My recent hands-on session with Capybara Games' eagerly awaited Below didn't conclude with an epic boss battle, a cinematic set piece, or a nail-biting cliffhanger... but with a cup of soup. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Twenty minutes before I discovered said soup, my character washed up on a beach, and I was immediately struck by Below's effective use of scale. Not so much in the traditional sweeping sense, but in how insignificant my character felt in the world. Compared to his top-down surroundings, my “wanderer” looked like a relative speck. According to Creative Director Kris Piotrowski, making the player feel small and vulnerable is intentional. “I wanted to make a game where an entire level could fit on one screen,” said Piotrowski. “It was just an idea of using the HD display capabilities to not go in closer and show cooler details – but instead pull out and use the whole screen as a level. I love the idea of being a little speck of light moving through a very ominous world.”
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