Like many others, I was immediately interested in exploring End of Abyss’s dark and atmospheric setting after its reveal trailer teased an otherworldly adventure filled with creepy creatures and far fewer amounts of ammo. After playing through the game, I can’t argue that the game delivered on many of those expectations, but by trying to be a mix of Metroid and Limbo, End of Abyss fails to nail what both of those games do so well.
Several cherished releases like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Metroid: Dread have helped not only keep the Metroidvania genre alive, but they have made the once niche genre more popular than ever. Like most original titles, End of Abyss borrows a lot from some of those beloved games to help create its own identity, but the pool that houses the game’s ideas rarely tips its toes into the deep end.
The silent protagonist Cel is a technician tasked with joining a small team of soldiers and their captain as they explore a technologically advanced underground base where things have gone horribly wrong. As players venture deeper into End of Abyss’s world, they’ll uncover monstrous creatures, secret pathways, and the game’s best feature: atmospheric, yet haunting locations.
“Unfortunately, End of Abyss is severely lacking exciting set pieces that have helped other atmospheric adventure games leave a lasting impression on players.”
As Cel moves deeper into the mysterious, abandoned research facility, she uncovers mutated horrors and creepy machines that can’t help but go bump in the night, or day; it’s hard to tell underground. The extreme lack of warm colors and the decayed environments build up consistent levels of dread and even desperation, especially when health is low and the closest checkpoint/healing station is nowhere to be found. This is added to with the consistent subtitle music score that’s filled with otherworldly hums, consistently warning players that something weird could be right around the corner, but unfortunately what is waiting is not always worth the excitement.
On paper, End of Abyss includes most features that players would hope to find in a modern Metroidvania game. This includes secret pathways that lead to hidden weapons and upgrades, limited resources, and a combat system that doesn’t always make you feel confident, even after leveling up your gear. It features the aspects that hardcore enjoyers of the genre seek out, but the way it utilizes these tropes is where the game fails to reach its full potential.
The game consistently shifts between 2D and 3D environments, which help give End of Abyss’s world and combat extra levels of depth that help it feel dynamic. However, on a visual level, each of the game’s separate sections begins to look too similar to one another, which takes away a lot of the fun that’d normally come with exploring a game’s world. There are several areas with giant backdrops that would be perfect for showcasing large-scale set pieces that could tease players about an upcoming boss fight, or alter the game’s map. Unfortunately, End of Abyss is severely lacking exciting set pieces that have helped other atmospheric adventure games leave a lasting impression on players.
Later levels, thankfully, find interesting ways to shake up the player’s experience and make locations feel more unique. One radiation-filled area has the players’ health in a consistent decline, much like a poison swamp, while another area has Cel navigate through waste-deep water and even acid-hiding monsters that can easily overwhelm uncautious players. But the approaches needed to defeat enemies largely stay the same until End of Abyss’s final, more challenging area.
Because most of the game’s combat takes place in more open areas similar to a top-down 3D perspective, End of Abyss’s combat requires more weapon aiming than other games of the Metroidvania genre. When in battle, players need to hold their aim button and control Cel’s direction with the mouse or right stick. However, with no sort of aim assistance, shooting can often feel inconsistent and even inaccurate, not too different from the tank controls found in classic Resident Evil games.
The game also includes a handful of intense boss battles, each with great designs that match the high level of art direction that covers nearly every inch of End of Abyss. Unfortunately, after battling a few of them and dozens of other mutated enemies, the combat fails to evolve much further than the combat loop of dodge enemy attack, shoot, dodge enemy attack, shoot, etc. A better variety of weaponry with alternative functions would have helped make the combat less monotonous than it ends up being.
“There are several features in End of Abyss for Metroidvania fans to enjoy, but because the game fails to fully commit to its sci-fi set pieces, combat or exploration, it will likely feel underwhelming to others.”
Players are given a weak pistol with unlimited ammo at the game’s start, which can be upgraded into a reliable weapon. Because of that, there is rarely a reason to use other weapons that Cel may find, who can only carry two at a time. Weapons you may expect to uncover, like a shotgun, rifle, and flamethrower, can be helpful, but their performance is not much more effective than the starting pistol. With that being said, I found myself using the weapon I didn’t need to worry about running out of ammo with the most, because it worked for nearly every situation.
Most of the game’s weapons are not presented to the player as they are in other games, instead tasking players with finding secret pathways and item crates to obtain them. Weapon upgrade parts are also extremely rare, which meant I was only able to almost fully upgrade one of my weapons. That is a shame because several weapons have a special ability or alternate-fire option that can make combat feel more exciting. Even after consistently scanning environments and spending hours backtracking, finding secret or even necessary areas is often more frustrating than rewarding.
Cel does a lot of wandering around because End of Abyss does a terrible job of telling the player where they should be going or what they should be doing. Several overarching objectives ask the player to hunt down a series of switches or keys to progress, some of which are spread across multiple biomes, and the glitchy map does little to help.
As players uncover new areas, the map expands, while map download stations are one of the game’s few discovery rewards that help fill out an area’s outline. Still, it was frustrating when map markers and icons refused to update or simply disappeared, often leading me to waste large stretches of time backtracking to a doorway or gap the map incorrectly showed as accessible. This regularly forced me to keep wandering in hopes of finding the next poorly defined doorway or key item.
During the review period of End of Abyss, I ran into another annoying bug that saw an optional doorway continue to stay locked, even after destroying the three energy nodes keeping it locked. That glitch has apparently been fixed with early patches. If that and the map issues are fixed, the game would deserve an extra point to my review score.
As a fan of classic Castlevania and Dark Souls games, I am more than willing to explore a game world that does not hold my hand every step of the way. However, the level design in End of Abyss does a poor job of guiding the player or rewarding exploration. Fragments act as the game’s currency and are dropped frequently enough by enemies that crafting ammo at checkpoints becomes too easy. This makes finding Fragments as a reward in secret areas extremely disappointing, yet the game continues to hand them out far more often than upgrade materials or pieces of lore.
There are several features in End of Abyss for Metroidvania fans to enjoy, but because the game fails to fully commit to its sci-fi set pieces, combat or exploration, it will likely feel underwhelming to others. While I can see how some players might enjoy leading Cel into the game’s dark mechanical depths, it is hard to ignore its shortcomings, especially when there are so many stronger options available.
