I was told a while back by a friend of mine (Ash) about this game a while ago. He hinted about the style of Descent meets a Rogue-like with a assortment of power ups and frantic game play. I was intrigued. Waiting patiently to get my hands on this and crack it open. It has been ages since I have sat down to play a game much like Descent. I could sit here all day and tell you about the hours I spent playing through the series but you would get the itch to get up off the chair you are stationed and go drink, a lot. Instead I will just say, I played it quite a bit. Off the bat Sublevel Zero gave me that slight rush of nostalgia. I felt comfortable almost instantly and roamed around finding chests filled with health and new guns to toy with. Guns in the game can be used if you are using a gamepad like the Xbox360 pad with the two triggers, directional pad is to shift your angle of the ship in a tilted direction. A is for accessing chests and all that crazy stuff. You move the left and right analogs to move the ship, blah blah. You get the picture. Any-who lets go on to the graphics.

Gameplay is the best thing of the game aside from the solid music and depth of level design. It is your typical perma-death rogue like.  You can find powerful guns for your ship or new boosters. On the fly (if you are in a safe area) you have yourself a crafting system. Which is pretty basic to understand. All you have to need is plenty of Nano materials. Plus the right two or so weapons.  You may craft stronger weapons or variants of those types. You are given two slots one for primary weapons like pulse beams or chain guns down to simple semi-auto style blasters. Other then that you are given a class of rockets as your right trigger weapon. Packing a nice punch. you are given a few to choose from my favorites being the tracking. Because in outer space no one will ever hear the tracking rocket. Weapon ammo feels limited in terms of survival. So if you do pick up the game,  please use caution whenever you go on a firing spree. Sure there are weapons like the pulse beam that can recharge, but are not as damaging I felt as the chain gun I built. Over time enemies can gang up on you. So I usually bottle necked the little jerks and preserved ammo. Ok I am lying I shot around like a fanatic and flew away screaming like a little girl. The game does have a challenging curve to it. Do not make myself like like Joe Freaking Rambo here. The game allows for exploring through the maze like generated levels where you must find a generator and blow it up. I found this part the most enjoyable, just wondering around picking off enemies, finding new weapons apposed to my old ones. Then going through the process of breaking down ones through crafting to make a hopeful better one, or living in a world of regret. Much like my purchase of Legendary. But that is for another crying session. Everything feels really fresh every time. Over time I did feel the weapons or guns did not vary too much from drops other then variant names, but again the game is still fresh plenty of time for them to toss in weapon packs or something. I hope.

It looks new, but retro inspired to the core. The enemies bring a throwback looking voxel much like the ones you seen from Descent.  The levels mix it up with tight hall ways and large boxed rooms where tons of enemies are blasting rockets and pulse beams from every nook and cranny. The glow from lava in the game really shines out the pretty design of the stages if you come across caverns. Or even the simple nature of flowing walls that I assumed were traps and kept away from. In the future I hope the team behind Sigtrap Games allows for a steam work shop for modders. I think the game has so much potential for the community to really smack together some awesome things(like recreated levels from the original Descent). The graphics work well in 4K. Sure it looks like a throwback game, but if you get a big screen burning while playing this game. Fireworks will fly out of your nipples, I promise you.

In Closing:

When you see the love behind a game it shows. Sublevel Zero provides that missing itch that gamers wanted from the genre of 6 degree gaming that rarely is seen from games today. The game lacks a bit in the selection of many guns to find, but that is something I know can be addressed easily. Other then that light complaint the game is freaking fantastic. Even after writing this I go back to it for a while and just trying to go deeper prior from my previous attempts. Pick it up for sure if you are a fan of Descent or love Rogue likes. If you have issues with motion sickness, you might want to avoid the game otherwise unless you take medication for that. If you do not. Then its a terrible day for you.

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