Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading. In this installment, we’re covering Warriors: Abyss by developer Omega Force.
Warriors: Abyss: (The Explanation)
Warriors: Abyss is a roguelite Hack n’ Slash game developed by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo. It takes the heroes of the Warriors series on a journey through Hell itself to fight hordes of restless souls and powerful beings. Unlike most titles with the Warriors moniker whose gameplay was focused on taking enemy keeps, and routing enemy captains on predetermined stages, Warriors: Abyss changes the dynamic somewhat by tasking the player to embark on an a roguelite dungeon crawl that gives players a choice on which stage they would like to take on next. Upon completing a stage, they will be given three options of stages that each have specific rewards that can make their character stronger, recover health, unlock powerful weapons for their heroes and obtain other items.
The general plot of the Warriors: Abyss has the king of the Underworld, Lord Enma, usurped by a malevolent being called Gouma. Striped of his status and most of his powers, Lord Enma summons a valiant hero to the Underworld so that they can help him retake it from Gouma. Reluctant at first, but eventually agrees to help, the hero must venture through the four levels of Hell to find and defeat Gouma whilst slaying anything that gets in their way.
For anyone who is familiar with the Warriors games, the combat in Warriors: Abyss is not too dissimilar. You can lay waste to enemies by using a combination of normal and charge attacks using the Y and X buttons. By unleashing a barrage of combos to keep the enemy at bay, you can fill up your Musou gauge, which will administer a powerful attack when activated. Each character has their own style of charge attacks and Musuo attacks so be sure to experiment with them all to find a character that works best for you.
Speaking of characters, there are over 100 different heroes that hail from many different Warriors and Koei Tecmo games. In the base game, there are heroes from the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series but post launch updates have been adding extra characters from the Atelier series like Sophie, Ryza and Yumia. Although Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series hasn’t been added nor the greek gods from Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, I wouldn’t be surprised if they also join the expansive roster at a later date.
When you have selected your chosen hero to play as, you can begin your run through the four levels of the Underworld. Each Level consists of eight phases with a boss waiting for you in the last phase. As for the other seven phases in each level. You will be tasked with clearing out a select number of enemies, with the number consistently increasing on each phase. Upon beating a phase, you will be have the opportunity to summon a new hero at the Crystal Sapling and edit your formations at the War Banner of the King. You will then be given a choice of three stages, each with their own rewards like heroes with specific emblems, Tears of Blood that you can use on the King’s Cauldron to acquire heroes, formations, and restoration items, and Karma Embers for unlocking characters that you can use on future runs in the Hall of Bonded Souls.
Aside from what rewards you may get for beating a phase, you may also encounter phases where Danger Zones occur which have many more quantities of enemies who are far more agressive than usual, and some phases have missions that will net you another reward that can range between Karma Embers and Tears of Blood to Emblems that can give your player some extra benefits in battle like the ability to interrupt telegraphed attacks or add element effects to your charge and Musou attacks, and Unique Weapons that unlock special functions for your characters. The missions themselves activate after beating the initial phase and will then task you with killing another few hundred enemies, kill a particular enemy, or find and defeat a particular target hiding somewhere on the map.
While you may only control one character on a run in Warriors: Abyss, you do possess the ability to summon heroes you have acquired at the Crystal Sapling between phases to lend you their strength with the power of Emblems that they hold. At the end of each combo of normal and charge attacks, a hero can be summoned to temporarily to fight alongside you. You will then have a cooldown period before you can use that hero again. Aside from actively fighting alongside you, each hero also has their own Unique Tactics once certain conditions are met like having X amount of strength emblems, having X amount of heroes in your party with the same attribute like “Flower of War” or “Commander”. These Unique Tactics can really come in handy when you are overcome with enemies and are activated when using the Assemble Technique which summons all six heroes in your formation to come forth and help you in battle.
As we come to the end of this Explain & Play review, I will say that I really do enjoy playing this game. So much so that I find Warriors: Abyss impossibly hard to put down. It is an exhilarating experience that gets better with every run. At first you will undoubtedly falter as the enemies feel way overpowered at times, but once you learn the different mechanics and the best way to upgrade your characters’ attributes, you will be decimating your foes like an absolute power house. While it does lean a lot on the Warriors Series for its character selection, I do appreciate the addition of other characters joining the fray. Although it is an absolute long shot but should we get some characters from Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors added via an update as well, I would never stop playing this game!
Game Specifications:
Developer: Omega Force
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Action
No. of Players: 1 player (Single System)
Release Date: February 13, 2025 (EU & NA)
Price: $24.99
File Size: 3.4 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
