I spent a lot of time with the original UnderMine. At the time of writing this article, I have over 300 hours on PC, and that’s not including the hundreds of hours I spent with it on my Nintendo Switch. Naturally, when UnderMine 2 was announced, I couldn’t help but dig deep and check out the new version.

To celebrate the 0.7 Patch Update, called “Duskfall,” which is soon to be released in full but is currently in the “TestMine,” I wanted to dig into UnderMine 2 a bit. Technically, UnderMine 2 is set directly after the events of the first game; however, developer Thorium has mentioned that you can play it entirely standalone if you choose to.

Regardless, the Hub, a place to help Adventurers who seek to explore the vast UnderMine, has gone into disrepair after fewer and fewer adventurers came to explore. I won’t give too many details as to why, but it falls on you (and other adventurers) to delve deep and bring back the various NPCs and tools to repair the hub. This will allow you to dig deep, exploring the UnderMine to uncover its secrets once again.

The Steam page says that the current state of UnderMine 2 has somewhere between 30 and 50 hours of playtime in it, but after several updates, I think I’d put it somewhere in the hundreds of hours. Depending on how much you want to explore, how many things you want to unlock, and (in my case) how bad you are at the game, you’ll be at it a while.

You delve into the UnderMine, using your melee and ranged attacks (each character gets one of each) to take on enemies. As with other Rogue-likes of its kind, you get curses, blessings, relics, active items called Arcana, etc. With UnderMine 2 so far, I have seen a lot of familiar things, but there is also a lot of new stuff too.

UnderMine 2 is a difficult game, and while there are some accessibility options, I think some other things here and there could be added to tune the difficulty or even make the early hours of the game a bit more friendly to new players. It had been so long since I played the first game that the first 10 or so runs were embarrassingly short, because it took me a while to get a feel for the unique way UnderMine 2 wants you to play.

One thing I have been very impressed by, though, is the sheer number of unlockables, as well as the variety of characters, items, and unique events and puzzles available. For a game in Early Access, it definitely feels like a full experience, despite the developers suggesting that there is a lot more to come.

I think that’s the centerpiece of it all. While there are a few issues, UnderMine 2 is an Early Access game, so I can’t complain too much about the few issues I ran into. I used the in-game feedback tool to report a few bugs, but overall, I’ve just been having a good time with it.

The art style and music are solid for UnderMine 2 so far as well. With the new stuff that gets added in each patch, there are always some gorgeous and interesting new designs for items and relics. I can easily see myself having the soundtrack on in the background while I work too, there are a few bops in there already.

UnderMine 2 is what any fan would want out of a sequel, and it isn’t even finished yet. If you haven’t played UnderMine, I would highly recommend it, but I would also deeply recommend UnderMine 2 if you want to dive into it first. I can easily see UnderMine 2 growing to become a spectacular improvement over its predecessor, but for now, it is just good fun.

A PC Preview copy of UnderMine 2 was provided by Thorium Entertainment for the purposes of this Preview.

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