Abyss Odyssey review: escaping conventional definition

When I was a kid, I’d play with Lego. That is not to say of course, that creating something out of blocks is for children. No, that’s far from it, despite Minecraft being filled with 12 year olds. But I digress.

More often than not, I’d build something that resembled nothing on the box. I felt it was awesome and no one could tell me otherwise. There was a sense of attachment to my creation that was greater than what simply following the instructions doled out by the manual would have inspired.

What does this have to do with Abyss Odyssey? Quite a lot. You see, this game’s—if you can excuse the pun—building blocks are a bunch of genres, like beat ’em ups and RPGs. Fused together, the result is a game that has a lot to love.

(See: Lego The Hobbit review: it’s hard to take a Thorin Oakenshield minifig seriously)

Abyss Odyssey takes place in Santiago, Chile. The city is fraught with demonic monsters thanks to cracks opening up in the ground. The army is trying its best to stop this menace, which has begun thanks to the nightmares of a powerful warlock coming to life. You start off as Katrien, a woman who is born from the dreams of the very same warlock, and as her, you must venture deep underground, combat an assortment of beasts and, well, save the world.

As the game progresses you can can unlock other characters such as Ghost Monk and Pincoya. While Katrien has the best all-round and easy-to-use skillset, she’s lacking when it comes to crowd control. Conversely, this is what the Ghost Monk excels at. Then, there’s Pincoya whose attacks reach a further distance thanks to her lance. There’s enough variety between characters to warrant unlocking them both. Furthermore, you can play as enemy characters. This is possible by using a special attack that obtains their souls. Doing so gives you more health and greater strength, and you’ll need every bit of assistance you can get.

Even on the easiest difficulty, Abyss Odyssey is a challenging game. The enemies are smart and tough. Most importantly, however, they’re fair. Rarely do you feel that they resort to cheap tricks (2D Castlevania games, I’m looking at you). The game sports its roguelike cred by punishing death, but not in the way you’d expect it. Rather than take everything away from you, you simply lose your equipment. Your experience, characters, and abilities earned remain intact.

Button mashers are not welcome in Abyss Odyssey’s combat. It’s a layered system involving dodges, counters, and launching into attacks via dodging. Though it might not be on par with Blazblue or even Tekken, there’s more than enough to keep you thinking, rather than aimlessly banging on buttons. My only grouse is that dodging an enemy has you facing in the direction opposite to him. This makes quick counters impossible right after dodging. It’s not a deal breaker but would definitely hamper you depending on your play style.

(See: Hands on with BlazBlue: Chronophantasma at TGS: I’m terrible at this)

Nonetheless, it’s a fast-paced affair, and is even more so with a friend. The co-op mode is a lot more frantic, much like Dragon’s Crown and Streets of Rage. And when you’re done defeating the demons that lie in the abyss, why not take your friends on in player-versus-player combat? Though the roster works out to nine characters to choose from and double the number of support characters, there’s enough to keep you going long after you’re done with the single-player and cooperative modes.