Warriors: Abyss review: Hell of a grind

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2025 has seen Koei Tecmo making waves with numerous victories across their game lineup. The excitement for Ninja Gaiden returned, and Dynasty Warriors successfully transitioned to new gears. Atelier continues to expand at an impressive rate. During the State of Play in February 2025, Koei Tecmo dropped a surprise – a new Warriors game with a twist: it’s a roguelike! This isn’t just any roguelike, but one inspired by Hades, one of the greatest contemporary examples. I usually trust Omega Force’s offerings, but Warriors: Abyss didn’t grab me during its initial reveal. However, after playing it, my feelings about it are a bit mixed – strap in, it’s a peculiar experience!

Drag several people to Hell

In the story of Abyss, the ruler of the underworld, King Enma, who for some unusual reason appears as an extremely stylish, androgynous child, has lost control due to a massive monster invading Hell. The proposed resolution? Pull legendary Chinese general Zhao Yun from wherever he is, forcefully send him to the underworld, and make him battle oozing demons and colossal monsters until order is restored. Despite his difficulties, Zhao Yun manages to summon more historical heroes, creating a chain reaction that enhances the power of everyone involved. This realization by Enma leads him to understand that the key to restoring Hell’s balance is to deploy numerous powerful warriors from China and Japan like they are strategic tokens in a war game. This approach seems perfectly logical to me.

Essentially, you progress by selecting a warrior, advancing as far as possible using your accumulated magic currency to unlock additional warriors along the way. As numbers increase, so does your reach, until eventually you’ve assembled an entire team and achieved synergy that makes the challenges seem trivial. This gameplay style is reminiscent of traditional Warriors games but offers a more isometric viewpoint. Whether you find this entertaining or too simplistic depends on personal preference, especially in comparison to other beat ’em up-style games like Dynasty and Samurai Warriors. The appeal of the game can change significantly based on your current mood, as it caters to both casual and hardcore gamers.

These numbers do kind of fib, actually

The main issue lies within the complex advancement system. It appears artificial, much like a mobile game designed to extract funds from your wallet would feel. The system is overflowing with numbers, modifiers, status effects, formations, elemental attributes, labels, and an assortment of other gimmicks. Moreover, there’s a significant number referred to as the King Number, which Enma emphasizes as being crucial. As it turns out, they weren’t kidding; this is the only factor you should consider when making decisions. Everything else that seems important… actually isn’t. If you aren’t interested in grinding or crafting impressive builds, this isn’t the game for you. Instead, give TMNT a try if you’re seeking a complement to Hades. There, you can battle mechanical mice with a poison weapon; it’s quite enjoyable.

They nailed the important part

If you’re after Musou sauce, it’s still available. These games are often criticized for repetitiveness, but Abyss manages to offer a rich gaming experience. For instance, each character has unique moves, which is an area where some Warriors games falter. However, Abyss carefully selects its characters, ensuring each one has a distinct feel even with basic controls. The differences in animations and hit properties might seem subtle, but they are noticeable and quite impressive for a game that costs just 25 dollars and likely features characters from other titles.

Another noteworthy aspect is the blend of characters from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, which might go unnoticed by casual viewers. These two series, although sharing similar control mechanisms and structures, have significant gameplay distinctions. These differences are reflected in Abyss, making your decision on which series’ characters to use a more critical one than it appears initially, especially when you’re battling the demon hordes of Hell and need to strategize effectively to achieve objectives. It adds an enjoyable layer of complexity as you develop your preferred characters, their unique movesets, and the limited character-building options, all while considering that half the roster operates under a slightly different set of rules.

In Abyss, there’s a distinctive feature that sets it apart and enhances the satisfaction of building your roster beyond mere number increases. After completing a stage, you gain a mechanic where a character is added to a kind of cooldown pool that links with your standard Warriors combo-finishers. This feature introduces an element of chaos to your moveset, summoning additional fighters for massive, screen-clearing damage and other bonus attributes that your selected leader wouldn’t possess individually. This mechanic introduces a level of timing and strategy into the core combat, which becomes increasingly vital as the strength of enemy hordes grows and the game’s body count escalates. I found this aspect particularly engaging because it made me ponder which moves to employ and when much more frequently than anticipated.

Boss bummers

Unfortunately, this mechanic uncovered a significant issue with Abyss – the challenging nature of its boss battles. Instead of thrilling encounters, these fights felt more like enduring grueling wars of attrition. The primary concern lies in the fact that you need to break each boss’ shields before causing any real damage, and the time it takes to do so versus when the shield regenerates is severely imbalanced. It was infuriating when a boss would almost be defeated, only for me to run out of attack time and have to start over from scratch on a third or even fourth shield. This was disheartening, especially since summoning allies during these battles could take precious seconds that you don’t have when a boss is continuously unleashing AoEs every three seconds. While I appreciated the crowd-clearing levels, I found myself viewing the boss fights as tedious tasks to be completed in order to return to enjoyable content. In a game like this, such repetitive and unchanging bosses are not ideal, especially when compared to other roguelikes that offer more variety.

As a devoted gamer, I’ve found myself in a peculiar predicament with Abyss. On one side, I feel slightly belittled by its seemingly simplistic gameplay mechanics, yet on the other, I find immense pleasure in its deeply layered combat sequences. It’s a game that can captivate me for hours without me even realizing it. However, when I step away, I don’t feel as if I’ve gained something truly valuable from my time spent beyond a fleeting dopamine rush.

It’s an experience that could potentially be replicated with another Musou game, and perhaps I might find more satisfaction there. But here I am, drawn to this specific game. Yet, it offers a distinctly unique gaming experience of its own.

As a gamer, I find myself in a peculiar place with Warriors: Abyss. It’s like venturing into an enigmatic realm, where feelings clash and atmospheres change without warning. This game seems tailor-made for those seeking an affordable, offbeat adventure, and that’s exactly what Abyss offers.

It’s not aiming to challenge the heavyweights like Hades or be crowned “the new Warriors.” Instead, it’s a daring experiment that sometimes falls short of its goals as often as it succeeds. Some speculate that Abyss could have been a mobile game repurposed for consoles, and while I don’t necessarily agree, I can understand the reasoning behind such a theory.

Despite its flaws, I’ve enjoyed my time with it. However, there are plenty of other games in the same genre that I could just as easily choose instead. Die-hard Warriors fans might find reasons to pick up Abyss, but I don’t foresee it breaking out of its niche any time soon.

The game “Warriors: Abyss” is currently accessible on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, as well as Xbox Series X|S. For this review, a PC access code was kindly supplied by the publisher.

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2025-02-20 19:28