Life Below Review: Game of the Week #61 Builds a Habitat, Not a City

Life Below is our Fix Gaming Channel Game of the Week #61, and after five to six hours with it on PC, I can add to the Mostly Positive response on Steam.

At first, the gameplay in Life Below is not that different from other city builders I have played. You manage resources, unlock new systems, deal with shortages, and try to stop your setup from falling apart.

The difference is what you are building. This is not really a city. It is more of a habitat. You need to understand how species, coral, habitats, and environmental conditions interact with each other, and that is where Life Below starts to stand out.

Developed by Megapop and published by Kasedo Games, Life Below launched on Steam on May 26, 2026. It is a reef-building strategy and simulation game with a story written by Rhianna Pratchett.

Reviewed on PC in 32:9 ultrawide. Score: 7.5/10

Life Below Trailer

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A familiar builder loop, but not a normal city

The basic loop in Life Below will feel familiar if you have played city builders before. You build, adjust, run short, unlock more, and rebuild when the setup does not work.

Yes, that can get frustrating. There were moments where I fell short, had to rethink the reef, and had to rebuild again. The good part is the autosave system. Being able to load from different points helps a lot, especially when a bad decision started earlier than I first thought.

What makes the game more interesting is that you are not placing normal buildings. You are building a living system. The game explains the species, habitats, and environmental conditions really well during the first hour, and it does that without feeling boring.

Relaxing and stressful at the same time

Life Below can feel relaxing and stressful at the same time. The reef looks calm, the music sits nicely in the background, and watching the ocean floor slowly come back to life is satisfying.

Then something starts going wrong. A requirement is missing, a resource runs short, or the reef needs a change before the whole setup starts sliding. That mix gives the game a stronger pull than I expected.

It sounds cliche to say it is more than “just another city builder,” but here it fits. You are not building a city. You are trying to understand a habitat.

32:9, 3440×1440, and ultrawide cutscenes

I played Life Below for around five to six hours in 32:9, and yes, it is optimized for both 32:9 and 3440×1440.

It looks amazing. The wider screen gives the reef room to breathe, and the underwater presentation fits the format very well.

The cutscenes also worked in ultrawide, which is a big point for me. The latest game I played with that kind of support was Battlefield 6 earlier this year, so seeing it handled well here was a good surprise.

Life Below reef habitat shown in 32:9 ultrawide with coral, species, and underwater structures across the ocean floor — Life Below looks excellent in 32:9, especially when the camera pulls back and shows the reef habitat clearly.

Camera views make the reef feel bigger

One thing I should also mention is the camera and view feature. In the shorter gameplay video, I let the camera circle around the reef for a few minutes, and it really shows how clear everything looks in 32:9.

The different view modes help the reef feel more alive. You can pull back, watch the habitat from a wider angle, and see how the species, coral, and structures connect across the underwater space.

For a game like this, that visual overview is a big part of why the ultrawide support stands out. It is one of those moments where the game stops feeling like menus and systems, and starts feeling like a living place you are trying to restore.

Life Below Amazing View Feature

Life Below 3+ Hours of 32:9 Gameplay

I also recorded over three hours of Life Below gameplay in 32:9. The video is uploading right now and should be live in around 30 minutes. Once available, it will show more of the real loop: building, adjusting, falling short, rebuilding, and slowly learning how the reef systems connect.

The soundtrack is one of the strongest parts

The Life Below Soundtrack is one of the things that stands out. It has 30 tracks, composed and mastered by Julie Buchanan, and it is worth checking out if you enjoy the game’s mood.

The music helps the reef feel alive without pushing too hard. For a game where you spend long stretches watching systems grow, break, and recover, that background work is strong.

I enjoyed the soundtrack a lot during my hours with the game, and it became one of the reasons I wanted to keep playing.

A good follow-up after Pompeii: The Legacy

In my other city-builder coverage, I have said this is not really “my genre” anymore, even though it used to be. After playing Pompeii: The Legacy, and after my interview with Željko Kos, Life Below feels like a good follow-up for my return to city builders.

They are completely different games, with different settings, storylines, developers, and publishers. There is no direct link between them. The connection is more personal: both made me interested in spending time with city builders again.

It makes me happy to see new solid creative ideas in the genre, and developers taking familiar systems in a different direction.

Calmer Waters and a softer way to play

Megapop has also added the Calmer Waters update, which brings a more relaxed mode to the game. Hazards still appear, but with lower severity and longer gaps between them.

That fits Life Below well. The game can still push back, but giving players more room to learn the systems makes sense for a builder about restoration, patience, and watching the reef slowly recover.

Final thoughts

Life Below currently has Mostly Positive user reviews on Steam, and I can add to that.

My score for Life Below, our Game of the Week #61, is 7.5/10. It is very close to an 8 for me.

The frustration is real when the reef starts falling short and you need to rebuild, but the autosave helps, the habitat systems are explained well, the soundtrack stands out, and the ultrawide support is excellent.

I will get back to it, because I do not feel finished with Life Below yet. That is a good sign.

Life Below

Release: May 26, 2026

Genre: City Builder, Underwater, Strategy, Simulation

Developer: Megapop

Publisher: Kasedo Games

Platforms: PC — Steam

Soundtrack: Life Below Soundtrack

Sources: Steam, Life Below Soundtrack on Steam, Steam Community.