Beneath

This article contains significant spoilers regarding Beneath, proceed with caution.

Beneath is a game mode for Paint The Town Red. It is completely different to any other game mode in the game, acting as more of a rogue-like. It was released on November 26 (27 in Australia, where the developers South East Games are based), 2019 in update 0.9.0 as the main feature. Previously, Beneath existed in a Steam beta branch version that was introduced June 22, 2019.

## Story

The story is slowly revealed as the player defeats more bosses. The rank and access level starts out as "Ensign" and "Limited", respectfully, but will increase whenever the player defeats an Elder God. At the rank of "Captain", the Access Level is 1, allowing the player to access the Level 1 quarters and the Investigation Room. At the rank of "Major", the Access Level is 2, allowing the player to access the Level 2 quarters, the VR Training room, and the VR Scenario room. At the rank of "Colonel", the Access Level is 3, allowing the player to access the General's board room.

*For more information, see the article for:* Facility

Some parts of the story are also explained through a community announcement made by South East Games on October 15, 2018: https://steamcommunity.com/games/337320/announcements/detail/3646119659161294236

## Gameplay

The game mode, instead of taking the main games largely brawl-based gameplay, has the player go through tunnels (or bridges), making their way through many enemies to complete one goal - killing all 4 Elder Gods that have plagued the world above with the enemies beneath.

## Classes

Unlike the Scenarios or the Arena mode, Beneath has 5 different classes (one which is unlocked after defeating the first Elder God), which allow the player to choose a playstyle of their own with different stats for each class. They also have their own powers and abilities, with the 3 normally in-game (Shockwave, Berserk, and Smite), all belonging to the Brawler class except for Smite.
*For more information on the classes, see:* Classes

*For information on the powers and abilities, see:* abilities

## Areas

Beneath has 7 areas, which have varying amounts of levels. Every area (except the Facility, which has an elevator leading down to Beneath, and Fire and Blood, where the game ends) has a bridge leading to the next.

*For details on the areas as a whole see the following page:* Areas

*For more detailed information on the areas, see the following pages:*

Facility

Caves

Crystal Caverns

Ruins

Islands

The Construct

Fire and Blood

## Enemies

Many enemies are introduced to Beneath. These enemies are much stronger then enemies in the scenarios, as most of them are not humans, but beasts.
*For information on all enemies in Beneath, see:* **Enemies/Beneath**

*For information detailing every enemy in Beneath in separate pages, see:*

Zombie+Tentacle Zombie

Acolyte

Floating Head

Crystal Crab+Blue Crystal Crab

Minion

Bore Worm

Crystal Entity

Teleporter

Interceptor

Giant Mage

Leaper

Charger

Observer

Skeleton

## Shard Lords

The Shard Lords are regular enemies who came to find the Shards Of A Fallen God, which has caused them to become incredibly powerful. After rescuing the Apostate, a status message saying "The Shard Lords are enraged..." will appear, indicating the Shard Lords will now spawn. They are essentially just stronger versions of normal enemies (with the exception of the Centurion, which does not appear to be a harder version of any enemy in Beneath, but rather a human guard from the Arena Mode).
*For more information on the Shard Lords, see the following pages:*

Golem

Centurion

Pyro

Deceiver

Beast

Crawler

## The Elder Gods

The Elder Gods are the main antagonists of the game, acting as the leaders of the horrors beneath. They are unique in that they are in the format of a normal game boss fight, with health bars and several different abilities given to them, complete with a title card. Killing the Elder Gods are key to progress and have their own unique symbols. Killing the first three also gives access to different areas, and killing the final Elder God will end the game mode.

*Information about each Elder God can be found on the following pages:*

The Necromancer

The Aberration

The Trickster

The End

## Unique Enemies

Some enemies are similar to other enemies but more unique. The following enemies are:

The Pursuer: A large, skeleton-ghost-like floating figure, cloaked and holding it's own heart. It will float towards the player, and as a non-corporeal being, it can go through solids objects, flying towards the player until it kills them or the player leaves the area. Uniquely, it will kill any regular enemy it comes in contact with it, although it cannot kill Shard Lords and will not appear during an Elder God fight. It is invincible except for the final area, Fire and Blood, where weapons can be found that will kill the Pursuer in one hit, due to the fact that there are multiple Pursuers in said area. Its main function is to force players to run, as it will appear on some levels, indicated by a status message.

*More information can be found on the page* Pursuer

Golden Boxer: Essentially a stronger version of the boxer that can rarely spawn in Beneath, and its main function is to be killed to produce lots of gold. It will only spawn after the "Golden Gloves" upgrade is bought from the shop for 150 energy.

*More information can be found on the page* Golden Boxer

Gremlin: Little creatures that drop large amounts of gold and energy. They run away from the player instead of attacking them, and after running for some while will run through a portal, similar to the one summoned by the Giant Mages.

*More information can be found on the page* Gremlin

## Challenge Rooms

The challenge rooms are unique rooms that block off the player when they enter, giving them a challenge. These challenges include killing all enemies in a time limit, surviving in a time limit without running, or killing everything without taking damage. After completing the challenge, the player is set free, and a Challenge Chest is open, giving them copious amounts of gold and energy, as well as several powerful weapons.

## Shop

The shop is one of the most important areas in the game mode, allowing the player access to otherwise hard to find mechanics. It also acts as a safe room, where several creatures from the Beneath help the player in their journey. The shop is protected by a minion holding a force field together.

The shop has several placements that can be bought to give the player health, attack energy, and boosts. The energy seller (another minion) who buys energy to give permanent upgrades. These upgrades do not need to be bought by a certain amount of energy at once but can be donated energy in order to compile energy to buy an upgrade.

A Giant Mage acts as the shopkeeper and has a table with four random items and one random one-time upgrade that can be bought. An enchanting station can be used to enchant shields and weapons. There is a guiding light station that, when bought, will give the player a permanent guiding light for that level. Finally, a pursuer summoning station can be used for free which will summon the Pursuer.

## Trivia

* Beneath had early access builds released, which were removed when the release date for the mode was announced.