Warriors: Abyss Review (PS5) – Warriors of Hades

2025, what a year huh? Still basking in the delightful fun of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, we’ve had a surprise release of an action roguelike entry into the series. Warriors: Abyss was announced just a mere couple of days ago, courtesy of Sony’s State of Play, just one month after Origins launched. Now that’s some turnaround. Taking inspiration from the likes of Hades is no small feat, given the heights that particular game ascended to, so how do the rosters of the numerous Warriors fare within a roguelike structure?

Somewhat surprisingly, fairly well. There are some blemishes on this otherwise addictive slasher, but there’s an equal amount of dazzling effects and plenty of replayability. If Origins’ lack of playable characters was a detriment to your enjoyment of that game, Warriors: Abyss might be the tonic you’ve been searching for.

Full Bore And Into The Abyss!

The most welcome sight for any Warriors fans will be the huge selection of characters available to play as. Dynasty, Samurai and everything in between are thrown in to provide a roster of 100 playable figures. Each has their own unique weapon and moveset, transferred from their respective games. I lapped up the opportunity on each run to try out different styles and it was difficult to tear myself away at times. As you battle, you’ll unlock more of the selection, adding a solid foundation of progression and variety to the action.

So what are our 100 heroes (or anti-heroes, depending on your perspective) doing in a roguelite genre, you ask? Well, they’re traversing the depths of Hell like Dante himself. Only it’s four layers instead of nine, poor Dante. Why are Cao Cao, Nobunaga Oda and Ma Chao collectively wading through the land of the dead? A malevolent force has taken hold and a teenage-looking “king” of some sort called Enma has called on you to put a stop to them, obviously.

As far as setups go, it’s fairly weak. Compared to something like Hades, there’s no real comparison for me. There are a few bits of text and the odd random “pick a buff/debuff” event through runs, but it’s meagre and not at all interesting. If there’s one skippable part of Warriors: Abyss, it’s definitely the story. Having said that, it provides the underlying reasoning for why you can die, die and die again in your pursuit of that perfect run. It’s papier-mâché levels of flimsiness, but it’s fine as a foundation for focusing on the action.

Warriors Assemble!

Thankfully, Warriors: Abyss isn’t at all bothered about narrative, as it’s all about the chaining of thousands of hits together in a blaze of combos. Combat is ridiculously fast-paced and the enemy troop numbers reach wild levels, often hitting hundreds on-screen at a time. It’s less tactically driven than other usual roguelikes, but this plays into its identity as a Warriors take on the genre. Each character has a 6-strong string of light attacks, which have a heavy attack variant at the end of each of the six strikes.

One of the more interesting aspects I liked was how you acquire bonds with other officers, acting effectively like boons or power-ups. Up to six can be attached to your moveset (with more providing passive buffs), who are then summoned at the end of the combo chain. It creates a flurry of options as you dash around, firing off combo one’s summon, then three’s and so on. Each summon has a cooldown, removing the opportunity for spamming, so it ends up a rush of adrenaline but with some thought about how and when to ping off your combos most effectively.

Warriors: Abyss does a good job at marrying the hack-and-slash fundamentals of our favourite Musou series, with the gauntlet style of a roguelike as a result. The structure is rather basic, with a series of eight copy-and-paste rooms (the final one being a boss) for each of the four levels. Naturally, you have to get through all four in one run without getting splattered. The level variety is a bit underwhelming, but the fast and furious action is anything but. Lu Bu would even crack a grin at this.

My Run? It Went Abyss-mally

Upon starting each attempt, you’ll begin relatively weak and incapable. I straight-up thought some characters were unusable after a couple of stages. It’s always worth sticking with them, however, as the various upgrades you find (and lose upon death) completely change how they feel to utilise. At certain thresholds of acquiring elemental power-ups and traits, you’ll unlock EX attacks, Musou charges and even an ultra-powerful Formation assault, where all of your summonable officers take to the screen and unleash a cacophony of destruction.

Power-ups are essential to levelling your chosen character enough to match the five bosses you’ll face. At the end of each stage, you’ll get a choice of three rooms, which is fairly typical of a rogue-like. I would have liked a bit more ability to foreshadow or predict what the options or path would be through a level, but this doesn’t detract from the game at all. Instead, I’d fire off another formation assault and feel the rush as me and my fellow officers sent out barrages of wind-infused arrows, electric waves and flaming tornadoes. I can’t explain why, but the action in Warriors: Abyss just works so well.

That’s not to say there aren’t a couple of glaring issues, however. One is that when the action ramps up and there’s so much happening on screen, it’s almost impossible to make sense of it, and you will take damage you just can’t see being telegraphed. The other problem is that I-frames are just that slight bit off. A dash sometimes doesn’t work consistently, or coming out of your Formation Musou leaves you vulnerable for a split-second between the animation and you retaking control. I often found myself taking damage I couldn’t really avoid because of these two flaws, which was frustrating at times.

A True Warrior

Of course, no good roguelike is complete unless you’re dying and trying again, getting stronger and more knowledgeable in the process. Warriors: Abyss translates the bond system of its mainline series into an upgrade tree here. Collecting Karma Embers during your runs will allow you to form bonds with officers, unlock new formations (with damage buffs and passive upgrades), or increase, for example, your rerolls. Forming bonds also improves your base stats, further allowing you to level up to higher points during your in-run efforts.

It’s a decent permanent progression mechanic that blends the series staples with a rogue-like function once again. It’s a glorified upgrade tree, sure, but it fits thematically with the series at least. The difference is huge too, as the powering of base stats makes things much, much more manageable. As such, Warriors: Abyss nails that mix of both temporary and permanent boons to keep you trucking along. There’s no real sense of grindiness here either, I was almost always unlocking a lot of bonds at one time after a run, which keeps the pace frenetic.

I should note, however, as others probably will too, that the game does have an air of a “made for mobile” type of design. From the emptiness of the levels to the barebones presentation, Warriors: Abyss looks and feels like it was made for smaller or handheld devices. Personally, that doesn’t bother me at all – the game is hugely entertaining, doesn’t have any live service elements and throws you head first into the action, which I like. It is apparent it was made on a relatively lower budget though, as demonstrated by the visuals.

Musou What Now?

Graphically speaking, Warriors: Abyss certainly isn’t that pleasing to the eyes. Environments and character models are relatively blocky, and there’s an abundance of drab and empty space littered throughout. It’s a shame a more creative art style wasn’t sought out for this one, especially considering the setting of it being literal Hell. I will say though, that when the Formation Musou’s fire off and there’s a litany of destructive colourful blasts before a nuclear warhead to finish, it’s quite a spectacle.

In many ways, Warriors: Abyss feels like a quintessential Warriors game, loosely transferred into a roguelike format. The hack-and-slash action returns to the forefront, with a dizzying array of playable characters and a frenetic, energised pace. It loses out with a lack of story and relatively bland presentation, but between the boss battles and unlockable harder variants of runs (called Traversal levels), there’s so much replay value.

I’m both surprised and shocked that this shadow drop announcement turned out as successfully as it has, to be honest. I’ve had a blast ripping through the crowds of Hell with Zhao Yun and I plan on spending even more time whipping them about in a flurry of flashy combos. It’s by no means the best roguelike game you’re likely to play, but when you can decimate 600 enemies in the space of 45 seconds in a hail of arrows and spear strikes, isn’t that the thrill of a Warriors game?

Warriors: Abyss is available now on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 (review platform).

Developer: Omega Force
Publisher: Koei Tecmo

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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