Life Below Preview — Under the Sea!

I am often heard complaining that similar genres seem to surge in popularity all at once. It certainly happened with cozy farming simulators and is currently happening with extraction shooters. After accepting my Life Below appointment at gamescom 2025, I was bombarded with city builders, too. It seems that as soon as I am looking for something, it pops up consistently. With that said, I am always happy to see a studio do something different with an oversaturated genre, and developer Megapop is doing just that with Life Below.

I was able to sit down with Game Director Lise Hagen Lie and have her walk me through the game in a quick 30-minute demo that showed me various stages of the game from beginning to end, after players are more established. Though it doesn’t look like your typical city builder, Life Below is just that, only for marine life. You’re not just building typical housing and commercial buildings. Instead, you’re building an entire ecosystem, the absolute base of life as we know it.

Sitting down with Hagen Lie, I could see her passion behind the game. Not only did she enjoy gaming and making games, but she also has a passion for the ocean and the life within it. Like most women my age, we all went through our Marine Biologist stage, and she did too, only she stuck with it and channelled it into a game. The result is a gameified learning experience, filled with both facts and fiction to make this underwater world a bit more exciting.

“Life Below has a lot going on under the surface…get it?”

Life Below was created by a lover of all things underwater, but the team went a step further. Rather than relying on the developers’ knowledge, they consulted bona fide marine biologists to help understand how these things really work and bring as much knowledge as they can to the game. Even creatures that are not biologically accurate are based on real creatures, with made-up names to pay homage to them. The team researched what creatures live with whom, who are natural enemies, and what other items, like coral, do to affect the ocean floor.

There is, indeed, a story in Life Below, and they say it on their Steam page better than I could: “The ocean is dying. Coral reefs are vanishing, and ecosystems are breaking down. By the power of the mysterious reef heart, you must restore balance, using the ocean floor itself as the foundation to build vibrant havens for sealife.” A bleak world with a dash of hope, one that is a bit too real when you take a moment to look around us.

Life Below has a lot going on under the surface…get it? You don’t just place the fish and creatures you want. You place their habitats, their food, and lures to call them to the world you’ve created. If you don’t have what they need, they simply won’t stay. There is more to it than that, though. Like the ocean, or even an aquarium you have at home, you have to control the water’s temperature and pH levels, too.

Some items heat things up, some cool them down, and later, you will have access to crafting items that can help counteract this. There will also be human-made obstacles, such as oil spills and garbage, that you have to take on. Do I see a 2026 Games for Impact Award for Life Below in the future?

The crafting system in Life Below seems pretty intense, and I am looking forward to seeing all the different lures, creatures and habitats I can build or unlock. Before I got too far into the game, I was a little disappointed to think about the limits that would be put on Life Below, since you are building on the bottom of the ocean floor, and the game is meant to be semi-realistic. That means a lot of the ocean’s favourite creatures would be left out, since, you know, dolphins don’t scrounge the bottom of the ocean.

Luckily, Megapop considered this and did not want any of its favourite aquatic friends left out. The studio created a visitor system that allows creatures such as dolphins and turtles (among others, though those were the examples discussed) to enter your habitat and spend some time there. Of course, summoning animals without reason would feel strange, so players can use lures to bring them in for specific purposes.

“Don’t let the beautiful hand-drawn graphics fool you—Life Below is a city…biodiversity…builder that requires planning and strategy.”

For example, during my demo, there was a significant jellyfish problem disrupting the ecosystem. I used lures to attract turtles, which are natural predators of jellyfish. The turtles arrived, snacked on the jellyfish, and were accompanied by a pop of red in the water. I was told that animation is being updated, but for now, it struck the right mix of dark and fun. In total, more than 40 wildlife species can be lured to your underwater sanctuary, and I am eager to see how they interact with one another.

Multiple biomes were highlighted, including a standard version, a colder variant and a hotter option, with more on the way. When I asked about the possibility of exploring dark, deep-sea monsters, nothing was confirmed or denied, though there was mention of an oceanic chasm. I am curious to see how that develops. Overall, Megapop appears committed to keeping Life Below fresh and engaging.

Don’t let the beautiful hand-drawn graphics fool you—Life Below is a city…biodiversity…builder that requires planning and strategy. I’m excited to try it out during a longer playthrough, and am even looking forward to learning more about our oceans.