End of Abyss, a claustrophobic metroidvania with horror elements - Review

End of Abyss is one of those productions that possess an innate charm, an "eerie abandonment" in an underground facility that conceals dark mysteries and, as if that weren't enough, creatures that to call monstrous might be an understatement. After all, the folks at Section 9 Interactive have gained considerable experience in creating dark and grotesque environments: the team is, in fact, made up of former developers and founders of Tarsier Studios who brought the first Little Nightmares titles to life.

Encountering End of Abyss is like being transported into the typical sci-fi atmospheres of the cinematic franchise Alien or, to stay more within the video game theme, into contexts that strongly recall the claustrophobic corridors of the USG Ishimura from Dead Space. Obviously, we are only talking about a kind of inspiration, so it is necessary to specify that Section 9's debut work has its own precise identity that unfolds in an oppressive industrial complex rich in metals, pipes, concrete, and creatures that will make us regret ever entering.

End of Abyss is therefore a sci-fi metroidvania where exploration (and map completion) will play a key role throughout the gameplay. The biggest criticism, perhaps, can be found in excessive backtracking that might lead some players to feel a bit of frustration. However, after completing it, it must be said that the sense of discovery is truly rewarding, despite some perhaps overly difficult combat (and that's not always a bad thing, to be clear).

Down the tunnel… erm, into the underground.

We find ourselves, then, in the depths of an underground complex as a young military engineer named Cel, who will have a very specific objective: to investigate interferences of unknown origin in a destroyed, decaying, and abandoned environment. What we didn't consider, however, is the presence of strange creatures that are devouring this place, also taking possession of rotting bodies (not very encouraging, after all).

As is clear from the very first moments, End of Abyss doesn't take time for preambles nor does it want to give us a taste of the girl's life before the "great mission." Instead, it throws us into the scene of the crime, where our cunning will be put to the test in every area we explore.

Fortunately, we are in a rather futuristic world, and the help of a high-tech scanner will allow us to gather information about the surrounding environment, giving us useful details on doors locked by specific keycards, information on various villains (which will also reveal their weak points), and notes left by former survivors who will delight us with interesting backstories. But the scanner alone is not at all useful if you don't have a weapon and a knife: Cel can draw her pistol and aim it at the various amorphous beings that populate the depths of the complex.

Let's take a step back: End of Abyss is primarily a metroidvania adventure with a top-down view and uses twin-stick shooter mechanics. In other words, with the left analog stick of the controller, you aim the pistol (or any other weapon we collect along the way), and with the right analog stick, you decide the trajectory of the shot: at that point, we will be ready to shoot the ignoble creatures. While this system works quite well, it will take a lot of time to get used to this mechanic, which will become quite rigid when you have to dodge or escape in the opposite direction.

What we mean is that we didn't find the combat system that fresh, and it proves quite difficult in evasive phases. If you add a punitive difficulty level to all this, you will understand for yourselves how it will take more than one attempt to put the various adversaries to bed, especially the bosses who certainly won't just stand there watching you. The situation improves if you opt for mouse and keyboard, making some situations easier to manage.

And if that weren't enough, you'll have to retrace your steps from the previous checkpoint and re-defeat all the creatures already sent to a better place: at least you'll accumulate significant additional credits. These can then be spent at workbenches for ammunition, for throwable weapons, or to upgrade various armaments (but here you'll also need alloys accumulated during exploration). No less important is "the electronic cabin" in Dead Space style, which will allow us to change mods on Cel's suit and gain delicious advantages to mock anyone who opposes our mission.

A dark atmosphere in an interesting world.

The level design of End of Abyss is truly impactful, and we are sure it will delight anyone who loves those dark, blue-tinged places where it's possible to imagine what happened before our arrival. Exploration is undoubtedly the element around which the entire experience revolves, with maps to discover, locks to unlock, and special items to access previously inaccessible places. The camera is generally fixed and on some occasions will rotate according to the design choice, perfectly crafted to make us experience the underground in an incredible way.

As is to be expected from a horror game, the various villains might also feign death only to reawaken and attack without a shred of humanity (and when do they ever?). Here, the choice of confronting them will be up to the player, who can also run away and feel that inevitable pressure of escaping death, at their own risk.

The entire structure is divided into areas (which we can also call levels at this point) that are sufficiently vast and full of secrets, blocked roads, and impossible bridges to cross. Often and willingly, you will find yourself going back and forth to fulfill an objective, encountering enemies already defeated more than once who will "reappear" in the exact same places. And in the long run, it all becomes repetitive, even if you use fast travel at the designated stations: it's true that retracing your steps is the main aspect of any metroidvania, but here it seemed more pronounced than expected.

The progression of End of Abyss proved to be overall satisfying, and defending against the various threats brought us back to moments spent with Dead Space. However, as we anticipated, the game is quite difficult, and you will need to prepare well and power up sufficiently to take down the various bosses: you will struggle quite a bit, but perhaps this is precisely the charm enclosed within the genre. Let's put it this way: End of Abyss has some problems with its overall pacing, but all in all, it proved to be a very interesting horror experience, even if the story could have been told with some unexpected backstories and additional documents related to the game world.

The Italian localization did not fully convince us: we found it "distracted and imprecise," as if it had been created with the help of some AI. Probably these small adaptation problems could have been resolved with a thorough beta testing phase: after all, there's always time to fix these small dissonant notes.