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Title: End of Abyss is when Metroidvania meets space horror

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2025 14:00:49 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/end-of-abyss-...

YouΓÇÖd assume that the latest game from the studio that made Little
Nightmares 2 is going to be a bit spooky and dark, and Section 9ΓÇÖs End of
Abyss is that. However, it's also a little easier to describe and explain: an
atmospheric sci-fi shooter with Metroidvania-style exploration.

While there's no shortage of Metroidvanias to draw inspiration from, when I
played a demo at SGF 2025, all I could think of was Alien. It might be the
scanner, which the protagonist can use to glean information, spot hidden
items and tag room details for further exploration once youΓÇÖve got new
skills or weapons. Mattias Ottvall, co-creator of the game, praised my
tendency to scan everything, which netted me several secret item caches
during my demo playthrough.

YouΓÇÖll have to tag between the scanner and your gun pretty often, too, as
biped monsters, spidery little parasites and beefier foes swing their literal
heads at you. Fortunately, End of AbyssΓÇÖ isometric layout is paired with
the ability to move and shoot with each analog stick. If things get a little
too dicey, your character also has a very forgiving dive roll.

After some early teething issues (scanning an alien zombie instead of
shooting it down), the control setup eventually became second nature, and I
was tumbling out of the way of an alien golem boss, firing shotgun rounds
into its flank. The shotgun, unfortunately, has finite ammo (which you can
both craft and find in the world), so I resorted to chipping away with my
pistol at a distance.

The brief demo (and teaser trailer) suggest a dark and shady atmosphere
similar to the studioΓÇÖs previous games. Naturally, thereΓÇÖs the occasional
scare as you explore this rundown facility.

If you do get overwhelmed, the character gets respawned back into the world
ΓÇö as do the monsters ΓÇö but any doors unlocked and skills gained are
saved. Even better, with a game that centers on exploration, when you come
across something that you canΓÇÖt yet interact with (for example, a weakened
wall that could be demolished or a security door that requires a key),
scanning it in-game will ΓÇÿtagΓÇÖ the feature on the menu map, making it
easier to circle back once you have what you need to progress. During the
demo, I unlocked explosives for tackling the weakened walls that were tagged,
but I also spotted grapple hook fixtures, presumably for a later point in the
game.

The tagging is a nice touch for anyone who struggles to keep track of their
path in sprawling Metroidvania games, although this is contingent on how
expansive Into the Abyss turns out to be. The original Little Nightmares
turned out to be a short, but sweet escape ΓÇô how deep will the abyss go?

Into the Abyss is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/end-of-abyss-...
horror-140049187.html?src=rss

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