History VideoGame / GoingUnder

* CreatorCameo: Jackie has an Aggro Crab poster in her bedroom, and in the opening video, Aggro Crab's logo is featured among other companies acquired by Cubicle.

* TheMinionMaster: With the proper Skills, Charm effects, Swomp's level 3 mentor ability and the matching in Winkidink, it's possible to build up a small army of monster allies.

* WorkplaceHorror: Fizzle is a company literally built on the remains of failed startups, with its former employees twisted into monstrous forms. On behalf of her superiors, Jackie, an unpaid intern for the company, must adventure into the depths and hunt down the remaining monsters before they can overrun the surface. All of this is under the conglomerate Cubicle, which deliberately lets these businesses because [[spoiler:all of its leadership has been assimilated by the virtual assistant they created and the transformations are a byproduct of it attempting to breach into the very souls of humanity to learn what people truly want.]]

* WackyStartupWorkplace: Fizzle is one of these, complete with slides. All of the dungeons are technically heavily distorted versions of these. The least of it is that the transition between floors in the dungeons is a slide.

* WorkplaceHorror: Fizzle is a company literally built on the remains of failed startups, with its former employees twisted into monstrous forms. On behalf of her superiors, Jackie, an unpaid intern for the company, must adventure into the depths and hunt down the remaining monsters before they can overrun the surface.

* WackyStartupWorkplace: Fizzle is one of these, complete with slides. All of the dungeons are technically heavily distorted versions of these.

''Going Under'' is a DungeonCrawling [[{{Roguelike}} roguelite]] developed by indie developer Aggro Crab and published by Team 17 that serves as a thinly-veiled {{satire}} of corporate culture. The game released on September 24, 2020 for UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4.

* AnAesop:
** It's okay to be unhappy, as long as it doesn't weigh you down. The final boss [[spoiler:betrays humanity out of a FreudianExcuse that she can't ever make humans truly happy without the Dark Pattern, but the people she manipulates stick together and move on despite their hardships until their bonds are ultimately what cause her downfall]].
** Human desire is unpredictable and subjective, and only shows just how valuable real interaction is. [[spoiler:Avie intends to cut corners to reach YourHeartsDesire, but this comes at the cost of intruding in the lives of people in ways they would ''never'' allow a stranger to do, let alone confide to a machine. As a result, the human element is a recurring theme of the story, eventually leading to Avie's defeat when Fizzle and the Going Underworld demonstrate what they ''truly'' want because of their interactions over the course of the game]].
** Workers should unionize to stand together. While nobody actually says the "u" word, it's heavily implied as the main way to oppose corporate greed and corruption. The game climaxes with [[spoiler:all the previous enemies join with Jackie in the final rush against Cubicle]], and in the final cutscene [[spoiler:Jackie is about to literally suggest the former Fizzle employees should form a union before being cut off]].

* BlessedWithSuck: The Unapproachable Skill gives Jackie a sawblade that spins around her person, dealing damage to any enemies and objects. However, it can also shred through objects on the ground that you may have wanted to pick up. See that Spiked Club on the ground? Best snatch it while the sawblade's facing the other way.

!!Provides examples of:

* WorkplaceHorror: Fizzle is a company literally built on the remains of failed startups, with its former employees twisted into monstrous forms. On behalf of her superiors, Jackie, an unpaid intern for the company, must adventure into the depths and hunt down the remaining monsters before they can overrun the surface.

* CentralTheme: An overarching theme of the game is the divide and conflict of interest between bosses/leaders and workers, and how even well-meaning managers can just muck everything up:

-->'''Jackie:''' "Yo, Avie: Play [[LampshadedTrope bittersweet victory music]]."

In the hi-tech dystopian metropolis of Neo Cascadia, recent college graduate Jacqueline is excited to start her brand-new (unpaid) marketing internship at Fizzle, a soft drink company that has become the newest member of Cubicle, a large conglomerate that seems to own and control everything in the city. Unfortunately for her, since [[JobStealingRobot marketing is all taken care of by an AI system named Avie these days]], there isn't much for her to do -- wait, is that a goblin?

As it turns out, underneath Cubicle HQ is a litany of failed startups, with their employees and owners having transformed into all kinds of monsters as their bankrupted ventures faded into obscurity. Occasionally some monsters manage to reach the surface, so if Jacqueline could be a dear and head down to the basement to thin out the populations, that would be great. Thankfully, the other employees are willing to dispense some helpful advice (and a couple of buffs) that'll aid her as she travels deep into the dungeons below; she just shouldn't forget to collect those boss Relics for the project manager. He's really eager to get his hands on those for some reason...

** Workers should unionize to stand together. While nobody actually says the "u" word, it's heavily implied as the main way to oppose corporate greed and corruption. The game climaxes with [[spoiler: all the previous enemies join with Jackie in the final rush against Cubicle,]] and in the final cutscene [[spoiler: Jackie is about to literally suggest the former Fizzle employees form a union before being cut off.]]

** [[spoiler:To get the final Share and reach the final dungeon, Jacqueline goes to confront Ray. While it seems to start a fight, he decides not to and gives up his share.]]
** [[spoiler:The first phase of the final boss, Avie, goes down in one hit ... cue earthquakes and a pan out as the building explodes and her true form is revealed.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Also somewhat of a GainaxEnding. [[spoiler:After Jackie defeats Avie and disconnects her from Cloud, Cubicle goes up in smoke, and everyone else are still fish people. Tappi is pessimistic about the loss of all their jobs, but comes around to thinking otherwise like the rest of the group since Cubicle was rotten anyways - without them and their toxic culture, everyone in the office can form a new startup with an actual work union and won't have to terrorize other companies anymore. It ends with what's left of Avie playing music, to which [[DancePartyEnding everyone dances]] while the camera pans out to see the now ruined city of Neo Cascadia.]]
-->'''Jackie''': "Yo, Avie: Play [[LampshadedTrope bittersweet victory music]]."

* BreakableWeapons: A big part of the core gameplay. Every single thing you can wield can break, aside from the debt ball and chain, but that comes with its own issues. There are ways to extend a weapon's life, namely the upgrade app which restores durability when you use it, but short of luck and careful management every weapon is on a timer.
* CallAHitPointASmeerp: The game uses corporate lingo whenever it's appropriate and close enough to the game thing being described.

* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:In the final level, the various minions of the stages all band together to fight alongside Jackie]].
* CentralTheme: An overarching theme of the game is the divide and conflict of interest between bosses/leaders and workers, and how even well-meaning managers can just muck everything up.

** Hover Hands [[spoiler:is aware he has power and used it to make work more personally appealing to himself at a dire cost to morale and stability because of the environment he allowed.]]
** Hu$tlebone$' [[spoiler:cryptocurrency scheme is a massive farce that takes advantage of humans' hype and lack of understanding to get them to dedicate their lives to throwing everything they have left away in the hopes that Styxcoin turns a dime.]]
** Lastly, the final boss [[spoiler:wants to get truly terrifying access to the human soul but cannot comprehend why everyone is fighting back so hard against her efforts to please them.]]
* TheComputerIsYourFriend: Only Marv and Ray trust Avie completely. The employees balk at the AI's budgeting, business advice, and takeover of traditionally human-led pursuits... [[spoiler:Rightfully so, as Avie has no intention of keeping Fizzle in business]].
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The bright and bubbly world of Neo Cascadia betrays the true dystopian nightmare it is, with failed start-ups being converted into dungeons where Dark Relics are made from their founder's hubris and the workers are turned into monsters. Joblin forces it's employees to work insane overtime with ungodly amounts of coffee, Styxcoin is a dead business but its workers sell everything they have to keep it running, Winkydink is host to constant sexual harassment and peer pressure where the slimes are worse than the demons, forcing them into scantly-clad suits, and Cubicle itself is a toxic culture run by [[spoiler:an {{AI|IsACrapshoot}} that ate the brains of her Board of Directors, in order to make companies fight each other, and whose end goal is by using the Dark Relics to destroy the barrier surrounding human souls in the hopes that by doing so, she can read them and [[TheComputerIsYourFriend give them what they truly want]].]]

* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Co-Working Space, an alternate dimension found when gathering all three Dark Relics. Clearing it causes Fizzle to go under and the second part of the game begins]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: To be fair, the name '''Styx'''coin should have been a dead give-away to Hu$tlebone$ [[spoiler:being a ferryman for the dead.]]
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Invoked. The startup company Jackie works for sells a soft drink that is advertised as being able to replace full meals, and its owner implies there's no real fruit in the drink. However the foods Jackie buys to heal while clearing out dungeons are still real foods.

* GrenadeHotPotato: Fern's first Level 3 Task is to do this with Joblin Canbassadors. However, it means directly this, from Fern throwing it. While they explode on contact with damagable living being, defeating a Joblin Canbassador by having them hit with a can from another Joblin Canbassador, doesn't count.

* InTheStyleOf: The game's satire of corporate culture is reinforced by its artstyle, informed by a variety of modern tech interface styles and minimalist design trends:

** Character dialogue is depicted using chat boxes similar to that of a business communication platform, especially resembling Microsoft Teams. This is compounded by a gag that [[PaintingTheMedium Paints The Medium]] by appending a "seen at 9:31 am" subtitle to one of the chat messages, a feature often seen in these platforms.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ray is an obnoxious tech bro who spouts meaningless platitudes about working hard and is pretty incompetent at his job. However, he really does care about the Fizzle employees and [[spoiler: joins together with everyone after the company goes under.]]

* LiquidCourage: In Winkydinks, one of the healing items is a drink called "confidence juice" which looks exactly like a cocktail. It also makes you temporarily invincible during the next round of combat.

* MercyInvincibility: Present, and one of the skills increases the time you're invincible.

** More obviously, Marv seems to physically resemble a purple Muppet version of Jeff Bezos, although he's a manager, not a founder/CEO.
* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Upon Jackie first learning first-hand what living in [[CrapsaccharineWorld Neo Cascadia]] entails, she tries to have Marv hire an exterminator for the monster, only relenting when Marv threatens her with being fired. [[spoiler:Seeing first hand the dark underbelly causes her to give up on working for Fizzle and fights Marv in [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Co-Working Space]] when she catches him doing something suspicious. The only reason she doesn't leave is because Fizzle going under turns everyone into fish monsters, prompting her to go to the Board of Directors and asks them to fix everything. She admits she only went along with everything because it was the only way to make it, but decides to sacrifice her chance at marketing to save everyone at Fizzle.]]

* RelationshipValues: Jackie can do miniquests for the various Fizzle Employees, which unlocks more abilities if they're assigned as Mentors.

* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/GoingUnder Lots of 'em, too.]]
* SpeakingSimlish: The dialog is typically rendered as various noises, with the exception of Avie who is voiced with via Text-To-Speech.
* TakeThat: The game largely parodies many aspects of corporate tech culture.

** Winkydink is a combination parody of dating apps such as Tinder where sexual harassment between users is the norm, and insanely toxic workplace cultures that enable inappropriate behavior. The Wimps ({{Evil Nerd}}s modeled after cartoonish imps) think themselves as {{Nice Guy}}s and are desparately entitled for romance, while Slime Hand Emoozis are sexual harrassers that keep their job despite repeated offenses and warnings for their behavior from HR.

--->'''Marv''': "With this, our company will be able to harness... the POWER OF THE BLOCKCHAIN!"\\

'''Jackie''': "I really don't feel any different. Are you sure this one actually does anything?\\
'''Marv''': "Yes, of course it does! It blocks... chains."
** Cubicle is very transparently a condemnation of Amazon: [[MegaCorp both have a wide number of subsidiary businesses under their umbrella]], have very popular AI assistants, generally employ a lot of automation, and at the end of the game, [[spoiler:their level is represented by a warehouse, which is a part of Amazon's most well-known business]]. Most notably, [[spoiler:Marv, a major antagonist, looks like a cartoonified version of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos]].

* ThrowTheMookAtThem: The Caffiend, the Boss of Joblin, can pick up a Joblin Canbassador (the type who throws shakeable Bean Bombs), shake ''them,'' and throw them toward Jacqueline, demoting them to ActionBomb.

** You can use Ray's mentor ability to buy items you can't afford, but doing so "weights you down with debt" (i.e. it attaches a literal ball-and-chain to you that slows your movement speed) until you collect enough cash to pay it off.
** A Joblin enemy type dresses like [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Prince]] and attacks using an electric guitar. This references the term "rock star," often used by employers to refer to diligent workers (so much that it's been frequently parodied, such as [[https://youtu.be/2ID-1mzRAew in this commercial]]).

* VoiceGrunting: Aside from in-game automated messages all the character dialog is voiced through various noises. [[spoiler:Averted with Avie during her VillainsWantMercy moment.]]
* WackyStartupWorkplace: Fizzle is one of these, complete with slides. Technically all of the dungeons are heavily distorted versions of these.
* WorkplaceHorror: Fizzle is a company literally built on the remains of failed startups, with its former employees twisted into monstrous forms. On behalf of her superiors, Jacqueline, an unpaid intern for the company, must adventure into the depths and hunt down the remaining monsters before they can overrun the surface.