After I first began taking part in Luna Abyss, I actually wasn’t positive about it. Admittedly, I generally is a little bit of a snob on the subject of shiny graphics and gameplay really feel, and from my first second with the sport, I might inform that Luna Abyss was firmly AA.
Nonetheless, throughout my 10+ hours with the sport, I used to be steadily gained over by a shooter that impresses not simply with its bullet hell gameplay, however its harrowing sci-fi world.
Set on the mysterious Crimson Moon above Earth, you’re Fawkes, a prisoner on Luna with a hefty sentence forward of them. Nonetheless, after being chosen as a Scout, you’re given the chance to scale back your sentence by exploring the labyrinth under the Crimson Moon’s floor, often known as The Abyss.
Exploring the Abyss was the primary level at which developer Kwalee Labs impressed me. Luna Abyss is way from the best-looking sport on PS5, however the way in which it performs with scale and light-weight will rapidly draw you into its sombre sci-fi world.
Huge chasms fade away into darkness, huge pipes weave their means round like roots, and also you fall from unbelievable heights. I used to be stopped in my tracks a number of occasions by haunting vistas, creepy discarded our bodies, and harsh lighting.
For those who stand up shut and private with all of it, positive, it’s a bit of muddy, however I used to be genuinely impressed by the vibes Kwalee Labs was in a position to seize. It’s spooky and teeters on the point of cosmic horror, with disproportionately giant areas.
Then there’s the gameplay, which does begin out fairly sluggish. With a squeeze of L2, weapons auto intention, and with little or no in the way in which of evasive manoeuvres, fight feels stale to start out.
However then the sport introduces a shotgun, which might break blue shields; then there’s a speedy sprint and a double soar; a rifle particularly used to interrupt purple shields; and so forth. On prime of that, each time you face an enemy in some type of boss-like stage, that enemy is then simply thrown into common fight encounters.
There are numerous upgrades to well being and weapons hidden throughout its ranges that faucet into the sensation of escalating energy. My major Scout Rifle was a beast by the tip of the playthrough, whereas my Defend Breaker shotgun remained at its base stage all through the entire marketing campaign.
The small nooks and crannies containing these upgrades are straightforward to overlook, so it had me scouring the degrees extra vigilantly come the tip of my time with the sport.
As I labored my means into the mid-game, Luna Abyss was taking part in solely totally different from these opening minutes. And as I fought the ultimate boss, it was solely totally different once more.
There’s not an enormous collection of weapons or a large RPG-like ability tree, however Kwalee well introduces the brand new weapons, abilities, and enemies that it does have to present Luna Abyss a unbelievable, streamlined sense of development. The entire expertise, no less than from a gameplay perspective, feels very centered and deliberate due to it.
What began as a considerably uninteresting shooter expertise ended up being as “lock-in” as DOOM. I used to be grappling round, switching weapons on the fly, whereas dodging glowing projectiles like in Returnal.
Would I say that it feels fairly as good as video games like DOOM: The Darkish Ages? No. However the truth that it’s even a query to be requested proves to me that Kwalee has executed a superb job right here. It is punching above its weight.
In fact, you aren’t simply capturing consistently all through its marketing campaign. Luna Abyss is speckled with enjoyable little platforming sections, which once more broaden as you progress. Within the latter hours, it begins to mess around with every thing you’ve realized, and whereas I by no means felt that it was too difficult, I had enjoyable leaping, dashing, grappling, possessing, and activating platforms. It truly jogged my memory of among the platforming present in Future 2.
The primary level at which I grew to become a bit of disenfranchised with the sport is its story. Luna Abyss does truly do an honest job of padding out a mysterious, centuries-spanning lore. And the esoteric vibe that it’s going for helps enhance that unknowable factor of The Abyss as a setting.
You’ll come throughout varied characters in your travels, and right here you get to mess around with totally different dialogue decisions – though it needs to be famous that it makes no distinction to the end result of the narrative, from what I might inform.
There are first rate sufficient vocal performances to be discovered, however the occult nature of the world round you means I by no means actually latched onto anyone character, least of all Fawkes or the ominous Aylin that directs your quests. And the conclusion to the narrative I might see coming from one million miles away.
There are additionally some little bizarre bits to Luna Abyss. Like Fawkes’ jail cell, which you return to on the finish of every chapter. Right here you possibly can fall asleep and browse via textual content logs within the library – even though these are accessible at any time via your menu anyway.
It got here throughout like these cell segments had been presupposed to have one other facet to them, however had been reduce someplace within the improvement course of. Every time you say to Aylin that you just need to return into The Abyss, she’ll ask if you happen to’re positive, however there’s actually nothing else to do right here if you happen to’re all learn up within the textual content logs. It might be nitpicky, however these segments at all times felt tremendous clunky to me.
I spent my time with Luna Abyss on each the bottom PS5 and PS5 Professional, with no discernible distinction between the 2. Fundamental vibrations go away the DualSense controller under-utilised, however regular efficiency throughout each consoles lets that hectic gameplay sing.
Once more, on no account is it the best-looking sport, and there are moments the place it nearly appears to be like last-gen, however each from time to time, it’ll catch your breath with its ominous sense of scale.
