I nabbed an appointment for Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults at Summer Game Fest 2025, having quite literally no idea what I was jumping into. One of my friends said it was like D&D, and I was dreading the possibility of turn-based combat—it’s just not my thing. But once I started my co-op session, it became clear that Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults is much closer to Diablo than anything else. Whether you’re playing solo or with friends, it looks like this game has something special going for it.
Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults is indeed Dungeons & Dragons based, after the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path. Well, it’s actually based on something that’s based on D&D—it’s D&D inception, really. But I guess every RPG has some Dungeons & Dragons inspiration deep down, so here we are. Alright, that is it for the D&D talk. On its own, Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults is a hack-and-slash ARPG, where four teammates progress through multiple levels together.
The story follows four brave heroes as they battle through a massive, multi-level dungeon to stop Belcorra Haruvex and her army, and ultimately save Gaultlight Keep. You’ll play as one of these four heroes—Amiri the Barbarian, Harsk the Ranger, Kyra the Cleric or Ezren the Wizard. Each character is customizable, and over the course of your journey, you’ll be able to tailor their playstyle to suit your own. In Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults, each player controls a single character—whether that’s a solo player with three AI companions, a full group of four players, or any combination in between.
“Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults is doing its best to stay true to its RPG roots while trying to be more accessible.”
When playing alongside two of the developers—yes, it can be couch co-op or online—I found out that each of the four characters needs to be filled, so two people can’t play the same character. I completely understand why, in terms of story and even design, but I feel like this may cause some discourse in friend groups. Something BKOM Studios did to combat this, however, is to allow you to choose your spells. Though I didn’t get to do this during my playthrough, they explained that each character, despite their class, is able to take on a tank, DPS, or healing role.
I was happy to hear this, since I know, especially with younger players, it is easy to fall in love with a character whose role isn’t ideal for you. Like, give me a hunter healer in World of Warcraft, and I would be on board! Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults is doing its best to stay true to its RPG roots while trying to be more accessible. The game is very early in development, but they mentioned that there will be various difficulty levels as well, meaning you can likely jump in with anyone from ARPG veterans to those completely new to video games.
“I managed to have a blast with two strangers, so I am eagerly anticipating going hands-on with friends and mastering my character—Harsk is mine.”
I say that last part because that is sort of how I felt during my Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults playthrough. Meeting two new people, sitting in a packed room, picking up a controller, asking all the questions I can think of while also trying to learn my skills and the mechanics was a bit of a wild ride. I played Harsk the Ranger, if you couldn’t tell from my previous hunter comment, and with everything going on, I was constantly losing myself on screen—no fault of theirs, I was learning!
Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults felt very much like my dungeoning days in World of Warcraft, exploring, gathering loot and clearing trash before we got to the main boss. The woman playing Kyra the Cleric was consistently saving my butt, chasing me around and healing me because I was playing recklessly and I was standing in fire. Turns out I also had a heal, so eventually I started attempting to save myself. Hooray for progress!
In all honesty, I was thrown in the deep end during my time with Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults and even though learning on the fly was pure chaos, I walked away really interested in what BKOM Studios and Megabit Publishing are working on. I managed to have a blast with two strangers, so I am eagerly anticipating going hands-on with friends and mastering my character—Harsk is mine.
