Pale Abyss

About

Pale Abyss is a single player role playing game with a fantasy theme. 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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 220 reviews

gameplay15 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a captivating atmosphere that draws players in.
The unique mechanics, such as the Abyssal and Occult alignment system, add depth to gameplay and encourage exploration.
The soundtrack is well-composed and enhances the overall experience, making it enjoyable to play.

The combat feels simplistic and lacks variety, with only a few enemy types and basic attack mechanics.
There are performance issues, including low frame rates and unresponsive controls, which detract from the gameplay experience.
The demo is short and may leave players wanting more content, as it currently feels bare-bones and unfinished.

gameplay
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
65%
10%
The gameplay has been criticized for its lack of variety and depth, with many players finding combat tedious due to a limited number of enemy types and simplistic mechanics. While some unique features, such as the alignment and sanity systems, show potential for deeper engagement, the overall experience feels bare-bones and clunky, leading to repetitive gameplay. Despite these shortcomings, there are glimpses of creativity and promise, suggesting that with further development and refinement, the game could evolve into a more compelling experience.
- “It also features a unique mechanic in the form of affiliation that can be built into something we haven’t seen before.”
- “The style is great, the gameplay is easy to understand, and it functions well as a first-person souls-like!”
- “I enjoyed the gameplay and hope we get to see a lot more.”
- “The gameplay is generally speaking, extremely one-note.”
- “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.”
- “Gameplay is very basic; you can kill every enemy in the game by strafing around them and hitting them, or by backing up when they start to attack.”
music
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
43%
5%
The music in the game has received widespread praise for its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the immersive experience, with many reviewers highlighting its beauty and emotional depth. However, some players noted a lack of variety, leading to repetitiveness during extended play sessions, and expressed a desire for more dynamic sound effects to complement the music. Overall, while the soundtrack is considered a standout feature, there are calls for improvements to maintain engagement throughout gameplay.
- “With the ominous sun looming above, and the excellent music, it’s incredibly immersive.”
- “The music really ties up the atmosphere nicely, with the world looking like a drained otherworldly ocean, it gives a very dreamlike vibe and adds a morose and haunting through-line to it.”
- “I absolutely love the music and the idea of the game, souls-like are my favorite types of game, hope to someday play the full game.”
- “The music gets very droning on your ears rather quickly; just my personal opinion, but I could not stand to listen to it for long and muted it.”
- “The soundtrack sounds great, but it lacks in variety, having the same music in my ear for 30 minutes straight while exploring around the church isn't ideal.”
- “Everything also feels like it's not impactful or important at all because the music is always at full blast like you're in a boss fight.”
graphics
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
51%
5%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the nostalgic PS1-inspired art style and atmospheric visuals, while others criticize the pixelated textures and performance issues, particularly on higher settings. Many players appreciate the unique aesthetic and charm, but find the UI and certain visual effects straining on the eyes. Overall, the game shows potential in its artistic direction, but suffers from technical shortcomings that detract from the experience.
- “Game might not be much (yet), but it's very nice for a student project and the art style is a beautiful homage to the PS1 era.”
- “The visuals are great, very dream-like and different.”
- “I absolutely love the PS1 aesthetic, the art style is fantastic and the music truly conveys a sense of wonder contrasted by the carnivorous chasm that the game thrusts you into.”
- “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.”
- “The graphics aren't great, really poorly done low poly 'art' with terrible pixel textures... really lazy stuff; asset flips look better.”
- “Optimization is poor; my rig is pretty CPU-bound, but I'm pretty sure something isn't right when an RTX 3080 12GB gets obliterated past medium graphics preset. The game is pretty simple in nature and looks, and there's barely any complex physics being calculated.”
atmosphere
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
33%
8%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its mystical and haunting qualities, enhanced by a beautiful soundtrack that resonates with the themes of exploration and nostalgia for classic titles like King's Field and Dark Souls. While many reviewers appreciate the art style and ambiance, some note that the visuals can be unpleasant or repetitive, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully creates a captivating atmosphere that draws players in, despite some criticisms regarding visual execution and gameplay variety.
- “The atmosphere is fantastic and I'm excited to see the end result.”
- “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 and visual aesthetic are absolutely beautiful.”
- “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, it feels rough, like a draft or a sketch).”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the strong opening narration and visual storytelling, expressing excitement for future developments, others criticize the lack of depth and engagement in the narrative, feeling that it lacks essential elements like dialogue or character interactions. Overall, there is potential for a compelling story, but it currently feels underdeveloped.
- “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.”
- “I'm excited to see where the project goes and how that game/story turns out.”
- “Very weak weapon and very low health, but I believe the protagonist will become stronger the deeper the story continues.”
- “Lack of story.”
- “Of course I read the end message, but an 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.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Overall, the optimization of the game has received significant criticism, with many users reporting severe performance issues at higher graphics settings, even on powerful hardware like the RTX 3080. Players have noted that medium settings run smoothly, suggesting a stark performance disparity with minimal visual difference. Additionally, concerns about level design contributing to performance problems and the need for improved UI and game fluidity have been highlighted.
- “The performance difference between ultra and medium is insane for very little visual difference; medium ran flawlessly on my 3060 Ti at 1440p.”
- “Optimization is lacking; my rig is pretty CPU-bound, but I'm pretty sure something isn't right when my RTX 3080 12GB struggles past medium graphics preset. The game is pretty simple in nature and looks, and there's barely any complex physics being calculated, aside from dropped items.”
- “UI, sound design, optimization, and game fluidity could be improved.”
- “The performance is abysmal on anything above high graphics settings, and I really don’t understand why.”
- “Optimization is icky; my rig is pretty CPU-bound, but I'm pretty sure something isn't right when an RTX 3080 12GB gets obliterated past medium graphics preset. The game is pretty simple in nature (and in looks), and there's barely any complex physics being calculated, besides, I guess, dropped items.”
- “But this game seriously needs to be optimized; I keep clicking outside the game on full borderless and get sent back to the first boss?!”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to a lack of enemy variety and a high time to kill, which makes combat feel prolonged and repetitive. The simplistic mechanics contribute to the frustration, leading some to feel that extensive grinding is necessary to progress.
- “The lack of enemy variety combined with a 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.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by clever item descriptions, such as the amusing hidden sword, and the entertaining skull spell. However, the abundance of less useful items, like the talking stones, detracts from the overall enjoyment, leading to player disappointment despite the initial comedic elements.
- “The hidden sword at the beginning made me laugh with its description.”
- “The skull spell was really funny; maybe you could add some type of stealth, just so that this spell is not that useless.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been reported to have stability issues, with users noting significant bugs, particularly in enemy AI behavior, where enemies may fail to move or attack.
- “I like the game, but it's pretty buggy.”
- “The AI of the enemies is sometimes buggy; they do not move and do not attack.”