Luna Abyss Preview
Kwalee Labs’ upcoming shooter Luna Abyss has been in development for nearly seven years. Considering how technology evolves and gaming trends come and go, that’s forever. It’s remarkable, then, that Luna Abyss is on the cusp of release and still feels fresh, timely and original in many ways. After playing a couple of hours, I’m hooked and can’t wait for the full experience.
Bullet Hell-Ish
The developer describes Luna Abyss as a narrative-driven, first-person bullet hell shooter. Oh, you mean Returnal? There are a few superficial similarities. Both games have dark sci-fi settings with more than a hint of dystopian mystery in their narratives. They share some version of bullet hell mechanics. But that’s about where the similarities end.
Luna Abyss is not a roguelike — thank you, Kwalee — but a linear first person shooter. In the first two levels the player shoots their way through both claustrophobic corridors and more open mountainous expanses. The exterior landscapes are a welcome, bright contrast to the dark and moody, Giger-esque interiors. Luna Abyss has incredibly sharp visuals and effective lighting. However, it’s not a game that fawns over its own graphics at the expense of game play and action.
In the first couple of hours, players are given a few weapons with specific uses. There is a standard pistol and rifle, supplemented by a couple of weapons that shoot specific types of color-coded barriers or shields. Many enemies will be protected by a shield that needs to be destroyed first. This results in a constant need to switch weapons and it keeps combat interesting.
It starts easy enough, with a barrier here and a shieded enemy there. Before long, however, the player is assaulted by groups of enemies shooting bullet hell waves of destruction that need to be dodged or blocked, all the while switching between weapons and tactics. As frantic as the action eventually becomes, Luna Abyss does an excellent job of onboarding the player and easing them into its mechanics.
Feelin’ Good
Combat and exploration in Luna Abyss feel satisfying for a few reasons. Most fundamentally, audio and controller vibration provide a punch to every shot. Luna Abyss has a lock-on targeting mechanic that by neccesity takes finicky precision out of the equation, and it works well. Luna Abyss is platforming heavy, but I am happy to report that it is forgiving without feeling loose. I don’t believe I ever died from a mistimed jump, except when I didn’t follow the obvious path and took a dive into the abyss.
The game’s narrative arc wasn’t resolved in the demo, obviously, but it’s an interesting one, if a little opaque. You play as Fawkes, cursed by being born with red eyes. This makes you a chosen one — or cursed, depending on your point of view — and you’re sentenced to 9,000 days in prison under the surface of Luna, a mysterious red moon. To reduce your prison time, you go on missions to investigate Greymont and clear it of enemies. Your AI overseer/warden and voice-in-your-head is Aylin, and the god-like All-Father is the powerful force that naturally becomes your eventual foe.
The first few levels featured a few NPCs that provided a bit of exposition and guidance. Generally, enemies were humanoids and fleshy collections of eyes and arms shooting laser-like projectiles and fast moving balls of energy.
Less Than A Month Away
Even though it has been cooking for a very long time, Luna Abyss surprised me. Polished, confident in its mechanics and incredibly fun to play, it appears to have dodged the curse of extended development hell. It’s combination of moody tight spaces and bullet hell shooting, well-tuned pacing and satisfying movement, all hinting at a special game worth clearing for when it releases on May 21, 2026.
***PC code provided by the publisher for preview***
