Many may not know about David Brevik, but he’s an essential part of action RPG history. He co-founded Blizzard North, which created the Diablo franchise, after all. Brevik has worked in multiple companies since then, and also founded Graybeard Games. It’s first title, It Lurks Below, has finally left Steam Early Access.
It Lurks Below is fairly unassuming at first, featuring pixel art, dungeons to explore, and survival mechanics. However, there’s a good amount of diversity, with eight classes, loot to discover, randomly generated levels, and a hub town that can be upgraded. Despite starting in a very simple manner, the complexity starts to shine over time.
Four different game modes exist, depending on one’s preference. Creative is all about exploring the world and building with no survival requirements. Descent is essentially the game’s action RPG looting cycle with the survival elements removed. Survival is the base mode that provides tough dungeons and invasions to deal with. Both Survival and Descent have Hardcore options to provide an extra layer of challenge, since you only have one life.