End Of Abyss preview: a Little Nightmares-like metroidvania

End of Abyss is a metroidvania I can’t stop thinking about, and if you loved Little Nightmares this one’s for you too.

I played a brief demo of the game at Summer Game Fest and was blown away by the visuals as well as the quality-of-life stuff implemented to make the metroidvania elements more manageable.

For example I love the Metroid games but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spend the majority of my playthroughs with no clue where I’m supposed to be going.

Metroidvanias almost always gives you a map to peruse which is good, and usually you’d figure out where you need to go based on which rooms the game says you haven’t been in yet. However it doesn’t always go into much more detail than that, which is where End Of Abyss makes the smart decision of ensuring all paths forward on the map have an icon to signify what’s preventing you from taking it.

Locked doors, walls that need to be bombed, ventilation shafts, were all crystal clear on the map and it made getting around the dark halls much easier.

Not too easy though, as End Of Abyss has players fending off some pretty twisted enemies while they’re exploring, and unlike Samus Aran you don’t have a high-tech power suit to defend yourself with.

Instead you have a small collection of weapons, though in my demo it was restricted to just a pistol and a shotgun. The pistol is your default and has infinite ammo but other weapons have a limited amount.

The combat and gameplay itself is a twin-stick shooter, which took a little time to get used to but I got there eventually.

After plenty of exploration I jumped into a boss fight, which played like a soulslike boss as dodging and weaving were essential for getting some shots in. With enough damage the boss gets stunned allowing for an up-close melee attack, but you need to be quick if you want to execute it in time before the boss catches its breath.

What I loved most about End Of Abyss though was the visuals. It’s a lot like Little Nightmares, which makes sense as some of the development team features devs who worked on the Little Nightmares series.

I’m excited to play more, and I’m eager to learn more about the strange place our character has found themselves in and how it got into the state that it’s in.