When we first saw End of Abyss back at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, it immediately caught our attention. The dark and isolated atmosphere felt different from the likes you usually see from most twin stick shooters. Combine that with a slew of Metroidvania elements, and it looked like the developers at Section 9 Interactive made us want to get our hands on the full game after our demo. Now, the game is here, and we’re able to see the how well End of Abyss combines two genres that don’t usually mix and if it lives up to our initial impressions.
From the onset of the game, End of Abyss oozes with atmosphere. The very start of the game gives a sense of unease as you slowly progress deeper into the compound. In the game, you play as Cel who, along with a small team, enters and explores a derelict compound. The game is dark and gives a sense of dread with each corner you turn and each door you open. Then, once Cel is on her own, you feel the dark and isolation all around you thanks to the lighting and sound design the developers gave the compound. It sounds and looks like something pulled straight out of Alien.
As aforementioned, End of Abyss is a mixture of twin stick shooter and Metroidvania. The game is designed extremely well in the shooter aspect as all the controls are designed so your thumbs never actually have to leave the sticks to do things once you are in combat. Dodging, items, and shooting are on the shoulder buttons and reloading is done by the press of the right stick. Since there is no auto fire like in other twin stick shooters, it does take a little bit to get used to aiming and firing your weapons. However, once you do, it feels extremely competent and you build your skill at it quickly.
On the other hand, the Metroidvania aspects of the game don’t feel as fleshed out as the twin stick shooter aspects. The game feels far more linear that other games in the genre. Usually in these types of games, you will see things or areas you can’t access until you get a certain item or ability. Thus, knowing you will need to come back later. However, End of Abyss just feels like most of the Metroidvania aspects just lead to optional things. You can easily ignore all forms of exploration and just progress through the game in a linear fashion without ever needing to really veer off the beaten path.
Luckily, even if you are just progressing through the game, you’ll be engaging in combat at a near constant clip. Enemies are usually wandering around or hidden just out of few and pop out when you least expect it. Once you start engaging, if another enemy is close enough, they will hear it and start running over. There are plethora of different enemy types with each having their own attack patterns you have to pay attention to and avoid as they will take your health out quickly if you aren’t careful. Then, there’s the bosses. The game itself isn’t extremely challenging, but the boss fights take the difficulty level up a notch that give you a sense of elation once you’re able to take them down.
To help you take down enemies, Cel is equipped with her trusty handgun which has recharagable infinite ammo. She can also find a wide variety of different weapons while exploring. Though, unlike the handgun, ammo for these weapons isn’t infinite and there are no ammo pickups anywhere in the game. The only way to gain ammo is to craft it at the work benches in the save rooms. This becomes tedious and tiresome as, when you die, your ammo doesn’t restock. Thus, if you used a bunch during a boss fight or tough encounter and then died, you have to craft more ammo yet again. This put me off using certain weapons and sticking with the handgun as you never have to worry about running out of ammo at the worst time.
The biggest issues End of Abyss faces were on the technical side. There were a plethora of times where I would go to access the map, however it would not load at all until I would close it and then reopen it. Other issues included not being able to open doors I had previously unlocked after dying and respawning or, while trying to progress, the prompt for going down a ladder just not appearing until I closed and restarted the game. There was even a time where I fell through the map in the middle of a fight with loads of enemies. Even after multiple updates, I was still running into these issues.
Overall, End of Abyss mixes the two genres that don’t come together that often, if at all, pretty well. The Metroidvania aspects might not be the most fleshed out compared the giants of the genre, and the numerous technical issues that are hopefully ironed out are definitely a bummer. However, the atmosphere, enemy design, and combat do the heavy lifting to make End of Abyss worthy of your time even in a crowded Fall season.
Score: 7 out of 10
Reviewed on PlayStation 5