If Below the Stone looks familiar, it’s not because they have a similar logo as my twitch and youtube channels (although what taste they have!). This is the second Kickstarter that developer Strollart Studio has put together for this punishing roguelike. Strollart’s first campaign just missed their goal but through this, they gained fans, notoriety, and the attention of Apogee Entertainment. The time after the first campaign allowed for them to replan, see other successful campaigns, and build their following.
Below the Stone is a tough pixel art roguelike about dwarves questing to reach the deepest depths of their mine. With each new descent, you will have new adventures where great risk brings great rewards.
Every dwarf starts with two goals: How deep can they get, and what amazing loot they can bring back to the base camp. Each adventure sends you into a procedurally generated mine where danger, treasure, and adventure await! Extra resources can return with you for use on future expeditions. Extra resources can be used for new equipment like pickaxes, weapons, and armor for example. Miners beware, if you die below, your items brought on your expedition will be gone forever.
Features
- Procedurally generated worlds which lead to a new adventure in every descent.
- Dozens of biomes to explore with unique creatures, fauna, and resources to explore and log.
- Multiple layers to explore.
- Mining precious resources to progress your dwarf.
- Full character customization.
- A Dwarven Kingdom with many cool characters to meet.
- Custom Cave missions for every descent.
- Roguelike experience (If you die, you lose everything you brought with you!)
- Safely store extra loot and resources at the Dwarven Kingdom.
- An hour long soundtrack to immerse yourself into a fantasy spelunking experience.
- Future plans for potential Co-op mode.
- Multiple Gaming Systems!
- Dwarves!
- Digging holes!
Goals
At the time of this writing Below the Stone is at $23,513 USD of their $20,000 goal with the campaign ending on October 3rd, 2021. Strollart has added in a few stretch goals. One being at 300 backers they will add co-op to the game! check out the others below.
The Dev
Strollart Studio, the devs behind Below the Stone, is a small group of 3 devs that have done game dev projects in the past – but not as ambitious as Below the Stone. Mike Strollart C. as director/artist/producer, Andrew as our Lead Programmer, and Karam as our lead composer. They’re inspired by tough-as-nails games they played as kids. The aim is to have their games filled with twists and turns that keep the game fresh with each playing session. They are active with their community and actively work with them through their discord server.
Below the Stone is an awesome-looking game. It has so much going for it and fans of roguelikes and games that have mining, exploration, crafting, and progressing deeper in a randomly generated world, then this game is for you. Thanks to their partnership with Apogee Entertainment, Below the Stone will be releasing on PC and all consoles. Check out the Kickstarter link below to find out more and back the game.
*Disclaimer: I am a backer of Below the Stone on Kickstarter.*
