Path of the Abyss
- December 21, 2023
- Suzuki Suzuzou
Get on Steam"Path of the Abyss" is an immersive action RPG that follows the journey of a chosen hero fighting against the forces of darkness to save the world from destruction. Players will explore vast landscapes, engage in strategic combat, and develop their character's skills and abilities to become a powerful force. With a rich and compelling storyline and endless customization options, it offers a unique and thrilling gaming experience.
Reviews
- Path of the Abyss features a unique real-time combat system with a 3x3 grid for skill placement, allowing for strategic gameplay and skill synergies.
- The game boasts stunning art, an incredible soundtrack, and a wealth of character customization options, making it engaging for fans of dungeon crawlers.
- Despite being in early access, the game offers a significant amount of content and depth, with mechanics that encourage exploration and experimentation.
- The English translation is machine-generated and can be confusing at times, leading to misunderstandings of skills and mechanics.
- Some boss fights may feel unbalanced, requiring specific team compositions to succeed, which can lead to frustration.
- The game can be overwhelming for newcomers to the genre due to its complexity and the need to understand various mechanics and systems.
- music12 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its exceptional quality, with many reviewers highlighting the powerful and addictive soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. Coupled with beautiful art and engaging gameplay, the OST is considered a standout feature, often compared favorably to the works of renowned composers in the genre. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the game's immersive dungeon-crawling atmosphere.
“Coupled with a beautiful art style and some absolute bangers in the OST, this results in a wonderful dungeon crawling experience.”
“The combat system is fun and highly strategic, the dungeons are all cool and fun to explore, the art is gorgeous, and the music is some of the best FM synth work I've heard outside of Yuzo Koshiro's work on Etrian Odyssey.”
“The soundtrack is absurdly powerful.”
“As a fan of Etrian Odyssey and many other wizardry-likes, its presentation, music, and build variety tickled all the things I love about the genre.”
“Also, just my two cents, but this entire game's OST is utterly worth the price of admission alone.”
- gameplay11 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Path of the Abyss" is praised for its depth and variety, offering a blend of accessible pick-up-and-play mechanics alongside intricate systems like mana pollution. Players enjoy the engaging combat, solid dungeon design, and the nostalgic yet modern feel reminiscent of classic dungeon RPGs. Despite some concerns about the machine-translated text, the overall experience is described as smooth and captivating, appealing even to those who typically don't favor first-person dungeon crawlers.
“Tons of mechanics to delve into; I'm quite surprised how much fun I am having from a small game like this.”
“It's great for deck pick-up-and-play gameplay but has deep gameplay at the same time.”
“Lots of fun with a great combat system, solid dungeons, and some awesome mechanics.”
“The game gets out of control once you get a grip on the mana pollution mechanics.”
“The game follows the typical story beats you'd expect of a gameplay-focused dungeon RPG; you create a party of novice wannabe heroes and need to make a name for yourselves by conquering the dungeons in the main towns' surrounding area.”
“Also important to note, the English client is currently purely machine-translated text, but I haven't tested how playable it is, so your mileage may vary.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are praised for their unique dithered monochrome look and charming hand-drawn art style, reminiscent of comic books and manga. The aesthetic is complemented by a strong soundtrack, creating an engaging dungeon-crawling experience. While not perfect, the visuals effectively reflect the game's influences and contribute to its overall appeal.
“Aesthetically, I dig the Obra Dinn-esque dithered monochrome look.”
“Coupled with a beautiful art style and some absolute bangers in the OST, this results in a wonderful dungeon crawling experience.”
“The art style is cute, almost hand drawn, which gives it a comic book/manga aesthetic; it reminds me of Frieren.”
- story4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The story in this dungeon crawler is fairly standard, following typical tropes of the genre where players create a party of novice heroes to conquer dungeons and build their reputation. While the narrative is serviceable, it lacks depth and is hindered by machine translation issues, making it challenging to fully engage with the plot. Overall, the story is not a standout feature, aligning with the expectations of gameplay-focused dungeon RPGs.
“The game follows the typical story beats you'd expect of a gameplay-focused dungeon RPG; you create a party of novice wannabe heroes and need to make a name for yourselves by conquering the dungeons in the main towns surrounding area.”
“The story isn't too wild due to the nature of dungeon RPGs, but it is serviceable.”
“Somewhat unique game; unfortunately, like many dungeon crawlers, there is not a whole lot of story.”
“The game follows the typical story beats you'd expect of a gameplay-focused dungeon RPG. You create a party of novice wannabe heroes and need to make a name for yourselves by conquering the dungeons in the main towns surrounding area.”
“The story isn't too wild due to the nature of dungeon RPGs, and the machine translation makes it a little difficult to fully grasp, but it is serviceable.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally enjoy the grinding aspect of the game, finding it engaging and rewarding, though some note it can become tedious and time-consuming due to the extensive loot management involved. However, the steady progression of equipment upgrades helps maintain a sense of advancement, making the grinding feel worthwhile.
“It's a fun system, but can get tedious and time-consuming, since in between dungeon dives, you identify up to 100 pieces of loot, compare it to what you've already got equipped, and ponder whether it's worth the trade-off.”
“Everything seems fair and upgrades to equipment trickle in often enough that I feel like I'm moving forward instead of just grinding.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the optimization aspect engaging, as the 3x3 grid system encourages experimentation with abilities that can enhance each other, allowing for strategic and optimized attack combinations.
“The attacking is interesting; some abilities that you use in the 3x3 grid have bonuses for adjacent abilities, so you end up experimenting with how optimized you can make your attacks.”
“The optimization mechanics really encourage strategic thinking, as you can combine abilities in unique ways to maximize your effectiveness.”
“I love how the game rewards you for finding the most efficient combinations of skills, making each encounter feel fresh and engaging.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to frustrating performance drops during critical moments.”
“I often find myself waiting for the game to catch up, as the optimization feels rushed and incomplete.”
“Despite the interesting mechanics, the lack of proper optimization makes it hard to enjoy the gameplay fully.”
