Going Under

Each run in Going Under puts you in the shoes of an unpaid intern descending into the procedurally generated ruins of failed tech startups buried beneath a corporate campus in the dystopian city of Neo-Cascadia. You pick up whatever is lying around — laptops, brooms, body pillows, the occasional proper weapon — and fight your way through themed dungeons representing collapsed gig-economy platforms, cryptocurrency schemes, and dating apps. Weapons break without warning, so positioning and improvisation matter more than stockpiling good gear.

Short runs end in boss fights against each startup’s founder.

Defeating those bosses yields enchanted relics that feed power back to your employer, Fizzle, a carbonated drink startup whose corporate entanglements with a drone-shipping conglomerate called Cubicle form the game’s satirical throughline. Developer Aggro Crab builds the workplace absurdity into the mechanics as well as the writing: co-workers hand you tasks that, when completed, raise your Clout with them and give you access to their personal bonuses.

Skills found during a run can be learned at the in-dungeon Cafe, making them available in later expeditions. Use a skill enough times and you earn an endorsement, letting you start future runs with it already slotted. Stack endorsed skills together and the compounding effects can shift how a run plays out entirely. Players who want a brawler with deep build options but no patience for fragile weapons and run-by-run variance tend to bounce off the game.

Going Under released on September 24, 2020. The most substantial post-release addition was the Working From Home Update in January 2021. After that the update feed slowed to sales announcements and merchandise drops.