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Pale Abyss

Pale Abyss Game Cover
87%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:optimization, grinding
87% User Score Based on 255 reviews

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PCWindows
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Pale Abyss Game Cover

About

Pale Abyss is a single player and multiplayer role playing game with fantasy, medieval, historical and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Permanent Crab Studios and was released on February 17, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Descend into the Pale Abyss, a cursed chasm where the forgotten truths of a dying world fester in its depths. Inspired by games such as King’s Field and Shadow Tower, Pale Abyss is a first-person action RPG about exploration and adventure.

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Pale Abyss screenshot
Pale Abyss screenshot
Pale Abyss screenshot
Pale Abyss screenshot
Pale Abyss screenshot
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87%Audience ScoreBased on 255 reviews
gameplay18 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • The game has an exceptional atmosphere with great visuals and music that strongly capture a nostalgic and immersive dark fantasy vibe.
  • The unique abyssal/occult alignment system introduces interesting strategic elements to combat and exploration.
  • Level design features verticality and secrets encouraging exploration, and the game effectively pays homage to classic first-person Souls-like and King's Field-style games.
  • Combat is overly simplistic and repetitive, with limited enemy variety and mechanics, making fights feel unchallenging or tedious.
  • Technical issues such as lack of sound effects (footsteps, weapon swings), poor optimization, input lag, and a pixelation filter that strains the eyes diminish the experience.
  • UI and control options are minimal and clunky, with no mouse sensitivity or key rebinding, cumbersome menus, and confusing or unfinished elements in level design and progression.

  • gameplay

    73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay presents interesting concepts like the abyssal vs occult mechanic and an alignment system that encourage strategic thinking, but suffers from limited spell and enemy variety, making combat feel repetitive and simplistic. While the core mechanics and atmosphere show promise and homage to classic souls-like and King's Field inspirations, the combat lacks polish, depth, and challenge, dampening overall engagement. Players see strong potential if the mechanics are expanded, balanced, and complemented by more diverse enemies, improved pacing, and meaningful interactions.

    • “The mechanic of abyssal vs occult was really interesting in concept and opens the doors for a lot of thinking during combat.”
    • “Absolutely love the atmosphere, music, and central mechanics so far; interested to see what more the abyssal/occult mechanics will do in the future, especially with the spellsword playstyle.”
    • “The charged spell mechanic is a nice touch to make the combat more challenging since the game isn't designed around controllers with analogue sticks.”
    • “Lack of enemy variety and high time to kill makes combat tedious. The simple mechanics to fighting wouldn't be as annoying if it didn't take so long to defeat an enemy.”
    • “Gameplay feel: clunky to say the least.”
    • “To the devs: I believe this concept has potential, although I must say the entirety of the game feels lackluster gameplay-wise and, to be blunt, half-assed with the execution of features and variety.”

  • graphics

    72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game receive mixed feedback: many praise its charming, nostalgic PS1-inspired art style, ethereal and immersive atmosphere, and cohesive aesthetic that evoke old-school classics. However, some find the visuals lacking in polish, with grainy, pixelated textures, UI issues, and occasional performance problems, leading to a divide between appreciation for its artistic ambition and criticism of execution and optimization.

    • “The visuals are extremely beautiful and have a charming soundtrack.”
    • “This being a student project is just shocking, the visuals, the artstyle, the core of gameplay, the unique microsystems blending together, this is genuinely masterful work.”
    • “The visuals are great, very dream-like and different.”
    • “The graphics aren't great, really poorly done low poly 'art' with crappy pixelated textures... really lazy stuff, asset flips look better (this is a bad thing, a very bad thing).”
    • “The flickering screen color effect when you are affected by otherworldly influence is very straining on the eyes after a while, coupled with the pixelated art style, I don't think I could have taken much more of this in a full release.”
    • “To sum things up, it is rough in all aspects, especially graphics.”

  • music

    71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric, haunting, and high-fantasy qualities, strongly enhancing the immersive, old-school aesthetic and vibe. While the soundtrack is considered beautiful, fitting, and memorable, some users find it repetitive with limited variety and occasional mixing or looping issues. Overall, the music is a standout element that greatly contributes to the game's mood and nostalgic feel, though a few suggest adding more sound effects and dynamic changes to better complement gameplay.

    • “Absolutely love the atmosphere, music, and central mechanics so far; the abyssal/occult mechanics and spellsword playstyle paired with the great music make it very engaging.”
    • “The game has an amazing atmosphere and music that really capture the old-school dungeon crawler and dark fantasy vibe, making it one of the most immersive souls-like games I've played in a long time.”
    • “Solid atmosphere and a great soundtrack; I've already added all 4 songs to my playlist because the music fits extremely well and binds the game's world together beautifully.”
    • “The music gets very droning on your ears rather quickly; I could not stand to listen to it for long and muted it.”
    • “The soundtrack sounds great, but it lacks variety, having the same music playing for 30 minutes straight while exploring around the church isn't ideal.”
    • “Also, the game lacks much needed sound effects: quite a few times the music stopped playing and then I had to play in complete silence.”

  • atmosphere

    40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its haunting, mystical, and immersive qualities, with many highlighting the beautifully crafted music and level design that evoke a strong souls-like vibe. While some note issues with repetitive elements, visuals, or minor gameplay polish, the overall ambiance and aesthetic consistently receive enthusiastic acclaim.

    • “Absolutely love the atmosphere, music, and central mechanics so far. I'm very interested to see what more the abyssal/occult mechanics will do in the future since the secrets for those were already great, as well as the sort of spellsword playstyle you can get.”
    • “In regards to the atmosphere and ambiance, it's almost mystical as you gaze into the distance of this vast, foggy expanse you've found yourself in, wondering what you'll find when you finally reach the bottom.”
    • “The music really ties up the atmosphere nicely, with the world looking like a drained otherworldly ocean. It gives a very dream-like vibe and adds a morose and haunting through-line to it.”
    • “The atmosphere is there, but the visuals are genuinely unpleasant to look at.”
    • “It does not add anything to the atmosphere and makes it harder to see stuff even in front of you.”
    • “- A rather simple UI without any atmosphere almost ruins the experience (start screen is incredible, but with the poor buttons, feels rough, like a draft or a sketch).”
    • “Of course I read the end message, but atmosphere is not enough; a plot can't be tossed to the trash just because you don't want to reveal too much in the demo.”

  • story

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is praised for its strong opening narration and compelling concept, with impressive visuals and atmosphere enhancing the experience. However, many feel the narrative is currently lacking in depth and development, with minimal plot, dialogue, or interactive storytelling elements beyond thematic ambiance. Reviewers express hope for a fuller, more engaging story in future updates.

    • “The opening narration and plot setup is great!”
    • “There's some really great foundations here - I especially love the visuals, environments, and the storytelling that has been shown off in the demo so far.”
    • “Would love to see future versions of this as I think it is an amazing concept and great story.”
    • “Lots of places to go, but nothing there besides skeletons for thematic storytelling.”
    • “Lack of story.”
    • “Of course I read the end message, but atmosphere is not enough; a plot can't be tossed aside just because you don't want to reveal too much in the demo.”

  • optimization

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is notably poor, with significant performance drops above medium or high settings despite minimal visual improvements, even on powerful hardware like RTX 3080 and 3060Ti GPUs. Large, unsectioned levels contribute to frame drops, and stuttering issues severely impact fluidity, making medium settings the most stable option. Overall, optimization needs major improvement for a smoother gameplay experience.

    • “The performance difference between ultra and medium is insane for very little visual difference; medium ran flawlessly on my 3060ti at 1440p.”
    • “Optimization is icky; my rig is pretty CPU-necked, but I'm pretty sure something isn't right when RTX 3080 12GB gets obliterated past medium graphics preset. The game is simple in nature and visuals, with barely any complex physics being calculated.”
    • “The performance is abysmal on anything above high graphics settings, and I really don’t understand why.”
    • “Optimization is poor; my rig is CPU-limited, but even an RTX 3080 12GB struggles past medium graphics preset. The game is simple in nature and visuals, with barely any complex physics being calculated.”
    • “The mouse feels like it’s being controlled via séance, the stuttering is aggressive, and I feel like I just opened Task Manager mid-game.”

  • grinding

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is necessary for stat progression but can feel tedious due to repetitive enemies, low variety, and lengthy combat encounters. The simple combat mechanics are overshadowed by the extended time required to defeat foes, making grinding a slow and somewhat frustrating process.

    • “Lack of enemy variety and high time to kill makes combat tedious; the simple mechanics of fighting wouldn't be as annoying if it didn't take so long to defeat an enemy.”
    • “This weak enemy in the first area allows for grinding stats if you want, or skipping through if you don't.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is praised for its clever messaging system and funny item descriptions, like the hidden sword and skull spell. However, some humor is diminished by repetitive and underwhelming rewards that lessen player interest despite the original and amusing elements.

    • “The messaging system was an amazing addition and had me laughing at every corner.”
    • “The hidden sword at the beginning made me laugh with its description.”
    • “The skull spell was really funny.”

  • stability

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is hindered by noticeable bugs, particularly with enemy AI, where enemies occasionally freeze and fail to move or attack, impacting the overall gameplay experience.

    • “I like the game, but it's pretty buggy.”
    • “The AI of the enemies is sometimes buggy; the enemies do not move and do not attack.”
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6h Median play time
6h Average play time
6-6h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Pale Abyss is a role playing game with fantasy, medieval, historical and dark fantasy themes.

Pale Abyss is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 6 hours playing Pale Abyss.

Pale Abyss was released on February 17, 2025.

Pale Abyss was developed by Permanent Crab Studios.

Pale Abyss has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Pale Abyss for its gameplay but disliked it for its optimization.

Pale Abyss is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Lunacid, Edge of Eternity, Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms, Labyrinth Of The Demon King, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes and others.