Underworld Idle

[h1] Rating : 3/5 [/h1] [h3] Should have been titled Underworld Manager instead [/h3] Given the high level of micromanagement required to make progress, its difficult to call Underworld Idle an idler. Either way, unlocking new demons is fun for a bit, with iconic art and exponential growth—number goes up, neurons activate. Systems like contracts, runes, and factions, all seem very inspired. The gameplay loop, however, has issues. A bonanza of manual clicking is required to see early progress. Despite [b]some[/b] automation features locked deep into the game, idling will still never be rewarding. Instead, the gameplay loop incentivizes speedrunning. Don't waste your time unless you plan to set up an autoclicker.

I really like the game! It has a lot of innovative mechanics, it's got a great art style, and as I've progressed through the game it's been fun to explore the interesting ways that newer powers can affect earlier unlocks. However, the game is constantly writing to the computer's clipboard. I've frequently found myself copying and pasting from a document while the game is running, and instead of what I expected to appear when I press ctrl-v, I get a gigantic wall of text. The ONLY time I want ANY program to read or write from my clipboard is when I specifically ask it to. If I press a "export save" button, it's ok for it to write it to my clipboard. But I don't want it to happen in the background, randomly. It's not acceptable, it's arguably malware.

I have had this game for a decent amount of time (not long after it came out) and I can confidently say that it is one of the better idle games I have looked into. My only complaint so far has been the lack of progress if you don't have the game running as I don't particularly like leaving my computer on constantly. I personally have only experienced one significant crash and loss of progress and it was very early into the development of the game. I think possibly introducing a dialog within the factions as well as adding some thematic music would improve the overall atmosphere/feel of the game. Very cool in-game clock mechanic allowing you to get useful tokens/upgrades/resources daily as well as a neat energy use system allowing you to devote passed time (or batteries) into gems/souls or production bonuses for the factions.