You’d assume that the most recent recreation from the studio that made Little Nightmares 2 goes to be a bit spooky and darkish, and Part 9’s Finish of Abyss is that. Nonetheless, it is also a bit of simpler to explain and clarify: an atmospheric sci-fi shooter with Metroidvania-style exploration.
Whereas there is not any scarcity of Metroidvanias to attract inspiration from, after I performed a demo at SGF 2025, all I may consider was Alien. It may be the scanner, which the protagonist can use to glean info, spot hidden objects and tag room particulars for additional exploration when you’ve obtained new abilities or weapons. Mattias Ottvall, co-creator of the sport, praised my tendency to scan every thing, which netted me a number of secret merchandise caches throughout my demo playthrough.
You’ll need to tag between the scanner and your gun fairly usually, too, as biped monsters, spidery little parasites and beefier foes swing their literal heads at you. Happily, Finish of Abyss’ isometric structure is paired with the flexibility to maneuver and shoot with every analog stick. If issues get a bit of too dicey, your character additionally has a really forgiving dive roll.
After some early teething points (scanning an alien zombie as an alternative of capturing it down), the management setup finally turned second nature, and I used to be tumbling out of the best way of an alien golem boss, firing shotgun rounds into its flank. The shotgun, sadly, has finite ammo (which you’ll each craft and discover on this planet), so I resorted to chipping away with my pistol at a distance.
The transient demo (and teaser trailer) counsel a darkish and shady environment much like the studio’s earlier video games. Naturally, there’s the occasional scare as you discover this rundown facility.
In case you do get overwhelmed, the character will get respawned again into the world — as do the monsters — however any doorways unlocked and abilities gained are saved. Even higher, with a recreation that facilities on exploration, if you come throughout one thing which you can’t but work together with (for instance, a weakened wall that might be demolished or a safety door that requires a key), scanning it in-game will ‘tag’ the characteristic on the menu map, making it simpler to circle again upon getting what you could progress. Throughout the demo, I unlocked explosives for tackling the weakened partitions that had been tagged, however I additionally noticed grapple hook fixtures, presumably for a later level within the recreation.
The tagging is a pleasant contact for anybody who struggles to maintain monitor of their path in sprawling Metroidvania video games, though that is contingent on how expansive Finish of Abyss seems to be. The unique Little Nightmares turned out to be a brief, however candy escape – how deep will the abyss go?
Finish of Abyss is coming to PS5, Xbox Collection X|S and PC.
