The ocean is dying-but with your help, there’s hope that it can recover before it really withers. Life Below is a new take on the city builder genre: one that’s as fresh as the sea breeze above the vast ocean floor you’re about to become the custodian of.
Beset by natural disaster and man-made maritime misadventure, every biome has a story to tell: a lesson to learn, a problem to solve, and a blight to overcome. Oil spills and garbage both threaten the lives of millions of oft-forgotten aquatic lifeforms, requiring an entirely different approach to clean up for the safety of your underwater citizens.
For some, it’s already too late. As you make progress toward your goals to rebuild a life below the waves, the wayward souls of creatures long past their final days can float into your sphere of influence.
Still clinging onto their carefully curated roles in safeguarding the ecosystem, it’s your choice whether to send them on their way with a parting gift straight from the coffers of your own personal Atlantis, or leave the ethereal wisps to aimlessly roam the seabed.
Written by famed games writer Rhianna Pratchett, known for the memorable tales of Mirror’s Edge, Bioshock Infinite, and the modern Tomb Raider trilogy, the tearjerking, eye-opening, and often life-affirming story of Life Below guides you through the very real struggle of the world beneath the waves in a delicately spiritual way.
In Life Below, through the soft bubbling of ocean sounds, you’re eased into a relaxing resource management cycle that ebbs and flows just like the ocean current.
And don’t worry. Delicate as the ocean can be, it’s fierce. Ferocious, even. An organic marvel that can adapt to tackle many of the great strains we place on it. What that means is that you’re rarely against the wall. This isn’t a tense city builder where one wrong placement can send your hard-fought firmament into freefall.
While you’re unlikely to hit a snag by riding a resource cap, there’s always a better way to spend what your Sprites tirelessly sift from the sands below. Coral Matter from the mines and Pearls from generous clams are just some of the ocean’s beautiful bounties used to power your quest to renew a troubled ecosystem.
These resources pave the way for your stalwart Sprites to harvest Growth Essence: a powerful substance used to unlock vast evolutionary discoveries, the sort to help you weather the stronger storms threatening the delicate balance of your coral reef kingdom further afield. To spread your influence requires the careful consideration of Moon Coral – the makings of the energy network needed to connect your production palaces to the beating heart of your underwater operation.
The curator of this troubled subnautical hamlet is Thalassia, a former gathering sprite promoted to the prestige of a Guardian: the decision-making manager of a coral reef that needs to grow. Expand outward, and Gaia, the ocean’s dedicated overseer, will introduce you to other diligent guardians to help expedite your success, including Pontus, a rough and gruff retired reef reclaimer who never hesitates to let you know that he’s a hired hand brought in to hold yours.
As you venture further from the maternal warmth of Gaia’s graces, the waters of the coral reef become more temperate. Volcanic outcrops on the seabed superheat the environment, creating a need to switch strategies to foster a thriving ecosystem. On the opposite end of the spectrum, glacial climes drudge up frigid working conditions you’ll have to adapt to if you’re to overcome.
Of course, while each biome has its fair share of unique struggles to sort through, namely rapid fluctuations in measured PH levels, temperatures, and severely limited expansion space, the types of creatures you’ll work with (and cater to) change dramatically, too.
From hammerhead sharks and coral crabs, all the way to largely unloved Monkfish, as a guardian of a growing coral reef, it’s your job to offer suitable refuge for those struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing ocean landscape. Learn to push back the aggressive Indo-Pacific poisonous Lionfish, and don’t make our mistake: that beautiful bloom of of the jellyfish isn’t a reward for a well-maintained reef. They mean business. And not good business.
Whether you’ve taken Gaia’s teachings to heart or prefer to learn the ways of the world below on your own terms, free play is ready to accommodate your fresh new takes on supporting subaquatic life.
Here, you’re free to build up your coral colony however you please. You’ll still encounter the same environmental challenges as you free your fins from the first base of operations, but you’ll be left to your own watery devices. Here, there’s nobody to reprimand you for refusing to offer a coral branch to a lost soul, and no semi-retired Guardian floating around to guide you.
Build up, spread out, and the choice is yours: do you focus on curating a picture-perfect aquarium that can survive and thrive without your godly approach, ready to serve as a soothing trickle and bubbling ambient fish tank while you go about your day, or do you run things as close to the wire as possible?
Life Below is all about, well… life below. Embrace the soothing sounds of your journey to revive ecosystems lost to extreme oceanic instability, manage a growing colony eager to trigger a biological revolution, and keep the warm heart at the center of a so-to-be thriving coral reef beating stronger than ever before. Life Below is a charming and deeply rewarding tale of Earth’s oft-forgotten shining stars beneath the seaform: an ethereal fairytale supported by marine biologists that highlights the frighteningly too-real possibilities of the ocean’s terrifying trajectory.
