It Lurks Below is a survival ARPG made by one and only David Brevik, literally he is the only developer for this game. David Brevik is the mind behind original Diablo games, Hellgate London and Marvel Heroes, I played the hell out every one of those games so I had to try this ugly gem. It Lurks Below is certainly not a looker, it's graphics are pixel drawn and basic, however, the gameplay is where this game shines. You start as a Human or an Ogre character, you pick your class and you can start to explore your surroundings. Very quickly you will notice that the map goes down instead of sideways.
First you need to pick materials to build tools. With tools you get to gather more advanced materials, then build a base. With your base of operations you can have a safe haven for things to come. Because this is a survival game you need to forage for foods, you need to rest and gain your strength because you will need it for a task at hand, in order to advance in this game you will need to go below. Pack a lot of torches to light your way underground, slay hordes of monsters, pick their loot, teleport back to base, repeat with even deeper delves where more dangerous monsters chill.
Things lurking below are not your friends as you can imagine, it is a good thing to go prepared with a bunch of health potions, food and coffee. Yeah in this game you slay monsters and drink coffee while doing it. This game has that survival game feeling where you need to constantly move forward, while doing that you forget that hours have passed. When you mine, gather, you gain experience points you can spend for enhancing your survival skills like faster mining, more recipes for food etc.
It is amazing how such a simple looking game like It Lurks Below can draw you in better than some triple A games. This just shows time and time again that the graphics and millions invested in developing a game doesn't necessarily mean that the game will be a success. David Brevik proved again that he truly knows how to make a fun game. Give it a go if you don't mind the graphics. Score: 85/100!