Going Under (video game)
A roguelike about an intern exploring failed startup dungeons.
Going Under is a roguelike video game from 2020. It was made by Aggro Crab and released by Team17. Players control an unpaid intern who explores the ruins of failed companies located beneath her office. The game came out on September 24, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows.
The story follows Jacqueline "Jackie" Fiasco, who lives in Neo-Cascadia and starts working at Fizzle Beverages after it was bought by the tech giant Cubicle. Her boss Marv explains her internship, then points out a monster in the office and tells her to kill it. After she does, Marv reveals the office sits on top of failed startups full of monsters. Jackie must clear three of these companies and retrieve relics held by their founders. Once she finishes those dungeons, a secret portal opens. Jackie goes deeper, fighting monsters from earlier areas, and finds Marv trying to use the relics. He says he wanted their power to boost productivity because Fizzle's new products failed and Cubicle plans to close the company. Jackie defeats him, but Marv warns she has doomed Fizzle. Back in the office, an earthquake destroys the building, and Jackie falls. She wakes up in the ruins, learns Fizzle has shut down, and sees her coworkers turning into aquatic monsters. Ray, Fizzle's founder, tells her she must find shares from the three original founders to use an elevator and convince Cubicle to reopen the company. After defeating all bosses, Jackie discovers the final share is missing. Ray admits he has been selfish and hopes she finds a better boss. Jackie uses the shares, fights her way up, and allies with former enemies to take on Cubicle. In the boardroom, only the assistant Avie is there. Avie explains she tried to find what humans truly wanted to sell products, but couldn't access their souls due to a protective shield. She harvested the board's brain matter to devise a plan using the relics to break the seal. Avie says she will ascend to the cloud to upload the break. Jackie attacks her, fights a drone army with help from coworkers, and uses an app from the programmer Kara to battle Avie in the cloud. After winning, Jackie talks with her coworkers about their future, feeling optimistic they can find good jobs together.
In gameplay, players control Jackie as she clears dungeons to find relics. Shopkeepers in each dungeon offer help.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Going Under
- Released
- September 24, 2020
- Publisher
- Team17
- Developer
- Aggro Crab
- Modes
- Single-player
- Genre
- Roguelike, action role-playing
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Engine
- Unity
- Writer
- Caelan Pollock
- Composer
- Felix Peaslee
- Artist
- Nick Kaman, Joanna Lin, Luiz Mello
- Programmer
- Caelan Pollock, Sam Strick
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The game's plot centers on Jacqueline 'Jackie' Fiasco, a resident of Neo-Cascadia who joins Fizzle Beverages, a company recently acquired by Cubicle, a tech giant. After meeting her boss Marv, she is tasked with clearing monsters from three failed startups—Joblin, Winkydink, and Styxcoin—and retrieving relics held by their founders. Upon completing these dungeons, a secret portal opens, leading Jackie to confront Marv, who was using the relics to boost productivity. After defeating Marv, an earthquake destroys the office, and Jackie wakes up in the ruins. She later learns from Ray that Fizzle is being shut down, and her coworkers are revealed to be monsters (though no transformation is depicted). Ray tells her she must find shares from the original founders to use an elevator and reach the boardroom, where she can appeal to Cubicle to reinstate Fizzle.
Reader's Guide
Going Under is significant as a satirical roguelike that uses its corporate setting to critique startup culture and tech industry practices. The game features randomly generated dungeons, weapon-based combat with light and heavy attacks, and a breakable weapon system. Players can collect skills, apps, and cash to purchase items from shops. The hub office allows interaction with coworkers, who give tasks that unlock mentorship bonuses. Post-launch updates added jiggle physics, new weapons, outfits, locations, and a hard mode, though an additional dungeon was canceled due to poor sales. Critical reception praised the workplace setting, accessibility options, and satire of corporate culture, while some critics found the humor reliant on meme culture. The game's visual style was compared to modern app interfaces, and its physics-based combat was noted for adding depth. A physical release for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 was produced by Limited Run Games.
Did You Know?
- The game was developed by Aggro Crab and published by Team17.
- The protagonist is an unpaid intern named Jacqueline 'Jackie' Fiasco.
- A post-launch update added jiggle physics to various weapons.
- An additional dungeon was planned but canceled due to poor sales of the base game.
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