Underrail - Has a Weird XP System

@Eurogamer they discuss Underrails XP system and how it rewards thoroughness.

I'm a big fan of role playing games, be they digital or pen and paper. Occasionally, however, I develop a profound sense of torpor - RPG fatigue if you will - that's invariably brought about by the same thing: XP grinding.

While character development is one of the things that make RPGs so exciting, the endless grind for seemingly arbitrary parcels of experience points does get tiring. More than once I've found myself doing a quest in an RPG not out of genuine interest, but so I can watch a number that doesn't make me happy flash up on the screen for a moment. Which is exactly why I found Underrail so refreshing.

Underrail, an isometric RPG that launched late last year, has an XP system based around oddities. Oddities are strange artefacts that can be found in the world and on certain enemies. Aside from completing quests, they're the only way to gain experience; miss them, miss out. In their frequently grisly nature (rathound ear, anyone?) they take on an eldritch quality that helps enhance the subterranean world of Underrail. They also make it less about you and your nifty skillset, mr, mrs or ms protagonist, and more about the game world itself.

Have a look in the video below. Sorry for being rubbish at turn-based combat.

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More information.

It's optional - you can choose to use a traditional XP system based on killing stuff.

I''ve gone with the 'weird' system. It's good. You still get XP for killing things (because you can find collectible items on the corpses), but it also encourages exploration as I do tend to comb areas for secrets and break into all the lockers etc. You're also more likely to try sneaking, as you might find you value ammo more than a chance of getting a rathound ear. And since you can only benefit from each collectible a limited number of times, it does encourage you to consider non-combat options.

It is a great game, and it is good that it has tried something a little different here.

Oddity would be good if it was balanced. My second character used Classic XP system and did less exploring than first and didn't grind anything and was 2 levels above first one after reaching lvl 10+ and I followed the same path of doing quests.

I like the oddity system as well, as it disencourages grinding, or doing stuff just because of xp.

For example there is an item which makes a certain enemy type friendly through the whole game. That also means you don't get xp from them anymore in the conventional system. So in the conventional system I would probably not have used it. But in the oddity system you can focus on quests and exploration.

I also found it well balanced. Not with the other system, but with the game itself. I reached deep caverns and have hit level 23 shortly before with 25 being the maximum.
It's actually also easier to balance for the developers as it becomes easier for him to regulate how much XP you have at a certain point, without implementing mechanics like diminishing returns of kill xp.

I also like the oddity system. I wasn't sure if I would, but decided to use it since it was the default mode. I am playing a stealth character and have avoided a good number of unnecessary combat, but I don't feel like I'm left out too much because of the oddity system. I also have lock picking.
Its probably true though that if you don't have a stealth character that you'll probably do better with the classic system, since its often hard to avoid fighting.

I tend to like those non-kill-based XP systems, although they are probably more difficult to tune.

No, Underrail doesn't have a Weird XP System




Underrails offer you to choose

choose between a classic system (as everyone has done it before), or a new , "artifact" xp system, something new and fresh, but not for everybody perhaps


Terrible misleading headline