Abyssus Hands-On Preview – What If Doom Was Co-Op?
What happens when you take id Software’s DOOM and blend it in with a bit of BioShock, sprinkle some rogue-lite elements, and then pair it all up with four-player co-op? You get Abyssus, a debut title from DoubleMoose that trades fighting against the forces of hell for a more aquatic, deep-sea setting that sees you taking on ancient beasts and even gods.
If that sounds right up your alley, then the good news is that there’s now a playable PC demo (via Steam) for you to try out yourself. MP1sat was fortunate enough to be given early access to the demo a little over a week ago, and the short of it is, yeah, this game freaking rocks!
Rogue-lite Doom
Looking at the trailer, there’s no denying the DOOM-inspiration, as it oozes in it with its fast-paced, classic arena-like combat against hordes of enemies. It’s a fair comparison, and in reality, it’s very Doom-like in many aspects. That’s not a bad thing, especially if you’re a fan of the Doom franchise. But Abyssus shakes things up because, despite having over 60 hand-crafted levels, the game is a rogue-lite experience where players must reach the end of procedurally sequenced stages, taking on waves of enemies and even boss fights in between it all.
These stages are set up similarly to modern DOOM, with plenty of horizontal and verticality in the combat. You’ll find yourself moving around in the environment a lot as you attempt to dodge the volley of bullets and energy blasts that enemies fire. In general, the movement feels great, very reminiscent of old ’90s arena shooters, though with a much more modernized feel to it. The gunplay is fantastic, with each weapon having alternative firing modes and customizable mods.
In the demo, we got access to three guns: The Energy Rifle, the Shotgun, and the Brine Revolver. You can only take one of these guns with you for a run, which might seem like an odd decision, but considering this can be played with three other friends for four players, it builds an interesting “class”-like setup players can fill. But I did want to talk about the guns themselves, as this is often something many tend to get wrong, in a sense that they don’t know how to have fun with their designs, despite the fantasy, or “brinepunk” setting going on. That’s not the case here, as DoubleMoose has made each available weapon feel rather unique to the game’s world. You recognize them for what they are, such as the revolver looking like a revolver. But that revolver has other stuff going on when you look at it, such as its chambers being on fire and other cool little details. Every gun has some unique design matching the brinepunk setting (it’s brine, a saltwater solution, but the general theme is aquatic, docks, wet, cold, submarine suit- almost Bioshock-like) that just looks pleasing to the eye in a way that makes you go, oh yeah, this is going to be fun to use, and they are. As I mentioned, the gunplay feels fantastic.
Now, the general loop of the game follows that of practically any other rogue-lites out there. Start a run, make your way through hordes of enemies, and defeat bosses. Completing each stage will even reward you with a selectable boon with different benefits to make you even more powerful.
As a solo experience, the game can be pretty challenging, with the quantity and difficulty of enemies increasing the deeper you go into the world. Luckily, you can play this entirely in co-op with four players. This is probably Abyssus’ standout feature, making what already feels like an excellent experience even better. It’s like playing with an army of Doomslayers by your side, and as you’d expect, the chaos is utterly fun.
So far, Abyssus has left a pretty good impression on me. I know we have rogue-lite games coming left and right, and it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep up with them as of late, but I will say that Abyssus is definitely one worth checking out. Even if you aren’t a fan of the rogue-lite genre, the fact that there’s co-op, with up to four people total, already sets the game apart from most experiences. At the end of the day, it knows what it wants to be and does a fantastic job of it, and from a player perspective, it’s just sheer fun.
Abyssus has no release date yet, but it due for release on PC later this year.
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