Underhero is a 2D RPG adventure game where you take control of an underling, a minion of Mr. Stitches, a feared boss throughout the Chestnut Kingdom, who wishes to take control over it. After accidentally killing the hero, you must take his place, become the new hero, and put an end to his madness.

‎Pros:

• Great story with some engaging combat mechanics.
  
• Has a great variety of enemies, weapons and upgrades.
  
• Fun interactive boss battles.

Cons:

• Enemies can be too unpredictable at first, even with help of the tutorial.
  
• The dialogue can soon get tedious and exhausting especially towards the end of the game.
  
• Requires a lot of backtracking.

Soon after killing the hero, you are met with a task by Mr. Stitches, to return all of the stones back to each of the world's bosses. While on your journey you will be accompanied by Elizabeth IV, a magical talking sword who will guide you throughout the game and will teach you everything you need to know to become the new and better hero.

Once you've returned a stone to a boss, a portal will open up which will take you back to the castle to collect another stone and do the same thing, and it just repeats. Your journey may seem simple and straight forward but there's a lot of exploration and combat involved in-between, as well as completing certain puzzles and objectives.

The game features a timing-based combat system, where you must learn your enemy's attack patterns to survive. You start with just a sword but as the game progresses you will unlock more weapons such as a slingshot, a shield, a hammer, and rush mode. While in combat, each attack and dodge you do costs stamina, which can be replenished over time and after parrying or successfully dodging an attack.

• The sword is a quick attack animation that deals low on damage and stamina. It's the best short-ranged weapon, and with each upgrade, you will unlock a charged attack that deals increased damage when held down.
  
  
• The slingshot is best used on flying or far away enemies and just like the sword it runs on low stamina, but with each upgrade, it will unlock a larger pellet that will give improved aim.
  
  
• The shield is used to block enemy attacks, blocking an attack will cause damage to your shield and will eventually break after time, unless you parry by pulling out your sword at the same time that they attack. It will stun them for a couple of seconds as well as doing zero damage to your shield.
  
  
• The hammer is the most powerful yet slowest weapon, it requires a very high amount of stamina to use (which can be reduced by upgrades), it's best suited for slow or stunned enemies.
  
  
• Rush mode is an ability you can activate when your rush meter and stamina is full. It slows time where you can spam some high damaging and fast sword swings, this lasts till your stamina bar is depleted.

While in combat, before you attack, it gives you an option to bribe, bribing the enemy might give you some useful information leading up. It's more commonly used for when you're low on health or have a tough enemy you don't want to fight, as it gives you less XP than actually defeating them.

When encountering my first enemy it was very unpredictable, it took me a while before I knew how to counter it. You can counter an attack by either jumping or crouching. It sounds simple but it's not, they give you subtle hints telling you of which attack they are going to do, but the hints are so petite and unnoticeable at first. Each world you visit introduces a new setting and a variety of enemies, always different from the previous, not just in design but in their attacks as well.

The bosses you meet are unique and different from one another. Each boss has 4 states of health and often requires you to dodge their attacks before you can engage in combat with them. Each portion of health you take off will cause their attacks to change and will go at a much faster rate. Oddly enough I found the bosses fairly easy, I thought the enemies and journey leading up to it was much harder than the boss itself.

It's straight forward you level up by defeating enemies and once you have gained enough XP to level up your character you will be presented with 3 stat choices: Health, Attack and stamina. After each level up you get to chose one of these stats that you want to upgrade. Health is upgraded by 10 points, your attack and stamina are both increased by 1. You can also find upgrades throughout the map by opening up chests or by completing side quests, but it's not guaranteed.

The game's visuals are appealing to the eye, bright and colourful but not too much. The design and animations of your ally's, enemies and surroundings are so simple yet charming. However, I do wish that the regular enemies had some uniqueness in design, something more frightening, as compared to Mr. Stitches, they just look adorable.

While at first, I hated the soundtracks but they soon grew on me, they constantly change throughout the game. You can find soundtracks by killing enemies, opening chests, there isn't a particular way of finding them. Once finding them you can change them in the save room, they have 4 pages of soundtracks you can collect and choose from.

Underhero is an amazing game inspired by the likes of Paper Mario and other Nintendo RPGs, it tells an incredible story through its dialogue with many unexpected twists and turns. It offers a great timing-based combat mechanic as well as introduces fun and quirky characters you will meet along the way, all without losing the tone of the game. It's such an underrated gem, a game I'd absolutely recommend and well worth the full asking price.