End of Abyss Review: Dark Metroidvania Horror

End of Abyss is a horror Metroidvania from Section 9 Interactive, a studio founded by former Little Nightmares developers. It combines the vulnerability of a child lost in an unfamiliar place with the atmosphere of a 1990s science-fiction horror film.

A tiny survivor in a vast underground facility

You play as Cel, a technician joining an expedition into an abandoned underground facility. The game constantly manipulates scale to make Cel appear insignificant. Other crew members wear heavy equipment and tower over them, while the top-down camera reduces Cel to a small figure inside enormous rooms.

Metal corridors, sewer channels and walkways seem to extend far beyond the visible screen. The facility feels threatening before the first creature appears, helped by a deliberately limited explanation of its history. Dialogue between crew members and scattered text logs reveal enough to establish the situation, while the building and the plague within it remain mysterious.

Atmosphere built from darkness

The underground structure is the game’s most effective character. Its metallic surfaces sit beneath a cold blue glow, and it is often difficult to determine where the available light originates. Reflections cling to twisted drains and damaged catwalks, creating a world that feels both immense and enclosed.

Cel can use flares to illuminate the route, but their harsh light brings its own danger. In the otherwise silent facility, lighting a flare feels like announcing Cel’s position to whatever may be watching. This minimalist presentation gives End of Abyss a strong horror identity and recalls the tension of classic survival horror without copying its structure.

Exploration that loses its way

The Metroidvania format is a natural match for the premise. Players enter an apparently endless complex, search for key cards and abilities, and gradually open routes through a tangled network of rooms, ladders and shortcuts. Getting lost is part of the intended experience.

However, the navigation does not always make that experience enjoyable. Many areas share similar visual features, making it difficult to work out where you are. The two-dimensional map also struggles to represent changes in depth and the facility’s crossing paths. The result is a world that can be imposing and claustrophobic at the same time, but also frustrating to read.

Its sparse world feels simultaneously colossal and confined, a difficult balance that the game often achieves.

The problems extend beyond the map. The reviewed pre-release version contained bugs, including occasions where Cel clipped into walls, fell through the environment or could not interact with objects correctly. One apparent route to the ending may even allow players to bypass much of the final area and reach the last boss prematurely. These issues may be addressed in patches, but they contribute to an unfinished feeling in the level design.

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Twin-stick combat with survival-horror tension

Combat uses twin-stick shooting. Cel rotates to line up zombie-like enemies and fires a pistol with rechargeable energy. The central tension comes from standing your ground long enough to aim while an enemy closes in, then deciding whether the weapon will deal with the threat before its energy runs out.

That idea works particularly well during the early encounters. It creates a cautious rhythm that feels like a modern interpretation of old-school survival-horror shooting. Shotguns and grenades add limited-ammunition pressure, while safe rooms provide opportunities to craft supplies.

Unfortunately, the combat does not develop enough to carry a game lasting around 10 hours. Once the basic rhythm becomes familiar, encounters can feel like obstacles between exploration sections. Enemies that reappear in the same locations after death also lose their surprise, especially when their attack patterns reveal an optimal position.

Although the additional weapons and grenades occasionally create useful resource decisions, the pistol is generally sufficient. Supplies are also plentiful enough that there is rarely a serious need to conserve extra firepower or crafting materials.

A promising but uneven debut

Section 9 Interactive understands the primal fear of being small, isolated and unable to find an exit. The facility has no clear sense of time or place, and its scale repeatedly suggests that Cel could remain trapped inside forever. That emotional effect is the game’s greatest achievement.

The studio is less assured with the demands of interconnected Metroidvania design. Its earlier creative background is rooted in more linear adventures governed by surreal logic, whereas End of Abyss needs readable routes, reliable interactions and a map that communicates three-dimensional spaces. The atmosphere remains impressive, but the exploration and combat do not consistently match it.

Cel stands in an empty room in End of Abyss.

End of Abyss will release on 1 October for PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The review was conducted on PlayStation 5 Pro using a pre-release download code supplied by Epic Games.

If this blend of eerie environments and focused controls appeals to you, explore RETROCADE’s arcade news and gaming features, browse the range of arcade machines, or consider a compact bartop arcade for a smaller Australian games room.