Luna Abyss

Luna Abyss is a game that refuses to overextend itself. It doesn’t take long to settle into an understanding of what the game is asking you to do mechanically, but it continuously finds new layers to fuse to the experience while tackling resonant themes with its story and providing a visual treat for the eyes. The end result is an accessible, mechanically satisfying shooter with bold visuals and an engaging sci-fi narrative that’s well worth your time.

Luna Abyss is an atmospheric and challenging FPS steeped in style and substance in equal measure.

Luna Abyss feels like a mashup of FPS greats, but Kwalee Labs gives the game enough atmosphere and personality to make it stand on its own. The weapon variety is a little thin, yet the intense bullet-hell combat and haunting world make it one of the year’s most memorable indie shooters.

First-person bullet hell shooters aren’t all that common, so Luna Abyss immediately stands out as something fresh. It’s a polished and confident game overall, and it doesn’t try to layer on too many systems or mechanics. It’s pretty linear and although the environments are atmospheric, they’re also static, darkly creepy but clinical, and somewhat repetitive. Fluid action and platforming that’s both forgiving and respectful of players’ time make the experience a lot of fun. Strong mechanics and engaging combat make Luna Abyss worth playing.

Lowering the difficulty will diminish the intended fun as well as the 8-10 hour expected playtime, but the game has great options for people who want to enjoy the game only for its story. These can go as far as to eliminate both the challenges from the combat and platforming side of things. Whatever way you choose to tackle it, the beautiful environments and the cool setpiece-filled megastructure still provide enough fun to make Luna Abyss easy to recommend.

In many ways, Luna Abyss feels defined by unrealised potential, but it's the kind of unrealised potential that comes from an already incredibly impressive work trying so many things that no individual element feels quite as accomplished as it could be. If nothing else, though, it's a masterpiece of evocative environmental design.

Luna Abyss is not an AAA title, nor does it try to be. It’s an indie delight, however, and it manages to seamlessly blend bullet hell gameplay with an FPS. Yes, it has clunky platforming, and it can feel very linear, but you’re coming here for the gameplay. And that’s sublime, very well made and every shot/kill feels very satisfying. The game’s beginning feels weird and it can take a bit until you get to enjoy the gameplay, at least that’s how it went for me. Regardless, the genre combination is excellent, the story is rewarding and weird in its own way, but it pushes you through right until the end. I didn’t expect to like Luna Abyss as much as I did, and even if it has its shortcomings, it’s clearly a labor of love and a solid experience.

Luna Abyss offers a hypnotic blend of brutalist aesthetics, fluid platforming, and challenging bullet-hell shooting, resulting in a memorable—if occasionally repetitive—sci-fi horror experience that is absolutely worth your time.

Despite this, from a gameplay perspective, Luna Abyss is a gorgeous, excellently paced FPS that mixes up the platforming and shooting in a way that makes it easy to keep on playing without feeling like either is getting repetitious. The story does come together eventually but by the time that happens, it's easy to have written it off, despite a few fun side-characters hanging around the abyss. The setting picks up the slack for the plot, though, and the levels are designed to make full use of every single one of Fawkes' abilities. Luna Abyss is a gorgeously atmospheric FPS that expertly mixes in its platforming elements, creating a dark and moody adventure where the response to each challenge is to look forward to what the next area has to offer as soon as its beaten.

Luna Abyss is a highly original game, and its strengths lie in its atmosphere and storytelling. The gameplay is basic and more reminiscent of bullet hell games than a classic FPS. What really stood out to us was the exploration of a world that is as mysterious as it is fascinating, and the stories hidden within it.

Luna Abyss is more than the sum of its parts, with individual pieces that will all feel familiar, so much so that you've likely played a dozen games just like it. But it's standout character design, environmental storytelling, performances, writing, level design, first-person shooting combat and 3D platforming that ends before it has a chance to outstay its welcome make it a must-play for single-player shooter fans.

Luna Abyss is a gorgeous and haunting shooter where the story hooked me in. I loved going through the levels and seeing the beautiful lighting and atmosphere, while the narrative hooked me in with some surprising revelations that I had not expected. The combat is a little on the basic side, which becomes more obvious later on, but the platforming is solid and quite enjoyable.

Luna Abyss is a great first-person shooter that shines in its Bullet Hell aspects. While it never reaches the heights of the best of the genre, the combat feels fluid, and the need to switch between weapons to defeat certain enemies adds a layer of strategy that prevents gameplay from going stale. Each boss feels different, all filling the screen with a beautiful array of bullets, making Luna Abyss feel sometimes like a spectacle, especially by indie standards. Platforming is done very well, and while it rarely ever poses a challenge, I found myself having a great time jumping, grappling, and dashing across large gaps to progress further into the Abyss. The dark story is a standout that features unsettling twists, surprisingly great voice acting, and plenty of secrets for lore enthusiasts. Overall, Luna Abyss is perfect for those looking for a short, but focused, first-person shooter experience.

As a bullet hell first-person shooter, Luna Abyss might not achieve its full potential, but it accomplishes everything it sets out to do well enough. A haunting world and an evasive combat dance results in one of the most creatively bold shooters in recent years.

A game that gives arcade FPS fans exactly what they expect from the gameplay side, and far more than they’d expect from the story side.

Far from offering the best bullet hell or first-person shooter experience, Luna Abyss instead sticks to its own quirky formula, stubbornly so at times, and mostly succeeds.