Reviewed on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
→
July 24, 2014
Abyss Odyssey is the first game with even a hint of Rogue in its DNA that I’ve completed on my first proper go, to at least the point of getting all the way to the bottom of its map, defeating the boss, and thinking “Okay. So, what now?” Unfortunately, for all its artistry, style, and clever ideas, that’s a question Abyss Odyssey isn’t yet ready to answer. While exploring why though, let me apologize in advance for when I inevitably call it Abe’s Oddysee by accident. It’s going to happen, even if the two have almost nothing in common. Certainly, this one has considerably fewer evil corporations, sneaking puzzles, and farting alien saviors.
As expected from ACE Team, creators of Zeno Clash and Rock of Ages, Abyss Odyssey is gloriously designed, wonderfully weird, and has a style all of its own. The premise is that a warlock is sleeping deep within the Earth, so powerful that his dreams are spawning a whole dungeon and creatures that are breaking through to an unprepared surface. Only another figment of his imagination, the swordswoman Katrien, has the power and magic, and more importantly, contractual immortality to lead the charge through the randomly shifting levels and take him out before his nightmares destroy the world.
It’s a beautiful nightmare – one of violin-playing demons and ethereal combat and art nouveau touches instead of the usual dark and gothic blandness. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the art is even better, with exquisite attention to detail in character animation and portraits and cool visual flourishes throughout.
Each time through, the levels and paths through the Abyss are randomized, and the levels themselves procedurally generated, from ice caves to graveyards to toxic forests of spitting, writhing plant life. It’s far more conventional than Zeno Clash, but everything’s relative. It’s still endearingly offbeat.
The meat of Abyss Odyssey, though, is in fighting, with a system that appears to be patterned on Super Smash Bros. Each direction key is a potential special attack, with a blocking shield move, and a heavy reliance on timing. Simply mashing the attack buttons isn’t good enough; many special moves can’t be cancelled once started, enemies are untouchable during certain actions and capable of shield-breaking that defense, and the tight camera angle and usually locked-down arenas means that there’s usually nowhere to run. There are reports of players finding it laggy and sluggish, but that wasn’t the case on the PC version with a wired Xbox 360 controller – only occasionally did I hit a few issues like Katrien walking backwards instead of turning around, or failing to clamber up a ledge, or getting bounced between enemies with little scope for a block or a counterattack. It’s a combat system that rewards precision and control, with character level and skills persisting between games, and items and souls collectible in individual runs.
‘);
}
};
// only use the determined w/h if non-zero; helps with divs that start hidden
if (jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).width() + jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).height() == 0) {
swfobject.embedSWF(url, videoDomId, videoDim.width.toString(), videoDim.height.toString(), swfVersionStr, xiSwfUrlStr, flashvars, params, attributes, swfObjectCallback);
} else {
swfobject.embedSWF(url, videoDomId, jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).width().toString(), jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).height().toString(), swfVersionStr, xiSwfUrlStr, flashvars, params, attributes, swfObjectCallback);
}
}).find(“a”).click(function(e) {
window.open(jQuery(this).attr(“href”), “_parent”);
return false;
});
Items are dull, though; just weapon upgrades and potions. Souls stolen from enemies, though, allow you to shift into them at will, in a very cool mechanic that would be far more satisfying if you weren’t already so capable of destroying everything in a ballet of death.
And that’s the big problem here: It’s simply too easy to blitz through the Abyss without even much in the way of skill, at least on the normal difficulty mode – a Nightmare one was recently added too, which certainly makes it tougher, but not particularly more interesting to work through. If you fall, you’re replaced by a weaker soldier who can bring you back if he reaches a shrine, and checkpoints can be activated using specific tokens for a couple of restarts before being kicked back to the top. Only the final enemy is much of a challenge, mostly because of one specific and very cheap attack (this being ACE Team, it’s a magic stream of fish…) and then you’re done.
While this isn’t a Roguelike as such, it’s enough of one that the basic premise applies – the charm of these games is in repeatedly pushing, hopefully getting a little further each time and slowly exploring the toybox. Abe’s Oddysee- crap! Abyss Odyssey embraces neither. It’s built on the idea that the core combat is enough to carry it, and it’s simply not. The entire story of the Warlock’s Journal is revealed in a single playthrough, and while there are two characters to unlock, neither offers enough refreshment for another run. Even most of the spot challenges presented, including taking on a demon and fighting the shopkeepers, Spelunky style, are less of a challenge than they pretend. Abyss Odyssey’s skeleton is all there, but there’s nowhere near enough meat on the bones.
The plan is that in the longer term, this will change. In particular, the Warlock is simply in his first form; once enough players have beaten him, as illustrated by a fractured mask, ACE Team will be adding more content and a new phase.
‘);
}
};
// only use the determined w/h if non-zero; helps with divs that start hidden
if (jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).width() + jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).height() == 0) {
swfobject.embedSWF(url, videoDomId, videoDim.width.toString(), videoDim.height.toString(), swfVersionStr, xiSwfUrlStr, flashvars, params, attributes, swfObjectCallback);
} else {
swfobject.embedSWF(url, videoDomId, jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).width().toString(), jQuery(‘#’+videoDomId).height().toString(), swfVersionStr, xiSwfUrlStr, flashvars, params, attributes, swfObjectCallback);
}
}).find(“a”).click(function(e) {
window.open(jQuery(this).attr(“href”), “_parent”);
return false;
});
Unfortunately for Abyss Odyssey, beating the game just a couple of times is more than enough for it to outstay its welcome. Certainly, there are more challenges, including a few tougher bosses to fight, other entrances to the abyss to unlock, and gathering fighters for the four-player local multiplayer Versus mode that really embraces the fighting system’s Smash Bros roots in tightly enclosed arenas. When none of them are rewarding though, or even feel particularly helpful once completed, they’re less game-extending challenges than they are ACE Team pouring a bag of marbles onto the floor and saying “Go pick those up.”
The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky are great examples of Rogue games that kept expanding; dangling new challenges and adding enough new draws to make it worth pushing past their initial endings to the secrets and new toys and tougher challenges after cresting the capability curve. Abyss Odyssey is what happens when it doesn’t work, when that extra playtime is expected but never actually earned.
The random nature of the levels helps little, but the very limited platforming required, tight zoom, mere handful of hazards and durability of the main character means it doesn’t really matter what the seed produces. It always feels like running through the same basic levels with a random mix of enemies that rarely demand any change-up in tactics, leaving the exact details of the map close to irrelevant. Unlike Metroid-style games, there aren’t any keys or obstacles requiring specific skills to get past; all Abyss Odyssey demands is that you get to the exit, or maybe choose one to chart a path down via the occasional specific room or extended runs of maps with a particular difficulty rating.
The result of all this is a very well made, fantastically presented game with a solid central core, but one that reads the Rogue bible without seeming to understand why it has so many disciples. In particular, the first time you win a game like this should be a rush of endorphins and achievement, and just as there’s only one chance to make a first impression, there’s only one to stick the landing. An easy victory is a quickly forgotten one, even when the journey is so beautifully executed.
