Looking to keep a small island on top of the sea level, while building out away from the last tree standing, Land Above Sea Below is a very challenging, well made puzzle game.
Land Above Sea Below is a hexagon tile based, landscaping puzzle game where you start off with a tree, in the middle of your screen. This is your island, that you want to grow taller. A the end of each round, the sea level will rise, and if your tree goes under sea level, it will be destroyed. So, in order to keep your tree from meeting it’s water-logged fate, you will need to place down tiles and boost it up.
Different tile types have different attributes to them. You will start off with just one tile type; which when connected with others of the same tile, will boost a number of tiles near them. You will want to boost up your tree as much as possible, to get it ready for the impending doom that is coming. As Land Above Sea Below progresses, you will be given more tiles, and some are just not as useful to you.
Some tiles do not care about the water level, and will always float one above it no matter what you do. Others need to be connected to specifically them, so that they can boost what is around them. As you build out from your island, you will also find that it’s much more challenging to directly boost the middle tree, as it is so surrounded. Where you can place tiles also drastically changes over time, as when a tile sinks, that space is not a space you can build in again, which can break off bits of the area, making them unusable due to not being attached to anything anymore.
Land Above Sea Below can be played at a relaxing pace, where you are just placing tiles and seeing what happens, or you can find the best spot to place tiles and try to maximize each move. It’s all up to how seriously you want to take it.
Land Above Sea Below is currently a tile-limited demo, on itch.io.