Luna Abyss Review Explores Unique Bullet Hell Combat and Stunning Brutalist Environments in an Ambitious Sci Fi Horror First Person Shooter Adventure
More and more, players in today's gaming world are really looking for games that are focused and follow a clear path. With so many huge open world games and never ending live service titles around, you can really feel players missing the creative, fast paced adventures we saw on Xbox 360 and PS3. That's where Luna Abyss comes in. It's the first game from a surprisingly small team, and it feels like a tribute to those great, ambitious, mid budget shooters from that golden age.
The game mixes the intense bullet dodging of a bullet hell style with a first person shooter view. This combination of genres shouldn't really work, but somehow, it turns out to be brilliant. Even though it absolutely nails the atmosphere and how you move around, it does have some early issues.
The story puts you in the role of Fox, a prisoner serving a huge, multi generational sentence on something called a mimic moon. His crime Simply being born with red eyes. To get this sentence reduced, Fox has to go deep into a rundown, underground mega structure to find old technology. Your only company is Ailen, a strange, snake like AI warden who watches everything you do with a cold, detached, almost bureaucratic manner.
Right away, what really catches your eye is the game's amazing art style. The environments are stunning, taking a lot of cues from brutalist buildings, slowly decaying industrial zones, and those huge, hard to grasp cityscapes you see in manga like Blame. You'll move through completely dark hallways lit only by harsh neon purple, then suddenly find yourself in hauntingly beautiful open areas covered in crimson, blood like plants.
The story isn't really upfront here. Instead of giving you the plot directly through cutscenes, the background story is hidden in things you see around you and in text logs scattered about. You have to put together the pieces yourself to understand how the old religions and ancient civilizations that lived in this abyss fell apart. This hidden way of telling the story really makes you feel alone, which is brilliant. But if you're looking for a simple, character focused story with lots of cutscenes, you might feel a bit left out.
Putting together the exact spatial awareness needed for a bullet hell with a limited first person camera view is a huge risk in terms of design. But the developers found a way around this: they added an auto lock targeting system, much like what you'd see in Metroid Prime. With your weapon locked onto a target, you can focus all your attention on dodging, jumping, and weaving through the huge amounts of enemy bullets.
Fighting in the game relies on a strict system for your weapons. Instead of looking for ammo, your guns simply overheat if you use them too much. Since some enemies have colored shields that you need a specific weapon to break for example, a shotgun for blue shields and a sniper for purple ones you're always having to switch between your four weapons. To get your health back, you can finish off enemies who are already stunned, which makes for a fast paced cycle of dodging, shooting, and getting close for a quick recovery.
Even though the shooting looks amazing, it does get repetitive. The usual enemy AI isn't very complex, and after you get used to the lock on system, fighting regular groups of enemies becomes pretty easy. The game doesn't have the kind of deep customization or weapon upgrade paths you find in most shooters. This means you'll be doing the exact same kind of combat for most of the 8 to 10 hour campaign.
If you consider the regular enemies a gentle warm up, then the boss fights are definitely the main attraction. In these fights, the bullet hell mechanics really kick into high gear. The screen gets packed with swirling orbs and laser grids, making you use every single movement ability you've picked up.
But this also creates a really sudden jump in difficulty. The difference between easily clearing a room of basic enemies and dying over and over to a huge boss that fills the screen is pretty big. Adding to this frustration is an old fashioned checkpoint system. Sometimes, after you die, it makes you do long, boring treks back to the boss fight.
You might expect the shooting to be the main focus in Luna Abyss, but what truly captivates players is the movement. As you venture deeper, your character, Fox, gains new abilities like double jumps, air dashes, and the skill to launch from organic, eye shaped nodes found in the gaps.
The platforming feels incredibly smooth. Successfully linking a wall run, an mid air dash, and a grapple launch to cross a massive chasm offers a real sense of accomplishment. Moreover, the game occasionally lets you take control of other entities, even huge, heavily armed mechs. While these segments are quite brief, they provide excellent changes of pace and genuinely showcase the developers' creative ambition.
All of this is enhanced by an outstanding, tension building soundtrack that perfectly complements the surreal, nightmarish energy of the environment. Even when the combat encounters start to feel a bit repetitive, the music and the sheer enjoyment of moving through this bizarre world keep you fully engaged.
Pc Version Tested.
Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from Devs
