than fallouts.
They're apparently working on yet another expansion that will improve the graphics, it keeps getting better
You mean Infusion project ? It is a Underrail 2, takes place in north underrail
Not an expansion, but underrail 2
As sneaky salarian with a backpack full of traps, I would dispute your claim that the game is not for my species. My combat encounters would normally start with scouting the area, often followed by setting up traps (sometimes a lot of them, in one situation I even went back home to grab some more). So I did feel I was typically winning before the fight even started. And of course if I didn't get to prepare (or I missed something important during scouting) things would get interesting.
Speaking of sneaking, I was very surprised to hear what you had to say at 53:43, because in my game I have very clear feedback -- the eye icons over NPCs that start green, turn yellow as they fill up, then orange and finally red. Is that something that was added recently?
Well Salarians like battles won before they start... Underrail is going to make it difficult for people who don't like the rug pulled from under them, it does that frequently and I like this because I particularly prefer games in which builds are not the be-all and end-all.
very tough game, of course I finished it because I couldn't let it beat me, one of these days I'll replay, I generally think it is too heavily slanted into building 20 levels of your character before you even start the game, but overall, great vibes and design, molotov, molotov, molotov, gas grenade, gas grenade
I made a true hybrid light armor, assault rifle, throwing build, with some of the low level psy powers to stun enemies, later I specced into chemical throwers for more area control
control the chessboard with forcefields and hazards, lure them into my ar bursts, they're standing in gas and fire
I generally never use consumables such as bombs, mines and grenades. But this works so well in this game, that I actually ended up using them quite a lot in both playthroughs.
@@YeOldEntertainment the depot teaches you pretty quick, I wouldn't say they're a crutch but they're an extremely valuable tool that makes the game much more manageable
I tend to just like hybrid builds and I hate making "builds" that most people use or that the dev wanted to push me into, I was still able to beat the game with a true hybrid, and I got most of the important ar perks, spec ops, I had high int, I had psy, I had good crafting to make a great energy shield, my throwing was over 100, I ran infused syphoner armor most of the game because acid is annoying and I'm pretty sure I was basically immune to fire, I felt like I had basically the best of both worlds, but without the ar burst perks it would have been probably impossible to beat the game, also temporal manipulation made my build very agile and able to do many actions per turn, I also had sprint
my goal was to have the most utility possible and I feel I had that
That was more or less my build (except the syphoner armor and taking throwing over 100) and I concur with this approach!
I was waiting for this one for a while.
Btw, did you intentionally say "Shkematics"? The gave me an unexpected snort.
I like the video so far. First time on your channel. Showing the bossfight at 14minutes was a big spoiler... a warning or skipping MASSIVE spoiler would be cool :-)
i tell everyone they need to play this
Holy crap. You just perfectly explained why I don't like fallout 4. Nothing in that game feels like it matters to you. You aren't given enough time with him to actually care about Shawn and for everything else you're a person out of time with no attachment to any group. Honestly a lot of the side quests fell more important than the main quests.
Agreed. Worthy successor to fallout, besides Arcanum. And the good news is a sequel is coming, infusion.
After some research I've decided to finally get and play this game. But as Underrail is more build-sensitive than RPGs I used to play before (like, in Baldur's Gate II and its followers it feels more important to get better gear and find out which spells do best for ome enemies or situations, Fallout games let you be Jack of all trades AND master of couple most important - speech, lockpicking and small arms work best for me, and in Arcanum diplomacy handles all the problems and if it suddenly doesn't... Well, dog / army of companions / couple of spells or that big gun certainly help, heh.) But as I understand way of Underrail, you are either master of 2-3 skills or a dead man.
So the question. Which way it is better to play this game first time? I'm okay with some harsh difficulties but certainly do not want to find my character inviable after dozens of hours in game. Which archetype would be most... convenient? Psyker, gunfighter, master of throwing or something else? Personal preferances - I like to play as silver-tongue characters and have possibilities to explore as much of the game's areas on first playthrough as possible. And staking on stealth and traps is certainly not my cup of tea especially in isometric RPGs.
Well... the things is a that I totally disagree with this "Underrail is more build-sensitive than RPGs" Actually I think it's LESS build-sensitive than Baldur's Gate (I and II) and Fallout. And here's why I think this. There are several encounters in Baldur's Gate 2 that you have ZERO chance of winning unless you do one of the very few things the game expects you to do. For example, fights against ALL Lichs, the fight in the Twisted Rune hideout in the Athkatla Bridge District (the one you access if you have that gem in your inventory) and one of the challenges in the second to last floor in Watcher's Keep. For all those challenges there is a good chance that you'll be doing ZERO damage unless you have the right weapon and immunity breaching spells. In Fallout if you are a jack of all trades, you make your life significantly harder to the point that you'll have to bypass most challenges and min-maxing truly is the way to go, regardless of whether you want to convince/coerce/sneak-by.
I think Underrail will ONLY feel like that IF you don't take the time to try alternative things. But there is always another way. The whole idea here is that you fail several times before you figure out the fight. In short. I don't think browsing the internet to look for an ûber OP build is the way to get the most of this game in terms of fun. I've played the game three times, one of them on the hardest difficulty level (though never using the oddity system, to be truthful) and I never used a guide. I am not some uber RPG player. I'm sure if you've played and mastered those other games, you'll have no trouble using your intuition to get through this one. Also... crafting... pay special attention to crafting and its synergies with what you do. Have fun! this game is crazy fun once you get through the (admittedly) boring first act.
@@YeOldEntertainment well, I see your point (also just rewatched your video). Will answer a bit later about of some BG / Fallout moments from my one experience (Totally agree in terms of those liches btw...) As for Underrail... Some news for me. That means I'll not be afraid of going blind and will try to play as diplomatic gunfighter with some investment in throwing skills and lockpicking / hacking. Let's see what will happen. Thanks for the encouraging anyway.
Also... Any plans for playing / reviewing The Age of Decadance?
Oh, yes... bomb throwing is a good talent to have all the way through but especially early on with those Molotov cocktails. Well I already played The Age of Decadence and I've been wanting to re-play and review it for a long time. Maybe do it along with Dungeon Rats and Colony Ship when it finally comes out to an Iron Tower little combo. But for this month I got my hands full with Fallout and some other thingies. Thanks for staying tuned, man!
I think youre kinda over selling the balance bit. The dev certainly has a bias for gun builds and they generally go online much faster than melee or psi builds.
Want a build thatll slaughter every encointer you face? Go for a pistol whipping, grenade throwing, trap setting, temporal manipulation build
I been waiting for something like this
All used Laser Squad to build upon ^^
I love seeing people still talk about this game, In my opinion it’s the best fallout-style game period
Love your vid, as usual, and yeah, it's over a month since release and I've watched it then, but I re-watched it now, and as usual - I have a nitpick (hey, you're a nitpicky fuck too), the nitpick is... your house! It actually has another uses, it's a crafting base, you use the storage for crafting components and workbenches give you huge bonuses to crafting skills, so you can craft much better equipment there. Otherwise, everything's perfect
Me alegro de ver que estas de vuelta y para hablar del mejor rpg post apocalíptico moderno
Great review my dude! First review I saw on this game that didn't put too much emphasis on the build and the absolute need to follow a kind of build guide if you don't want to start over at some point. That's encouraging for new players that don't have a tons of hours of gaming per week.
I'm pretty new to the CRPG gendra (few years), but I do adore it. It's easily became my favorite gendra over the time. I'm struggling a bit at choosing my next game. There is so much to try and those games are so loonnnng,
What would help me very much is a "Ye Old Entertainement CRPG guide"
I know that NeverKnowBest did a great one, but I doesn't include the timeless classic.
So it's hard for newcomers to decide. Should I play BG1 or Pillars of Eternity1 first? Should I play BG2 or DOS2? Or even wicth one should I choose if I just have the time for one os those games.
I'm probably not the only one in this situation.
And I know it must be a very tough job to recommended one CRPG over the other. After all, it probably comes to a matter of personal taste.
But if someones has great taste, it's you Alex!
And if you would ever do such a guide, it would certainly become my little bible of the CRPG gendra.
No pressure dude. If you just don't want to do it, that's perfectly fine to me.
Happy Holidays!
Thanks for your comments. I think a few ideas might be useful here. First... Underrail is HARD... but, like some other commenters have stated here... building your character in Underrail is not a test to your knowledge of the game's rules. If you have the common sense of building your character around the things you want it to do... you should be O.k. for the most part. You may have to reload and try again a bit more or a bit less depending on your build in some of the most challenging parts, but that's about it.
Second as for the ultimate CRPG guide, I think Neverknowsbest more or less nailed it. Although I strongly disagree about Pathfinder Kingmaker being the go-to game if you like Baldur's Gate. I particularly greatly dislike both pathfinder games, but I can see why a lot of people, including him, like them. And he does mention the three big timeless classics as you say: Planescape: Torment, Fallout and Baldur's Gate (though I think BG2 is the genre defining one).
Third... as far a newcomers go... it depends on whether they are newcomers to RPG as genre or to gaming as a whole. I can see people who are 20-25 having A LOT of trouble getting into the original Fallout or even the BG series, because newer quality of life features and UX are already probably embedded in their expectations and mindsets, and they may find these games much too dated. My guide would probably not be as thorough or pro as Neverknowsbest's, but I guess I can make a tier-maker video recommending games depending on the time you have to play game on a weekly basis and how punishing they are for newcomers.
@@YeOldEntertainment I totally understand your point. If I get you right, you say it's a bit hard to put the older CRPG and the new ones on the same page because of the quality of life features.
I haven't played Fallout yet, but as someone that played BG 1 for the first time in 2022 I kinda disagree.
It's true that some features don't compare well to newer games, but for the most part I felt it aged pretty well.
What it does miss on quality of life features, it make of up for with the story, the writing, the game ambiance, the fun factor and all other things.
Some people say the game rules (D&D 2nd edition) can be a barrier for new comers. But my god, I guess those people never tried any of the Pathfinder games.
BG 1 is way more easy to get in to in my opinion if your new to the gendra.
So yeah I feel, it would be interesting to see a tier list of the old and new CRPG together (keeping in mind that one doesn't have the time for all of those games)
I guess it would help newcomers to the gendra.
At the same time, I totally get that your audience is mostly made of people that are already fans of this type of game.
But I'm pretty sure it could appeal to them also.
As for Neverknowsbest CRPG Ultimate guide, I've recheck some part and your pretty wright. He dit nailed very very well all the new CRPGs although I also disagree about PF:KM (didn't like the writing and the overly complicated rules)
Good game system should be fairly easy to learn and hard to master (with some exceptions of course)
Have a good one dude! And thanks again for the very good content you put on this channel.
It may not be as "pro" as other channel, but you have your personal flavour/sense of humour that is even more valuable in my opinion.
Dude your channel is great
And thank you for watching! Welcome aboard!
you can upload custom portraits for you character
imo although this games design and complay is based on fallout 1 and 2, this games story and theme is less x files or fall out and more similar to the punk vibes of let it die or dorohedoro,
down from all the designs the world building, and also the dark humor and comedic moments and names you come across and the psi abilities and crazy unexplained stuff happening is done in a mundane way not scary but a mix of comedy.
The game's humor is superb indeed.
Awesome review!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
underrail is my fravorite game, not the best i've played, but definetly my favorite, the best i've played is pathfinder wrath of the righteous
Damn't, now I have to install it again.
It may never leave my desktop
I got news for ya... That means I just subscribed.
This comment made my day.
50:45 So it is true that every Underrail player uses Core city barrel to store their shits, be it their first or 20th playthrough.
One does not simply miss that opportunity. XD
Undertail is a true masterpiece
I have played this game multiple times and love it.
love this game
Great analysis Alex!!
Thanks!
AS it is in encased
One of the greatest games on Steam.
best remake of undertale ever
Hmmm...I intially let this one pass me by because I got the impression that you'd have to follow a gude to finish the game. Now I'm considering it...except I'm not a fan of save-scumming.
Oh well, on to the wishlist it goes; I'm sure I'll find time for it sometime in the next century.
I think if you see these fights as "puzzly" challenges you'll have a much better time. As for the wish list... I guess "next century" is better than never. Last time I look it was going for 12 dollars on steam including the expansion. This is a no-brainer deal in my opinion. Huge value!
Hey mate. Check 'Mechajammer'
I loved this game. Finally an interesting take on a post apocalyptic RPG.
This Game rocks, I played at release..
@Ye Olde Entertainment are u Spanish?
No. What made you think this?
@@YeOldEntertainment the channels desc is on Spanish and you talk about Spain sometimes
O lived in Spain for a few years.
@@YeOldEntertainment k I just wanted to know
It would be worth playignexcept for 1 small detail - you can't heal yourself you need to go to a doctor and pay and that is the only reason i would not play this game !
You totally can. Bandages and stims are plenty when you leave early game.
Did you use oddity XP or normal?
Did the classic. I probably would've gotten crushed with the oddity system.
@@YeOldEntertainment That's what i'll do too. Thanks for another great video to watch. I am buying the dlc bc of it, cheers.
Lol I'm literally playing this when I seen this video
4:28 "for a game so underground" heheh
yunkyard
6:51 "VeRAIables" it's "Very-ya-bles"
🤓
If that‘s you‘re only problem, we‘re fine. :D
Who cares
Nah
That have nothing to do with Fallout, Underrail is a balls stretcher the game.
Pillars was bad. Black Geyser was closer to the BG series.
And A New Hope worked because it was a basic story and it's editing was so good it saved the movie.
Copium
Top down turn based = NOT A GAME.
Chess is not a game.