Warriors: Abyss - PS5 Review

 

WARRIORS: Abyss by developer Omega Force and publisher Koei Tecmo America—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

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I've been playing the Warriors series for a long time and I've seen some wonderful twists and turns over the years. From Dynasty Warriors to Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, Berserk, Arslan and Allstars, I never thought it would go roguelike. This is definitely not your parent’s musou but they should love it!

Unlike the rest of the warriors titles with grand overarching story lines, Abyss is rather simple in scope. You have to fight through four layers of hell, each with eight phases. The final phase of each layer is a boss. Fail at any point, and that's game over. Start again.

Simple in scope, beautifully executed, much easier said than done. Channeling the roguelike genre, Abyss will always have you start at level 1 with a relative blank slate. As you clear each phase, you'll be offered a choice as to what you wish to receive upon completion of the next phase. Directly recruit additional support characters, obtain Tears of Blood to buy formations and additional support characters, health recovery and max health boosts, or finally, obtain Karma Embers for permanent upgrades and character unlocks from the main menu.

This flow is easy to get into, which is great, because while you do start every run at level 1, those Karma Embers allow you to unlock new characters and permanent bonuses. This 2 in 1 deal makes going through the character unlock list potentially harder than it should be. On one hand, you can unlock your favorite characters to try out. On the other, a character you may not want may give you that stat boost that you've been needing. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

The gameplay is familiar but at the same time it is not. Set in a top down isometric view, you'll be moving and dodging your character along while performing those square, square, triangle, triangle, triangle combos. What's super neat about these is that it's not just pulling off a combo, but pulling off a combo AND summoning in some help from your available support characters to get the job done.

For those that have played both Dynasty and Samurai series, characters from both play as they would in their respective entries. Dynasty Warriors for example use the Square button as the main focus of their attacks and the Triangle to prompt something special. Samurai Warriors on the other hand use both and can sail through the crowd of enemies if the Triangle button is used first. This potentially small detail allows for fans of either series, or both, to find familiar footing in an unfamiliar setting.

How far you make it through the layers of hell will depend on a few things. Skill certainly helps, but luck will be a huge factor and determine whether you have a great run through hell, or a horrible one. It all comes down to the paths you choose through the Abyss will make or break you. Are you trying to simply gather as much karma as possible? Or are you trying to make it all the way through to the final boss and win?

While that is a choice you'll need to make, it also won't be your only choice. As mentioned above, each phase will yield a reward, but so will completing each layer. Completing layers will grant you a choice of relics. Relics can be epic, but also double edge swords making you have to really evaluate your choices. And if that wasn't enough on its own? You'll also have to worry about the memories of the dead.

This last twist is perhaps the most interesting. Often these choices come with chances of good, bad, or nothing happening. Seventy percent chance of getting a stat boost or a thirty percent chance of losing maximum health. Maximum. Health. Not something you really want to risk but sometimes even that is the least of your worries. Other choices could be something as awesome as a permanent boost, but, for that one phase you'll lose 1% of maximum health for every dodge you perform. And believe me, if you want to stay alive you NEED to dodge.

This new, what I hope becomes its own series, isn't without its flaws. I would never begrudge the introduction stages as you learn the ropes, that's what they are for. What I do begrudge is that every powerful enemy, unit leader, mid boss types or main boss types, have barriers that are often simply obnoxious. Some characters simply, even with great upgrades, don't have enough power to both knock out the barrier and do great amounts of damage while the barrier is down.

This one factor haunted me for a while until I found certain characters that could shatter these barriers. Some could do more than that, they could shatter these barriers AND destroy the boss in one go. I won't lie, I laughed maniacally. But these characters were far between with the size of the roster. So there is a need to find a balance as these barriers were a bit ridiculous and one thing I would like to see softened, or modified, in the future.

All in all? WARRIORS: Abyss was loads of fun and had me playing for hours at a time and thinking it had only been a couple minutes with how quickly the phases go by. There is a solid gameplay loop and I really hope to see more of this style!

Score: 8 / 10