WARRIORS: Abyss
Last updated: 2025-02-22
- Satisfying Musou combat with a large character roster.
- Fun, addictive, and replayable gameplay experience.
- Deep build customization provides player options.
- Repetitive gameplay and grindy progression.
- Unpolished graphics and reused assets.
- Unbalanced, frustrating boss encounters.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 72% · Negative 28%. Score: 28 / 100
Positives:
- The game delivers satisfying, Musou-style combat where players can defeat hordes of enemies with flashy attacks. This core gameplay loop is frequently praised and central to the game's appeal, successfully capturing the feeling of power from mowing down thousands of enemies.
- The game features a large roster of over 100 playable characters from the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series, each with unique movesets and playstyles. This variety encourages experimentation and provides a nostalgic experience for fans of the Musou franchise.
- Many reviewers found the game to be fun, enjoyable, and addictive, with surprising depth and replayability. The game offers a good balance of challenge and progression, making players want to play repeatedly.
- The game successfully combines elements from Musou, roguelite, and Vampire Survivors-like games. This fusion creates a unique and engaging experience that appeals to fans of multiple genres.
- The game provides a fresh take on the Warriors formula by implementing roguelike elements and a new top-down perspective. This offers a unique experience for fans of the series.
Negatives:
- The game suffers from repetitive gameplay loops, limited enemy and level variety, and a reliance on grinding for meta-progression. Character balance is poor, and many find the initial stages unengaging due to slow progression and uninteresting build options. These issues contribute to a lack of depth and make the game feel repetitive after a short time.
- Many reviewers found the game to be unpolished, with underwhelming graphics, low-resolution textures, and a generally barebones presentation. The level design is repetitive, often consisting of simple arenas, and the game reuses assets extensively from previous titles. This lack of visual and level design variety contributes to the game feeling cheap and rushed.
- Several reviews mention performance issues, such as frame rate drops and lag, even on systems that meet the game's specifications. The game is also described as difficult to understand, lacking clear guidance and having a poor user interface. These technical and design issues detract from the overall player experience.
- Boss fights are criticized for being unbalanced, with high defense, frequent attacks, and mechanics that can feel inconsistent or arbitrary. Some reviewers also mention that the screen can become too cluttered during boss fights, making it difficult to track enemy attacks and react effectively. This leads to frustration and a sense of unfair difficulty.
- The game's roguelite elements are considered mediocre and uninspired, failing to capture the depth and fun of other games in the genre like Vampire Survivors or Hades. Reviewers note a lack of meaningful build variety, uninteresting mechanics, and a reliance on simple stat increases, resulting in a shallow and unsatisfying roguelike experience.
Gameplay:
- The game features a summoning mechanic where players can call upon additional warriors during battle using charge attacks and specific button combinations. These summoned characters provide extra skills, effects, and passive bonuses, adding a layer of strategic depth to team composition and combat tactics. However, some players find the summoning controls unintuitive.
- The game incorporates roguelike elements such as boss relics, events, and choices that provide strengthening elements. The overall structure is reminiscent of Hades, but the roguelike elements may lack depth for players who enjoy intricate builds.
- The game's structure involves progressing through arenas with objectives, choosing paths with rewards, and facing increasingly difficult enemy waves and bosses. Runs consist of multiple zones, with a meta-progression system that allows players to power up after each run.
- Character performance varies, with some characters like Lu Bu making the game easy to clear. Some reviewers recommend specific characters and team compositions for optimal performance.
- The game features a formation system that allows players to arrange characters to provide stat boosts to builds. This system adds a unique spin to the gameplay and allows for strategic team composition.
Performance:
- The game generally runs well, achieving 60 FPS on Steam Deck and over 100 FPS in 1440p on higher-end PCs. Some users report that the game runs smoothly on the Steam Deck with the right settings. However, the default Steam Deck profile may use the lowest settings.
- Some players experience slowdowns, especially during missions with a high number of units on screen. This may be more noticeable when attempting to play at higher frame rates like 120 FPS.
- There is a reported audio issue causing feedback at higher audio frequencies (44100HZ and above). This could indicate a problem with audio processing or compatibility.
- The implementation of full-screen and borderless full-screen settings is reportedly poor. This could manifest as visual glitches, performance issues, or difficulty switching between window modes.
- Some users are reporting that the graphics appear grainy. This could be due to post-processing effects, resolution scaling, or texture quality settings.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers feel the game's full price is too high for the content offered. Some suggest it's only worth purchasing on sale or at a significantly reduced price, while others advise against buying it at full price or even at all. Some reviewers who refunded the game would consider repurchasing it during a sale.
- A common sentiment is that enjoyment heavily depends on prior experience with Musou/Warriors games and/or similar titles like Vampire Survivors or Hades. Fans of these genres are more likely to appreciate the game's blend of mechanics, while those unfamiliar may find it less appealing.
- A frequent suggestion is to wait for a sale before buying the game. Reviewers believe the game is more worthwhile at a discounted price, making it a more reasonable purchase.
- Some reviewers directly compare the game unfavorably to Hades, suggesting that players should buy Hades instead. They feel it lacks the polish and narrative depth of other similar games.
- The game is recommended for players seeking a simple, mindless experience where they can easily destroy enemies. However, it's not recommended for those who prefer skill-based action games that reward improvement.
Miscellaneous:
- The game blends Musou gameplay with roguelite elements, creating a different experience from traditional Musou games. The difficulty of the game also increases as the player progresses.
- The reviewer finds the new character Enma to be plain and never deviates from his trope. The reviewer also doesn't understand the player's role in relation to Emma.
- The game uses old cutscene footage for random occurrences between Phases. This may detract from the overall presentation and immersion.
- The reviewer purchased a set including costumes, but the character appears small and unimpressive. This may indicate issues with character design or presentation of cosmetic items.
