The Metroidvania genre has been one of gaming’s most popular genres for over three decades now. At Summer Games Fest this year, we got to go hands on with what I think is the first twin stick shooter that I’ve played in the genre in End of Abyss. This dark sci-fi entry in the genre just nails the atmospheric horror that propels some of the best out there in the genre.
End of Abyss sees a group of characters enter a desolate facility full of unknown and strange horrors. The demo we played takes place after your character splits off from the group and is now all by themself exploring the facility. The demo let us explore two floors of a six floor area in the game which the developer said the area overall is maybe ~10% of the total areas in the game. Thus, the full game is far bigger than anything we played or got to see of the map.
The combat is the typical twin stick shooter fare. You control your character with the left stick and then use the right stick to aim. However, you do not automatically shoot in this game. Instead, you must still use the right trigger to actual shoot your weapon. We were equipped with two different weapons in the demo. The first was our handy pulse rifle which has infinite ammo as well as a shotgun that, like they are known for, better used in close quarter situations. You can also dodge roll and the developers made sure to get the controls set up in such a way that your hands never leave the sticks.
As with any good Metroidvania, exploration and map tracking is key to doing well in End of Abyss. Your character is equipped with a scanner that can be used to scan things such as doors, elevators, and even dead bodies. Scanning these places information on your map so you can track your progress of where you have already been. Doors will tell you how they’re locked like by a security system or a key and elevators will tell you what floors they stop at when you look at them on the map.
End of Abyss is setting up to be a strong sci-fi Metroidvania when it releases this Fall on October 1, 2026.