Abyssus Review

Roguelites have always been a bit hit and miss for me. I’m not adverse to replaying games – Lord knows I played plenty back in the day – but the need to replay to grind for upgrades can be done right, and very, very wrong in my opinion. Shining examples like Hades and its sequel finally got me on board with the genre, and I’ve played a handful of good examples since. Well, I think that Abyssus may well be my favourite in recent times, pairing a fair feeling progression system with simple but tactile boomer shooter combat and abilities and fast, fluid encounters. 

Jumping into a round sees us progress through depths; the Cthulhu inspirations here mean we’re exploring all sorts of wet, murky environments as we progress. Each Depth is split into three or four rounds, with several small individual encounter rooms, and mini bosses and final bosses every other one. 

Levels are randomly ordered on each run, though the base layouts and enemies remain the same. We are also randomly awarded upgrade points and blessings upon completion of a room. Every encounter can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, and as we progress the early levels (especially) become speedrun like in nature as we blitz through enemies with upgraded weapons and powers. 

We go out with a load out that can be customized as we complete various feats in prior runs; melee killing 30 enemies unlocks an alternate secondary fire of the shotgun, for example. New weapons are found after defeating bosses or in hidden areas, and while we can only take one at a time, the upgrades are well worth aiming for. The shotgun became a solid favourite, especially when I unlocked the auto fire secondary mode that got more powerful with each shot. No matter the weapon used, they feel great fun to play with and offer a good range of options for players’ styles.

We also have abilities to unlock by clearing runs, the default being a grenade-type that recharges pretty quickly even at the start. Both our main weapon’s fire modes and the ability can be further buffed with blessings that are randomly generated upon clearing a room. We might get the option to make our primary fire 15% stronger and add a fire effect to it, or our ability will add Freeze to enemies with a 100% chance, in among many other options. Stacking these increases their power and adds buffs too, and once we get even a few upgrades the difference is palpable. Of course, these are all lost upon death, but Abyssus is such a quick game to get back into that we’re soon buffed up with some kind of different power on another run before we know it. 

Permanent upgrades are bought with Soul Gems, and in this 1.0 release we have about 25 to choose from, five per tier that we gradually unlock. Again, these make a huge difference and are well worth looking at before a new run.

What I’ve been really enjoying about Abyssus is just the simple pick up and play of it. Yes, there are secrets and builds to consider, and the enemies are not the easiest to beat, with each new level gained just letting us get even more of an ass kicking on the next run. 

But the movement is fluid, and even with the various abilities like dashing, jumping, and our various weapons and powers it never feels too overwhelming even as the screen, floor, ceiling and walls are covered in enemies and attacks. Upgrades and buffs are laid out neatly and are easy to read, and we get a clear idea of what we’re aiming for for weapon upgrades (hovering over it tells us exactly what to do and how far along we are). Combat is fun and satisfying, aping the classics like Doom or Quake in its fast constant movement. 

Abyssus also supports up to four players, either with random lobbies or friends. I’ve yet to try this out pre-release but it has been pitched to the team for a Sunday stream at 8pm (ISSHHHH) so keep an eye out. I can only imagine the hecticness with four of us flying around the arenas. 

Of course, the negatives of roguelites are still there; loss of good builds on death, the need to grind out runs to get more powerful for future runs, the RNG occasionally making a run feel like it’s working against us. But I don’t mind it in Abyssus simply because the core gameplay is simple, good fun. Some roguelites seem to revel in punishing the player by being stingy with upgrades that we can keep, but Abyssus seems content to simply give us a good time and keep the rewards coming, permanent or not.

Conclusion

Roguelites can feel punishing for the sake of it at times, but Abyssus seems content to give us a good pasting while also offering a hand out to pick us back up and shove back into the fray for another go immediately. Simple, good fun and very moreish in every regard.