Trending
From Software created a global phenomenon with its Dark Souls series, and it seems its popularity won't fade any time soon. These are brutal games with even more brutal, challenging gameplay that pushes us to our limits, where every mistake is punished with the infamous "You Died" screen.
Those games became so popular that many developers tried to replicate the formula, giving birth to a completely new genre: the Souls-like. Since then, I have played a respectable number of Souls-likes of all kinds: dark fantasy Souls-likes, Metroidvania Souls-likes, even Souls-like shooters. But a top-down shooter with the look and feel of the Little Nightmares games and Souls-like mechanics on top of all that? Even I didn't see that one coming. And you know what's even more interesting? End of Abyss is proof that such a concept can actually work, until it can't, but more on that later.
Story – Small Girl, Big Mission
An abandoned facility where people suddenly start turning into zombies, and a team of soldiers sent to find out what's going on. You play Cel, a young combat technician sent along with that team to investigate disturbances inside the underground facility after several failed attempts to contact the people who work there. But as is the case with every Souls-like out there, do not expect to be anyone special; in fact, you are physically inferior to everyone else. While the rest of the crew are big-ass soldiers in full armour with assault rifles in hand, you are a tiny girl, visibly smaller than the others and carrying only a service pistol.
Curiously enough, as soon as the action kicks in, you are the one sent to look around and deal with all kinds of threats, while the others just hang around messing with computers and stuff. Very convenient, indeed.
As you might have guessed already, the story is very mysterious, and understanding it requires a great deal of investigation, reading hidden optional documents and piecing everything together. It is a Souls-like through and through, so if you are wondering whether End of Abyss is truly a Souls-like, the answer is simple: yes, and the story alone can vouch for it.
Gameplay – Fighting the Monsters and the Controller
At first glance, End of Abyss looks a lot like Little Nightmares, which is no surprise given that Section 9 Interactive was founded by former Tarsier Studios developers, and if you have played any of those games, you might think this is just another entry in the series. Once you scratch the surface, though, it is far from a tiny adventure. End of Abyss might look harmless, but underneath lurks one of the hardest games I have ever played, hands down.
In essence, it's a top-down shooter, but the view isn't completely top-down either. It is rather a sort of isometric 3D, where the camera is mostly fixed but sometimes follows the character around, zooming in and out to make the action more visible and more engaging. So why is the camera so important here? Because of another part of the gameplay that gave me nightmares: the aiming.
I played on PS5 with a controller, and that's where the trouble starts. Cel doesn't aim while walking; to shoot, you push the right stick towards your target, she raises her gun and a laser pointer appears, and only while holding the stick in place can you fire with R2. Let go, and she can't shoot at all; miss by the smallest margin, and the hit won't register. In first- and third-person shooters, you aim with L2 and simply move the camera with the right stick, but here the same hand has to hold the aim and pull the trigger at once, and it never feels natural. Enemies hit like a truck, which is fine for a Souls-like, but once they swarm you, which happens all the time, fighting the controls leaves you with no chance of survival.
As for weapons, your primary is a pistol with infinite ammo that uses a cooldown system. Once you empty the clip, Cel reloads, but if some shots remain, the clip recharges over time. You can also get secondary weapons, like a shotgun and a rifle, as well as grenades and other throwables like flares.
For defence, the game gives you a dodge roll, which is very Souls-like, too. On PS5, the roll is mapped to L2 by default, and getting used to it will take some time as well. All in all, do not expect a Rambo-style shooter where you obliterate everything that moves. In End of Abyss, shooting is tactical and calculated: isolate enemies, get rid of them one at a time, and pray you last long enough to reach the next safe room.
The levels follow Metroidvania design, and they are just perfect, with hallways connecting different rooms and locked doors that open in many ways: from the other side, with keys or by restoring power. Since this is a Souls-like, you'll also find special rooms with capsules that work like the bonfires in Dark Souls, where you can rest to replenish your healing items at the cost of respawning the enemies, upgrade your gear and change suits.
Speaking of suits, the game lets you wear a few, and apart from their looks, different suits also protect you against radiation. Yes, radiation zones are a thing here, and on top of keeping an eye on enemies, you'll have to deal with radiation damage as well. It complicates things, but hey, it wouldn't be a Souls-like if it wasn't brutally hard, right?
The upgrades in End of Abyss are not as sophisticated and detailed as in other Souls-likes, which is understandable since this game is a bit different. As you explore the facility, you'll kill enemies and find chests that sometimes hold Materials, the in-game currency used to buy ammo, throwables and permanent upgrades. Most of your upgrades will go into weapons, adding modules to them and improving stats like damage, rate of fire, and more.
Healing stims replenish when you rest, but ammo and throwables don't; those you'll have to buy once you spend them, simple as that. You can increase your number of healing stims by finding new ones in the world, and each one you find is permanently added to your inventory.
Talking about a Souls-like and not mentioning bosses would be wrong. In End of Abyss, the bosses are brutal, and this is the kind of game where the first one puts you through a serious test, and only if you pass it are you ready to go on. I lost count of how many times I died to the first boss, but I was never frustrated, because I knew it was not an unfair battle but rather my lack of skill, or more precisely, my lack of mastery of the controls, which gave me headaches to the very end of the game. The boss design in general is fantastic, and the bosses, along with the regular enemies, perfectly represent the twisted, infected world Section 9 built, where every creature looks like a piece of the facility that went horribly wrong.
Overall, End of Abyss plays fantastically, with very challenging gameplay and perfectly designed bosses that will fully test your skill and resolve, but expect real frustration with the aiming system. It is a rock you'll almost certainly stumble on if you give this game a chance.
Visuals and Sounds – Darkness Done Right
The underground facility in End of Abyss is a horrific place, and the visual presentation takes that through the roof. The art style leans towards dark colours and gritty visuals, with poorly lit hallways, abandoned rooms covered in dust, broken waterways and areas brimming with radiation. Each of these places has its own style and colour palette, which makes the game look dark, scary, and very anxiety-inducing. The lighting and the way the game plays with shadows deserve special praise.
Character and enemy design are excellent. I especially like Cel's movement animation, which reminds me of Little Nightmares more than anything else in the game. All the characters are faceless because they all wear helmets, but even so, each of them is distinguishable, even though they all share a single voice.
Speaking of voices, the game doesn't use a real spoken language but rather inarticulate speech, translated through speech bubbles. The spoken lines all sound the same while the subtitles change, but whenever a character speaks, it sounds so serious and intimidating that a real language isn't missed at all.
The other side of the sound design is the music, which is just perfect and complements everything the game does right. During exploration, or whenever there is no action, the music is quiet and intimidating and keeps building tension. Once the action starts, it switches to something more intense, but it's the scary, repetitive theme you hear throughout that really hits home and makes the game even more atmospheric. That is the raw power of music, and End of Abyss uses it to the fullest.
Conclusion
End of Abyss is a bold experiment that, for the most part, pays off. Section 9 Interactive took the look and feel of Little Nightmares, wrapped it around Souls-like mechanics and Metroidvania level design, and ended up with one of the most atmospheric and challenging games I have played this year. The facility is a joy to explore, the bosses are brutal but fair, and the music and lighting keep you on edge from the first corridor to the last.
Remember when I said the concept works until it can't? The aiming is where it can't. Holding the right stick to aim while shooting with the same hand never felt natural, not even after hours of practice, and in a game this demanding, every missed shot hurts twice. If you can make peace with the controls, or if you are more patient with them than I was, End of Abyss has a lot to offer. Just know that the monsters will not be your only enemy down there.
The Good
Brutal but fair bosses- Excellent Metroidvania level design
- Oppressive atmosphere and lighting
- Superb, tense soundtrack
- Rewarding hidden lore
The Bad
Controls never feel natural (the only minus, but a big one)
