Kivi's Underworld Demo

In order to make a successful hack and slash game, all you need is a good set of gameplay mechanics and as much loot as you can possibly fit onto the corpses of the fallen enemies. Sure, the classes, the story, and the graphics are also important, but if the action is intense and there’s always a new set of boots waiting for you on the next carcass, they don’t matter as much.

Kivi’s Underworld does not even try to fool anybody and it outright recommends itself as a hack and slash, although the amount of design mistakes make it difficult to appreciate the honesty. In essence, this is basically Diablo on a budget, with not much to keep you company along the way and not too many reasons to keep playing after the first twenty minutes of gameplay.

Speaking of which, the first thing you need to know about the game is that there are plenty of enemies and all you have to do is click on them. There are no armor sets or weapons you can pick up, because every item the monsters drop is either transformed into points, or it provides you with a small armor/offense bonus for a few seconds. Hence, a lot of the immersion flies out the window from the very first few minutes.

The fact that most of the dungeons look the same makes it even more difficult to keep playing for long periods of time, especially since the level design is incredibly linear and not at all inviting most of the time. Beside walls and a lot of barrels, for some reason, there is almost nothing to look at while you are exploring the corridors, which means you’ll forget everything about the game the second you quit to desktop.

Graphics-wise, the top-down perspective is reminiscent of Diablo and various other legendary isometric RPGs, but the engine in three dimensions, at least. Hence, you can zoom in to watch the action unfold from up-close, although the graphics are rather poor as well. The same goes for the sound effects, which are dull and unimpressive.

In the end, Kivi’s Underworld is nothing more than a click fest, and a bad one at that. There is no loot to keep you interested, the level design is awful and repetitive, while everything else blends together in a very forgettable and unimpressive soup of sub-mediocre fantasy cliches.