I’m always sceptical when an established franchise decides to change direction and attempt a different genre. Imagine picking up Grand Theft Auto and being greeted with a 2D platformer, or perhaps booting up the next Final Fantasy only to find it’s a farming simulator. That’s how I felt when I heard Dynasty Warriors would be dipping its toes into the roguelite scene.
The hack-and-slash franchise started life on the PlayStation 2, and the formula of taking on hundreds of enemies all by your lonesome has always been the key to its success. The Warriors games have even drawn the attention of Nintendo, which has loaned out its precious Legend of Zelda franchise not once, but three times, creating the Hyrule Warriors spin-offs. Although Koei Tecmo’s Warriors: Abyss is a departure from the established norm, the roguelite take on the Musuo-1 vs 1000 style that the Dynasty Warriors series is known for remains intact. More importantly, it is stupidly fun.
The game begins as you, yes you, the player, is drawn into hell. Here, you’re told that to escape, you must enlist a champion fighter, smash through swathes of enemies, and defeat a boss so powerful even Satan is scared of it. That’s it. There’s no epic plot involving warring factions, no heroic knights fighting to restore their clan’s honour – just walk into hell and stab everything that moves, preferably in the face.
It’s a simplistic approach compared to the normally meaty setup in the Warriors series, but for Abyss, it kind of works. The game wants to throw you into the action from the off, and doesn’t pussyfoot about by wrapping a plot around it. I thought this was commendable -after all, games are meant to be fun. Yes, sometimes I want to get lost in a rich world where I lose hundreds of hours sitting on the settee. Other times, I want to mash the Square button and pile up thousands of demonic scum.
After the brief introduction and choosing my first character, Warriors: Abyss threw me into the game proper, and it’s here that the roguelite nature takes over. My champion was plonked into the middle of the first level, where waves of baddies began their assault. Much like Eminem says, you’ve only got one shot to make it to the end of the game. If the hero falls, it’s game over.
Each run is made up of four floors, which are split into seven levels plus a boss encounter. Every stage is randomised (except when fighting one of the bosses), so you never really know what the terrain will look like. Clearing each level generally requires several enemies to be slain. It starts small, with 20–40 soldiers, but as you move downwards through hell, this number gradually ratchets up into the thousands.
Once you’ve hit the stage requirements, you’re given a choice of rewards that include in-game currency and support characters. The in-game currency can unlock special moves or temporary buffs, while the real fun comes from the additional cast members. Like the items, each warrior added to your team can give you additional buffs, but the top six can also unleash powerful moves to help deal with hell’s infestation problem.
Marshall’s one-shot advice is only applicable for each run. On failing a level, or if you reach the end, you’re rewarded with various points which can be used on the game’s literal skill tree. Here you can unlock more champions to help on your journey, or level up your favourites to give them a lovely stat boost and make each run that little bit easier. I was impressed with the sheer number of characters, weapons and alternative costumes at my fingertips. The tree itself is organised into families, so you’ll find clusters of characters from past Dynasty Warriors games grouped under one tree. I found this made planning the next run a little easier, as I knew who to link up with when it was time to storm hell for the umpteenth time.
When I first booted up the game, it was a slog to make it to the end of each level. Building up a team based on random stats allowed for some progress, but as I unlocked more characters, the job got easier. This wasn’t because I unlocked a singular beefy guy with a big sword, but rather because I flooded the random assistant generator with enough of the same family to make Vin Diesel proud. As time went on, each escapade into hell went from an hour and a half to 45 minutes, with the game clocking in at 50 hours to fully 100% everything.
A solid cast for a bargain price is certainly one of the biggest selling points of Warriors: Abyss. Sadly, there are a few things that detract from the experience. Little things, like the DLC – which comprises costumes for existing characters – cost three times as much as the base game at a whopping £60. That’s something to baulk at for sure. I’d also have liked the controls to be a little more responsive. Racking up combos and activating my support worked 95% of the time, but occasionally the combos wouldn’t stick, and I couldn’t summon anyone to my side.
These aren’t big deals in themselves – the DLC is optional, and starting a new chain just meant I had to kill a few more baddies – but they’re worth considering. The biggest gripe I have with Warriors: Abyss is the graphics, because there are far too many of them. The game is presented in a top-down view, with a wide scope of the map.
Enemies spawn around you, so exploration of hell isn’t needed, but as you progress deeper and deeper, the screen gets busier and busier. If you activate your support moves when there are thousands of bad guys around you, the screen fills with so many flashing lights it’s like a 90s Japanese anime before the TV cuts to a white screen. Once or twice, this is fine, but when I played for more than a few hours, my eyes hurt a lot.
Warriors: Abyss surprised me in the best way. It took all the elements that made Dynasty Warriors great and combined them effortlessly into a fun roguelite experience. While each run is short and compact, the screen can get muddled with flashy effects, and there’s next to no story, Koei Tecmo has released a video game dripping with addictive gameplay and oodles of replayability. Even though I managed to tear myself away from Warriors: Abyss, I know I’ll be jumping back in for the customary “just one more go”.
Recommendation Score
In the interest of full disclosure, VGamingNews was provided with a copy of the game in order to conduct this review.
Thanks for taking the time to read our review, If you’d like to support us further, please consider buying us a coffee!
