The Warriors series of games is a long-established franchise that debuted as a one-on-one fighter in the late 90s before evolving into something else entirely. Even Nintendo franchises like Fire Emblem and Zelda have crossed into the Warriors universe for collaborations with the hack-and-slash gameplay that sees you cut your way through literally thousands of bad guys while you defeat and reinforce strongholds on a map. Warriors Abyss was surprise announced at Sonys State of Play and shadow dropped on Switch and as a fan of the series, I just had to check it out. What’s it like? Sharpen your swords, gather your allies, and prepare for war as we review Warriors Abyss on Nintendo Switch.
Warriors Abyss takes a major departure from the series by opting to play as an isometric rogue-like hack-and-slash game that will see you dive into the depths of hell, gather allies, die, rinse and repeat. Each layer of the hells you defeat will offer you a choice of certain hero types, potential health upgrades, and even vendors to help you along your way. Every 8 phases, you will fight a boss which once defeated, will take you to a different area to hack and slash some more. There’s a tired and trope-filled story tacked on here that’s about a god-king looking to suppress evil, and they need to regain their powers so it’s up to you to help them in the quest, but I lost interest in the exposition-heavy dialogue as it’s mainly the over the top try-hard to be humourous instead of setting the scene, and I was chomping at the bit to continue my run.
Each level sees you defeat X amount of enemies to progress to the next. The gameplay boils down to light and heavy attack combos and heavily using a dodge mechanic to stay out of the purple. You have special attacks that charge up which can buy you some breathing space, clumsily smashing a group of enemies in front of you. At the end of a level, you are rewarded with the ability to bond with an Ally, which you can summon in combat by using a specific attack combo or summoning all allies in a special attack that can clear the screen of enemies. It’s rather stylish at times, with enemies hitting the screen and cracking the glass for a bit of visual flair. You can sometimes get allies with a special bond ability that offers additional skills and buffs to bring to the table, and you can set specific formations for your allies to maximise potential. For those who aren’t interested in the stats, you can auto-arrange them for the best output as well, allowing you to get back to it. Most of this all comes down to chance, but you are given the option to reroll available allies for a limited amount of time to try your luck. There are also some options to jump to levels that offer special missions or difficult danger zones for a higher chance at a reward, as well as mini-missions like defeating 100 enemies in 30 seconds and so on. There are even text-based story elements that pop up to offer a boon that may have a negative side effect, potentially altering the success of your run.
While all of this may sound interesting, I feel like the mileage you will get out of the game will depend on how much of a Warriors fan you are… While it was exciting to see the massive amount of characters you can unlock via the Tree of Wisdom, and all are playable although it feels like a grind to unlock more of the playable heroes. It’s a crime Lu Bu is right at the top of the tree too, as he was my favorite character in the PS2 series of games. Alas, unlocking him will take about 20 or so hours of gameplay. Levels are usually over in a matter of seconds once you are at a higher level, so the first 5 or 6 levels are more like a series of gated loading screens before the first boss. Combat can be clumsy, with your allies more often than not attacking empty spaces or already defeated enemies, and the gameplay boils down to smashing the dodge button to avoid purple zones with little to no strategy. After my first few runs, I felt like I had seen all the game had to offer, yet I persevered to understand a bit more about the ally partnerships and nuances in gameplay, making the game feel more enjoyable. Boss fights however, are an exercise in frustration, tasking the player to break down a ridiculously strong shield to stagger the boss, before trying to unleash all your attacks to whittle down their HP in the 10 or so second window you have, before the shield recharges and sees you do it all again. There was nothing more frustrating than going through another boss phase when they had less than 5% health remaining, seeing you dodge, unleash a special attack, rinse and repeat until the shield was gone, only to unlock a new area that really just looked like a reskinned version of the last.
Graphically, Warriors Abyss is rather washed out with a simple colour palette, bland environments, and repetitive enemies. It invests heavily in browns and purples, and with the significant crowds of enemies flooding the screen, it’s easy to lose sight of both your character and the purple AOE zones the game is overly fond of. The result is a mess of purple and brown with some over-the-top effects thrown in to try to dazzle the player, but instead, it is confusing and frustrating. The Switch also suffers from some performance issues largely noticeable in handheld, while docked play fares better. This slowdown is usually during the big special attacks and when a level is complete and all the enemies fall. Warriors Abyss is backed by the series signature hybrid modern rock and oriental score which suits the game well. It plays slow and relaxing during menus, and hits the heavier notes while in combat, and call me old fashioned, but I really enjoyed the music as I slashed through the hordes of hell.
For my warriors looking into accessibility options, you can reduce clutter on the screen by disabling enemy health bars and reducing screen shake. You can also remap buttons, allowing for the dodge button to be moved to a paddle on accessibility controllers, as well as all other moves. There are plenty of audio options to eliminate specific audio sources as well. Unfortunately, due to the chaos on screen, I had a difficult time seeing a lot of what was going on, so as always, I recommend further research to see if Warriors Abyss is for you.
At $40 AUD, I feel like Warriors Abyss will struggle to find a foothold amongst the already established roguelikes on the platform that offer a smoother experience, which is a shame as there’s such a rich history with this franchise and there’s plenty of fan service here. It’s a decent attempt at trying something new with the series, and still an okay time, but for those looking for the next big Roguelike, despite the namesake Abyss, I fear that this one may be just a tad too shallow.
So What’s it like? Warriors Abyss is like Dynasty Warriors crossed with Hades.
