Title: Undivine
Developer: Wendeoo
Publisher: Deadpix Studios
Release Date: May 9th, 2025
Price: $8.99 (via Steam)
Reviewed On: PC
Undivine is a dark metroidvania with RPG Cult of Cthulhu elements. As the unnamed traveler, players venture into a chasm where many brave warriors have gone before, but from which, none have returned. Enter a world shrouded in mystery and desolation, search for secrets, and choose your fate in this platforming dungeon-esque chasm crawl.
There will be spoilers ahead, so proceed only if you are prepared.
Synopsis & Story Presentation
There isn’t much of a story at first glance. In the tutorial section, the player travels through the above ground world, making their way to the chasm’s entrance, hearing warnings from the early NPCs, including a man who requests the traveler tell his son to return. Overall, the above ground world has easily beatable monsters but remains dark and gloomy. Most off that feels self-inflicted, but as we’re talking about a chasm with a siren’s call, I was willing to be a bit more forgiving.
However, most of the NPCs fall flat. Outside of the dragon and the Devourer, there isn’t much variability in dialogue, and both only vary slightly, giving rather limited options as the traveler is solidly set on a path from which the ending feels unavoidable. Even if the traveler escapes and gets the “good ending,” the game makes it painfully clear they are just one in a long line of people set up by a not-so-secret secret cult.
Anyone with any familiarity with the genre will find few mysteries and more missing objects / locations, but if you run into enough walls or collect the right relic, which you’re almost guaranteed to do, you’ll find the secrets with just a bit of effort.
Gameplay
The controls aren’t the usual WASD, and you can’t change them, but they are set up to allow relatively easy playing. One hand on the arrow keys for movement and the other on X for Jump, Z for your Sword, C for Magic, and Left Shift for Sprint actually is a better set-up though it might take some WASD folks some time to adjust if the comments and other reviews were anything to go by.
Rules are simple. You enter the chasm which is basically a dungeon map layout, using your sword and the magic you gain during the first phase to explore and deal with traps and monsters. Frustratingly, you have to click into your inventory to use keys and certain location-specific objects. As the game already pops up an icon showing which key to use where, you’d think you could just program it to be a press E situation across the board, but that isn’t the case.
As you go through the game, you collect relics, swords, armor, accessories, potions, and other medical supplies. There can be times when you want specific items equipped when meeting certain NPCs to get certain results, but the NPCs will give you exact instructions, so don’t worry too much about missing opportunities.
Ultimately, most of the bosses can be defeated by sticking to them and basically button mashing, but there are a few who are more complicated. Oth’raal requires the most strategy in my opinion, but if you stick to the top of the arena, you can avoid the spikes and most of the squid’s attacks. Mirelurk similarly requires some additional consideration, but as long as you have the Sacred Cloak and remember you can swing your sword up, you’re fine.
Defeating the end boss at full power was incredibly simple to do. Even though I had all relics and upgrades at the time, I didn’t use any special abilities. Frankly, trying to dodge and get fancy makes it harder than just rushing him and button-mashing his health to zero.
Relics
There are seventeen Relic slots in total which can be collected prior to the end of the game, but you don’t need the full set to deal with the Devourer and finish the game.
Vorpalis– the first relic and magic that you’ll receive early in the game. Used to open certain doorways and also an attack. You can’t miss this one, and it is necessary to complete the game.
Ethereal Boots– enables sprint and allows the player to cross specialized barriers. This one is necessary to complete the game as you can’t get into certain levels or to the Praying Room where you’ll find the Devourer without it.
Matriarch’s Heart– gives the player the power to stomp through certain stone barriers obtained by defeating Szish’Ie and also necessary to access certain areas of the chasm.
Ental’s Gauntlet– allows the player to grab, climb, and slide down Jade Walls. Necessary for advancement and to save an injured cat for the A Peculiar Visitor achievement.
Oceano– allows the player to replenish their breath gauge underwater using the swirls and necessary for a number of achievements and to reach the Praying Room.
Sacred Cloak– by holding jump (and the up arrow key for some), the player can float. This relic is necessary to reach the Praying Room and to get several other relics.
Brooch of the Resolute Anchoring – prevents the player from being knocked around when taking damage. While useful, this relic isn’t necessary if the player.
Solaria Shard– increases visibility / brightness. Not necessary to complete the game and not particularly useful in my experience.
Spectral Mask – appears in the top of the screen in areas where a secret room is hidden. It’s extremely useful and cuts down on the time it takes to find other relics, but it isn’t necessary to reach the Praying Room and finish the game.
Carver’s Medal – gives the player a chance to heal upon collecting shards. Useful but not necessary to finish the game.
Daub’s Shield – protects the player from the first damage, shattering after absorbing the damage and respawning to repeat after 9 seconds. Useful but not necessary.
Obliterae – fire version of Vorpalis and necessary to destroy vine barriers. You will need this one to get to the Praying Room and to finish the game.
Blood Oath – increase the damage of the player’s sword attacks when Life is at 20% or less.
Lazarus – the only relic that legitimately annoyed me. Despite the name, you can’t use this to bring anybody back from the dead. It simply slows enemies and inflicts damage. Not necessary to defeat the game, and frankly, freeing the prisoner to get it only adds to your workload in the end.
Warrior Figurine – unleashes a charged sword strike. Not necessary to finish the game.
The Annihilation of I – executes a devastating attack. It’s fun to watch, but definitely not necessary to beat any of the bosses in the game or the Devourer even at full strength.
Soul Supressor (yes, it is misspelled in the game, so we’re keeping the spelling) – reduces the cost of more moves that use “Macula” (a.k.a. magic – Vorpalis, Obliterae, Lazarus, etc.).
Talents
There are nine talents which the player can train in throughout the game. You earn points as you go by defeating enemies and fulfilling tasks which can be used to unlock levels. Outside of Linguistics which you unlock during gameplay, you don’t have to unlock any of them. If anyone has beaten the game without learning any levels of Linguistics, let us know in the comments.
Alchemy – while it never lets you make potions, it does increase the usefulness of them. I found it useful, but it definitely isn’t necessary for game progression.
Demonology – useful to deal more damage, collect more shards, and increase your health. Also useful but not necessary.
Cartography – makes the map a bit more useful. If you stay on top of things, this is helpful but not life or death.
Determination – reduces the cost for all other talents and increases inventory space. Very useful, and while it isn’t necessary, you’ll be able to keep pretty much everything you find it you get the first level of this one. If not, you’ll be spending a good amount of time dealing with inventory limitations.
Linguistics – you’ll be able to learn after appeasing the Saurivari Elder. There are certain relics and sections of the game that you won’t be able to achieve without getting all three levels, so I’d say you can’t really finish the game without this one.
Vigor – increases health and removes fall damage at the highest level. Useful but not necessary.
Resonance – helps with Macula usage and healing. Useful but not necesssary.
Dexterity – increase sword attack speed and prevents enemies from putting the player in the slow state. This makes it easy to charge even bosses and just keep swimming until they’re dead; however, you can still finish the game without it.
Macula Manipulation – increases your Macula Points (a.k.a. mana / magic, etc.), but frankly, level 2 and 3 aren’t worth it. The increased dash distance constantly overshot things as it angles unpredictably.
Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)
Undivine was a fun ten hours to beat and could be done in less than an hour from beginning to end on replay. That being said, it honestly doesn’t have significant replayability. A single playthrough can easily clear most mysteries.
The most difficult parts are getting into the Praying Room and finding Zeneleth, but you don’t technically need to do the latter in order to beat the game. As far as Achievements go, most can be done easily along the way, but A Peculiar Visitor is somewhat time sensitive. If you don’t achieve it before getting the Sacred Cloak, you won’t be able to do so in that run through.
There were some fun easter eggs throughout the game. Most are in the Mementos. Though there are 20 slots, a few showed up multiple times, allowing me to collect 23 total. Not sure if that’s a bug or a feature.
Undivine doesn’t particularly stand out for better or worse. There were no egregious bugs or annoying spots where I was stuck for longer than a half hour. Overall, the game successfully glides along as playable but forgettable. The music was good. However, Wendeoo (a.k.a. Wendell Simões) clearly has an eye for detail and a talent for design. I’m excited to see what he does next, and if purchasing Undivine will fund his next endeavor, I’m all for it.
Otherwise, the biggest question left for me is how to get the seed from the necklace in New Seed, New Hope. If you’ve solved that puzzle, let me know in the comments below or over on our Discord channel.
Disclosure: Boss Rush Network received a review code for the PC version of Undivine. Brainium Games made no stipulations upon this review, nor did they or any representatives read it prior to publication.
Featured Image: Deadpix Studios
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