Luna Abyss Review (Xbox Series X|S)

Luna Abyss blends the trigger-trifled, blood-soaked combat of DOOM with an elementally enhanced bullet hell blueprint to create a highly peculiar yet gripping sci-fi boomer shooter with enough depth and service to satisfy the bloodlust within. With a sturdy plot and a satisfying blend of platforming and action, Kwalee Labs’ debut game stands strong as an exciting and oftentimes challenging experience that should go down a real treat for fledgling fathers of high-octane flamboyancy and crimson-laced complexion.

As Fawkes, a prisoner with a nine thousand day jail sentence on the mechanical surface of Luna, you find yourself with a simple goal: to complete daring tasks  for the “All-Father” in the so-called Abyss in exchange for extra leeway on your sentence, and to gradually unearth fragments of a seemingly forgotten world—a harrowing pit of charcoal contraptions and dismal memories, peculiar anomalies and fever dream-like companions.

At first, it seems straightforward — to latch onto a dormant yet combat-hardened vessel known as a Warden, and to pilot it in the underbelly of a tight-knitted cortex of hostile creatures and all-seeing signals. You acquire a rifle, and then slowly begin to descend. A signal calls out to you and pulls you closer, spearheading the notion that you are the recipient of a powerful gift that is due to be awakened. You don’t know what the gift is, only that it stands between a rock and a hard place—a prophecy and a sentence that never seems to end.

Luna Abyss is torn between being a platforming game and a full-fledged first-person bullet hell romper. In most cases, you find yourself stitched between tight arenas, either with flailing projectiles in orbit, or with ravenous armies of violent followers of the so-called All-Mother. Armed with a classic selection of weapons and world-manipulating abilities, combat drives you forward, and frequent platforming spells keep you on your toes. The story, however, puts the spring in your step and elevates your intrigue. What looms below the jail cell? How many times will you need to risk your life in order to be compensated for your actions? Where does the prison sentence begin, and where does the prophecy end?

In the five hours that you spend in Fawkes’ shoes, Luna Abyss invites you to sink your bare knuckles into an experience that is, first and foremost, an action-packed sci-di drama—an ordeal that primarily involves nerve-wracking combat, elemental shootouts, and slick platforming-based parkour. And when I say parkour I mean, manipulating the environment to find a foothold on your surroundings; possessing orbs and using their spawning abilities to reach higher levels, for example. But aside from the odd section of classic platforming, what you see here is what you get: a high-octane cocktail of bullets, brawn, and peculiar entities.

While the voice acting might not be great here, the plot and the characters are surprisingly well written and easy gel with. The designs, too, are original and, well, a little “out of this world,” so to speak. Moreover, the combat is a lot of fun to learn and master, as is the act of threading kills together with a generous host of weapons and parkour-like defensive abilities. It’s slick, smooth, and incredibly satisfying. Challenging, at times, naturally, but overall a lot of fun to fool around with, especially when the training wheels fall off and the full scale of the repertoire becomes available to experiment with. Weapons lead to greater abilities, and upgrades gradually unlock the way for a better, more effective combat experience, and so on and so forth.

Above all else, Luna Abyss feels like a game—a belt-and-braces boomer shooter that takes it upon itself to dice out the cookie cutter nonsense and introduce a cool, calculated, and rewarding action-oriented gig to the palm of your hand. Even with the odd piece of choice-based dialogue, the bulk of the experience is unapologetically gamey, with wall-to-wall frenzies, slick executions, and a powerful orchestral OST to make each shot and vault feel elegantly stylized. To that end, I can’t fault it. It’s good old-fashioned action, complete with all of the boss battles and elemental warfare that you would normally expect from an ode to the likes of DOOM.

While the campaign is rather short and lacking in any major surprises or character development arcs, Luna Abyss does feature some genuinely great level design. Granted, most of the world is an advocate for the usual pipeline and interwoven mechanical tunnel system. However, every so often you have a little more to unearth here, be it a luscious red woodland or a forgotten underground facility that’s bursting with documents and small but effective upgrades that allow you to unlock just a little bit more of its lore.

All in all there’s a brilliant first-person shooter here, and not to mention a great sci-fi concept that is perfectly capable of holding your attention as you gradually whittle down that ever-changing prison sentence. While still relatively short and lacking in anything particularly extraordinary, it delivers exactly what it set out to achieve: a fast-paced, spring-loaded bullet hell that just feels great to slug through for five or six hours. You can’t ask any more of it than that.

Verdict

Luna Abyss meshes two stellar genres together to create a fascinating and highly engaging bullet hell boomer shooter that checks all of the right boxes. With slick combat and a generous host of elemental infusions, plot points, and creature designs, it is, and rightfully so, a solid shooter that feels brilliant to play from beginning to end. And frankly, that’s all that you need here: a good old-fashioned FPS experience that scratches an itch for a short while. It’s best not to think too deeply about it, to be honest.

Of course, if you are itching for a grounded shooter experience that flaunts an equal amount of bite and bark, then there’s a good chance that you’ll enjoy submitting yourself to the ball and chain in Luna Abyss. Don’t expect a perfect game. Do, however, expect to unearth a thoroughly enjoyable FPS affair that can and probably will keep you hooked for the long haul. That’s Luna Abyss, in a nutshell.