Our lives constantly present us with various challenges. There are times when things go better, and there are times when things go wrong. “Once up, once down” is a common saying, and it is completely clear which of these is the positive and which is the negative pole. Land Above Sea Below is built on this foundation – literally, because it is a logical, strategic, building game, which is most similar to Dorfromanitik, which was tested at this time last year.
Here, too, you have to unload elements on a hexagon-based track, from which a piece of land is assembled. The big difference is that here we are building on water from the start, which is not only important because of the view. In the gameplay divided into rounds (sorry, seasons), when the piece allocated for the given period runs out, everything sinks by one unit, and if we had lands that did not grow high enough, they will be lost. Of course, you can increase the levels by clever stacking – the game calls it synergy if you manage to stack three or more items of the same type next to each other.
In the beginning, we get only one type (earthy, more yellowish) pieces, but later green, brown, gray, etc. come. elements, which, of course, must always be skilfully juxtaposed for a positive result. The main thing is to always keep the tree on the island you get at the start above the water level – if you don’t succeed, the game is over, you get a score, and you can try again. During the journey, we sometimes receive cards that give us various extras, such as deleting the last step, an extra piece, possibly a “free” level increase, etc.
The game itself is sufficiently interesting, which is well served by the particularly beautiful visuals. If you only get involved in creating beautiful landscapes, that is already an experience in itself. Maybe the only thing to regret is that the thing gets bogged down early, that is, it doesn’t hurt to be on the lookout, you can’t really forget about the construction. Of course, there is also a way, which can be found in the no-stakes Sandbox mode. And those who want to be more excited than the main mode called Eternal Autumn can start in the (also) cool Challenge mode.
The development was carried out by a four-person domestic brigade, Glasscannon Studio (creators of Carebotz), which is a pleasant surprise for fans of domestic products. The game will pleasantly occupy you for a while, but of course it will be mostly popular among fans of logical stuff and those who like the relaxed gameplay. However, the price is very reasonable, so we can easily pack it for our lunch or dinner at a similar price point.
The test copy was provided by the game publisher.