Games worth discovering

Return To Abyss - A Casual Bullet Heaven

3K View2023-09-16

Hey hey! While I don't usually dabble in Bullet Heavens, I'd recently been directed towards Joychasing Games, Return To Abyss. Now, while I've already done a quick review of this game, I have (by this point) nearly doubled my initial playtime. Admittedly, the title of this article isn't inaccurate, as I was able to make a healthy degree of progress even as I piled my way through a small pile of peanut butter sandwiches. Still, that does leave the question- was this bullet-heavy rogue-lite a casual bit of fun, or was it an abysmal experience?

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

Which is a whole lot of fanciness to say, Return to the Abyss kicks off in a hellish universe. Specifically, you take the role of Aurora, a recently revived 'former' Archangel, who is about as clueless as the player for how they wound up on an infernal staycation. It's only after she gets her bearings and lays waste to a small army that she makes a secondary discovery. She's not alone- given there's a quaint cafe smack dab in the middle of nowhere. A cafe that winds up serving as her hub, in part due to the courteous hospitality afforded by its staff.

This is, admittedly, more effort than the game takes to really explain things for the player, because once you've gotten out of the tutorial, you're more or less on your own - save for a few brief bits of dialogue you can eke out of the NPCS as you progress through the playthroughs.

Well, that, and the small bits of backstory attached to each character when you look at them in the selection menu.

In fact, the largest narrative revelation that occurred to me over the course of my nearly 6 hours of playing, was the simple fact that characters you unlocked would show up in the bar, and have their own things to say (which also helped to make it feel a little bit cozier).

Still, if there's an overarching story element to encounter, I haven't reached it yet- which means, it's time to talk shop about the gameplay.

Bullets Everywhere

And frankly, it is a bit of a slow start. Like other 'Vampire Survivor'-likes, you can't actively aim, so the first chunk of every stage is a slow dance, as you try to maneuver your character and their weapon near enemies to whittle down their health and acquire exp, without getting killed by them in turn. This goes on the longer the stage progresses, with different monsters cropping up, as well as in larger numbers and more frequently. Every so often, a larger-than-normal monster pops up to ruin your day (or cough up a crate containing another weapon, or weapon upgrade), or even mini-bosses. And as you might expect, each stage culminates in a boss fight- whose appearance is more tied to time than any sort of body count you might accrue.

On the whole- it's a simple enough design, but there are some fun quirks to be found here. For instance, the weapons feel distinct enough insofar as how they function, and the optimal way to wield them. Something which is then further compounded whenever you level, you're given a choice between weapon-specific perks, and a god's blessings. The weapon perks are exactly what they sound like- a collection of run-specific upgrades to a weapon that might increase its size, cause its projectiles to multiply on hit, ramp up damage, or even inflict status effects like poison, burning, or damage down. They're legitimately neat additions to your kit- but the most important one is the gods' blessings, which are themed around one of three (*Cough* 5 *cough*) coloured gods. Tyr, for instance, is red blessings- which tend to be related to health, regeneration, or even revenge- since he can cause you to dish out the damage you take. There are also blue or green talents, which can do things like provide control effects which slow enemies, or even grant you shields.

The interesting part here is that each weapon has 3 'blessing slots', which determine how a weapon will evolve when you grab a weapon crate while at full slots. A mixed number of blessings will push the weapon towards its default evolved state. That said, each weapon also has a form based on its affinity being completely devoted to a singular god. What's interesting about these, is that they can vastly change how a weapon works - to the point that certain upgrades will flourish with the newly evolved weapon, while others will be outright cancelled. (The sort of thing that ought to motivate you to be -very- mindful of the upgrade screen, since it does warn you which upgrades are incompatible with blessings, which helps if you're aiming for a particular playstyle).

Unfortunately, it's not quite as good at warning you when specific weapon blessings are incompatible with each other, save in a few cases where specific unique perks would remove each other from the pool. What's more, while your armoury in the hub will let you know which blessings you've already unlocked, it's less forthcoming about how each one works- which is already a bit of a gamble, given how drastically they can change up how your guns work when you're acquiring them for the first time.

On the other hand, there are some systems in place that can mitigate at least some of the randomness. For instance, once you've unlocked blessings past the initial three, you can remove certain blessings from the pool for a given weapon- fine-tailoring the sort of evolutions you can encounter, as well as the way you can build your character. This flexibility is also provided to you with the weapon perks- as once you've bought extras, you can begin to remove less desirable ones from the pool you'll encounter during a stage.

On the whole, it's an interesting system, and the fact that each unlocked character adds their weapon to the pool means you have a gradually growing arsenal to mix and match - which in turn is complimented by the various passive abilities each character has. (It is fairly minimal, at first - but as you play rounds, you'll gradually accrue influence- a sort of exp that unlocks more passives on the character you played as).

You also have broader meta upgrades you can acquire through the gold you earn from round to round. It is, admittedly, pretty slow going, even after I maxed out the perk for farming extra gold- but between it, and mission quests you earn from the board between missions, you can progress at a decent enough pace.

Though, not to the point where the nightmare difficulty variants of maps don't just obliterate me in almost no time flat. What's actually super frustrating about that, is while the game has a drink crafting system, that would allow you to buff yourself - it disables the acquisition of achievements, which- well. Achievements are how you unlock more stages, or the helpers (which I've yet to earn due to a combination of achievements, and the random drops you earn after stages).

I've also yet to earn the upgrade materials for items after 6 hours- though, I at least have seen some of the accessories, and how they can interact with the weapons.

Really, at the end of the day- what I can say is this. While Return to Abyss can feel slow-paced at times, and even a bit lengthy, due to some of the later stages requiring a time commitment of 30 minutes solid of dodging bullets- there are definitely sweet spots where the action ramps up, and you're testing you're fully built loadout against the worst of what a stage has to offer. And it's those moments where it really thrives.

It definitely helps that those stages have their own distinct enemy arrangements and obstacles, some of which you can even make use of to facilitate your run.

FAUSTIAN FASHION

Moving on to the visuals- I will admit a certain degree of fondness for Return To Abyss. First off, the designs for the characters are lovely, whether it's the general appearance or portraits of the NPCS at the hub or the various protagonists. In fact, I was legitimately fond of the alternate character costumes - and the manner in which they changed up how a character looks during combat.

And on that front- I also found myself appreciative of the enemy design, especially in regard to the mini-bosses and bosses that crop up during the stages.

What's more, though the screen can get a bit cramped, I wasn't wholly overwhelmed, which speaks volumes to the game's ability to make use of proper telegraphing. Really, the biggest issue visually is the ability to occasionally get caught on unseen bits of the environment while the screen is a solid swarm of enemies.

Lastly, the music is solid enough and has a decent ebb and flow for when minibosses or bosses appear - even if certain tracks will become overly familiar as the minutes tick onward.

AN INFERNAL OUTRO

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is, Return to Abyss is a fairly solid title. While I initially had a bit of trouble getting into the swing of things- once I gained a better awareness of how the weapon evolution system worked, its interactions with the upgrades and a few upgrades in the meta tree- I started to have a lot more fun. Even if the last run I did came to a crashing halt vis a vis the untimely interference of my cat. (Yes, that's why I suddenly started veering about wildly at the end of the last video).

So, while I normally don't gravitate towards this sort of game, it just manages to veer into a HIT. A decent use of your time, especially for the cost - though, I'll admit I'm holding out hope for some more narrative elements to crop up.

Anyways, that's the long of things- so feel free to leave a comment, to agree, disagree, or simply recommend me something.
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