I’d love to know at what point someone thought, “I reckon outer space and its moons would be a good place to chuck prisoners, Australia doesn’t seem far enough away” and caution them on the droves of sci-fi they’ll have copying that idea. Sean Connery had it in Outland, Guy Pearce saved the day in Lockout, whilst Jermaine Clement busted out of one in Men In Black 3. Now, in the gaming world, we have Luna Abyss having its go.
Set on the penal moon of Luna, a mysterious red one that appeared above Earth one day, we follow the life on an inmate as they uncover the Abyss that lurks within. Whilst, surprisingly, not dying and restarting in a contrived roguelike manner, as I initially perceived this to be.
Is it a decent story-driven shooter, or should it have its sentenced extended and condemned to exile? Let’s find out!
That’s No… Oh, It Is A Moon
Our story begins like most Destiny’s… I mean, destined to have a strange object appear in them. The moon Luna (the red thing above Earth) appears, apropos of nothing, like a beacon of hope or evil, depending on your outlook. Naturally, humans do what humans do and immediately try and colonise it.
One hundred years, things have gone a bit BioShock and Luna has become a penal colony. Albeit one with an absolute shocker of a religious overseeing kind of theme, as well as the usual corruption that comes from within. It’s almost like religious never really benefits anyone, eh?
We are Fawkes, a newly transported prisoner starting a twenty five year stretch for reasons unclear. The punishment is simple: be sent into the Abyss as a Warden from the penal system and find out what’s going on. These Wardens are sent to be expendable, to root out the problems that rock the balance and such.
How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes
As it turns out, quite a lot is going wrong in the Luna Abyss. The place is a mess, a confusing labyrinth of pipes, rubble and darkness. We’re sent to find out, initially, where a mysterious signal is coming from, but that’s not far in. What starts as an apparent canary-in-a-mineshaft situation soon becomes something grander, something more sinister that challenges the power balance on the strange planet.
Within the first few missions, we make contact with the source of the signal (not a spoiler), which then convinces us to explore further as to what’s going on. Fawkes becomes, for lack of a better word, disconnected from the avatar it inhabits and things go a bit odd from there (no spoilers).
The abyss and its surroundings are surreal too. Channeling Brazil and Twelve Monkeys era Terry Gilliam, it’s all exaggerated twists, pipes and jumping around Dutch angle-like perspective platforms.
A Prime Example
So, I’ve covered the basics of exploration in Luna Abyss, but what about the main aspect of the gameplay? That’s right, the shooting. On a surface level, Abyss looks like any other first person shooter. Again, admittedly, I thought it was just a roguelike/lite on initially viewing. But it’s actually a little bit different.
It actually felt more akin to DOOM 2016 in regards to how it plays. There’s a lot of fast-paced hopping about to compliment its gunplay, but that’s not all. Add in some Returnal-style bullet-hell elements, in the form of projectile waves, and you’ve got a nice little mashup.
But what really took me was the lock-on system it implements. Far be it from just aiming down sights, Luna Abyss threw me back further than 2016, to Metroid Prime of all things.
Runaround And Gun
Which, to follow on that point, I actually really enjoyed. I found it odd back in the Metroid Prime days, yet it didn’t take long to acclimatise. If you’re not sure what I mean, allow me to explain: there’s no aiming down sights.
Instead, locking on with L2 (on PlayStation) will do just that. It won’t narrow the chosen weapon’s view down its barrel, it’ll stay as is. It doesn’t restrict movement either, or slow down Fawkes. It just locks the player to the chosen enemy, with movement focused on them for the sake of dodging projectiles and such. The selected enemy can also be changed with a flick of the right thumbstick, which saves engaging/disengaging repeatedly.
As a mash between DOOM and Metroid, I quite enjoyed it. Add in some weapon mechanics, like a “shotgun” required to break enemy shields and you’ve got some tactical yet frenetic hop-about shooting.
The Art Of Decay
If you’re like me, nearly forty and cynical, you might have thought in its initial footage it was going to be red and black pipes on loop. Don’t worry, it’s okay to admit when you’re wrong, as I’m just about to.
Luna Abyss is surprisingly really pleasing on the eye, as it progresses. Admittedly, reds and darks seem to be an overarching theme, but it does mix the palette up as Fawkes goes deeper/further into the planet.
It is, however, quite linear. It doesn’t have that Dark Souls level of freedom, where if you see something you’ll reach it. Yet despite the corridor-like nature, it’s still an enjoyable ride.
Are You Local?
What did take me out, however, was the voice acting. Now, it feels a bit churlish to mock an attempt at serious sci-fi because it’s not what I expect from a game, but hearing Welsh and Irish accents really threw me. Now, I get it, what with Kwalee being British and not a AAA studio, there are limits. But having Urien trying to be an ominous, guiding presence yet sounding like Michael Sheen is very… disconnecting.
But as we’re on the subject of negatives, overall, I didn’t really find many in my time with Luna Abyss. If one were to be too cynical, it’d be easy to point out that the plot doesn’t seem entirely original. Or that the linear progression loop of traversal puzzle then locked horde room gets pretty familiar very early on.
Yet think outside of that cynicism, and it’s no different than the aforementioned DOOM 2016 was. If anything, it’s actually more commendable that Kwalee tried a deeper narrative with the same concept. Yes it’s a bit corny in its script at times, or tries a shoehorned Whedon-ism response that falls flat. But hey, at least they’re trying.
Staring Contest
To summarise then, I actually had a surprisingly good time with Luna Abyss. Whilst it seems like the section above may contradict that, that’s just personal preference because I’m getting weary of certain tropes in both games and sci-fi. You, conversely, might really enjoy that aspect (and to be fair, Michael Sheen is actually quite funny).
On its own merits, Luna Abyss is a tightly put together first person shooter/platformer with an interesting enough story and concept. The gunplay is rewarding and not bogged down by tacked-on upgrade mechanics. The platforming is a neat little mix of brute force and lateral thinking, sometimes both simultaneously.
Take it with a pinch of salt, a smaller studio trying something a little grander, and there’s fun to be had here. If one can look past the at-times odd humour, the Gilliam-like visuals and character models that look like something Tim Burton might think up. Settle in for a decent sized shooter with a bit of character, you won’t be disappointed.
Luna Abyss is available from 21st May on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series S|X and PC via Steam.
Developer: Bonsai Collective
Publisher: Kwalee Games