End of Abyss Review – A Chilling Descent Into Darkness

End of Abyss Review

Following their departure from Tarsier Studios, the Ottvail brothers, alongside Heinerwall, created Section 9 Interactive to continue their descent into the macabre. Their debut title, End of Abyss, carries the DNA of their previous work, but aims to carve its own identity. Will the step away from puzzle adventure to Metroidvania shooter prove to be a successful evolution, or will the studio struggle to escape the shadows of its past?

You play as a young technician, instructed by seniors to investigate a sprawling complex to uncover strange disturbances and signals emerging from the area. Mystery surrounds each step as you tentatively explore the dark, silent facility. The further you delve, the more sinister the discoveries become, revealing unnerving entities.

A New Nightmare

With much of the story left open to interpretation, End of Abyss uses its environment to develop the narrative. Each room in the dense, tight world includes scattered remnants of the past, indicating atrocities that once occurred. There’s a foreboding atmosphere that instantly grabs you, not letting you rest as you carefully open routes to your destination. While the facility is divided into distinct areas, each with its own enemy types, they feel cohesive thanks to the overarching aesthetic. A cold fear fills the air, making you carefully tread throughout.

The world design is wonderful, with interconnected routes making backtracking easier. Although an objective marker is visible on the map, it can be difficult to find the route to your destination. This can result in aimless wandering and scouring to work out your path forward. Safe Rooms are located at key points, allowing you to save your progress, upgrade items and craft weapons. If you decide to save and regenerate your health, enemies reset, making your trek to the next destination more dangerous. As you only have a finite number of healing items, this can often be a necessity in order to survive.

Trying to end your journey prematurely are a variety of disturbing creatures. Although a corridor may appear empty, with infected corpses slouched in corners, these can suddenly come to life with the goal of hunting you down. Enemies differ, with some spouting acid and others that explode. Countering the infected beasts are robots that skitter across the terrain, blasting lasers at you. To stay alive, you must avoid attacks by running or rolling, and retaliate with your weapons.

No Place to Hide

You have access to a pistol with infinite ammo. With full 360 freedom, you can aim with your right stick to get the perfect shot. This can be a little tricky, pushing you to take your time before pulling the trigger. Due to the reload function, you must be deliberate, or you put yourself in a vulnerable position. In addition, you can use a shotgun-style blaster, which unleashes more damage but has limited ammo. Supplementing your offensive output is a range of additional items. Grenades are great when you lure a group of enemies to one area and C4 can be used to blow up weak structures to open new paths. Later, you also get access to a grapple to leap across gaps and a flare to lighten the deep, dark corridors.

Bosses dwell in enclosed spaces, dominating the environment and highlighting your slight stature. At this point, you must read the enemy’s attack pattern to avoid damage and counter with several shots when the opening appears. You are able to unleash a charged shot, which causes significantly more damage, but takes time to set and fire. This adds a risk/reward system to encounters, making you consider your approach to battles.

Beneath the Surface

The art direction is deliciously diabolical. Flickering lights give a glimmer of the horrors that lie ahead, creating tense moments as you methodically enter the unknown. The dank industrial interiors add an unsettling atmosphere to your task, making you weary of each claustrophobic room you enter. The unnerving sound design only heightens the tension, with distant noises and unsettling whispers keeping you constantly on edge.

With End of Abyss, Section 9 Interactive takes what they learnt from Little Nightmares and creates a new beast that blends their trademark unsettling atmosphere with Metroidvania exploration. The interconnected world is a thrill to explore; however, it can be difficult to determine how to reach your destination due to the lack of guidance. Vile enemies lurk in the corridors, ready to strike, requiring thoughtful combat, which increases the tension. Despite some navigational frustrations, it’s a compelling adventure that delivers a haunting experience.

***A PS5 code was provided by the publisher***