I’m a huge fan of the Warriors games (be they Dynasty, Samurai or otherwise) and I’m also rather partial to a Roguelike. So when I was sitting casually watching the PlayStation State of Play and Warriors: Abyss was announced, I was understandably pretty excited. I’d never even considered how a Warriors Roguelike would work, but with hundreds of potential characters and weapons to use I was pretty excited to get stuck in. Warriors: Abyss might not be the endlessly replayable game I was hoping for, but I must admit I enjoyed the grind to the top it provided.
There’s a vague story propelling you into the Roguelike action that pops up from time to time. The ruler of hell Enma needs your help regaining control of the afterlife, and the only way this is possible is by sending a load of legendary warriors into the depths to clear out the demons. Enma will occasionally appear for a few lines of dialogue when you reach a deeper floor, but for the most part this is all just a way to get you into fights with hundreds and hundreds of otherworldly enemies.
It simply wouldn’t be a Warriors game without a healthy dose of enemies to kill, and Warriors: Abyss certainly provides this. Each of the game’s dozens and dozens of characters can attack with the series’ traditional light and heavy attack combos, but this time from an isometric perspective. Every character I played as had very different feeling attacks that were suitably flashy, alongside a Musou attack that once charged will clear out a big chunk of monsters (which since your goal on each floor is to clear out a certain number of them, is pretty handy).
More important than your offensive capabilities though is your ability to dodge. Enemies in Warriors: Abyss telegraph their attacks with helpful purple outlines, so if you want to survive a run you’ll need to get the hell out of these areas when they appear. You have a dash that can help with this, but by default it needs to recharge after use so if you aren’t careful you’ll get caught without it.
Now Warriors: Abyss wouldn’t be much of a Roguelike if you couldn’t power up as you progress through a run, and in this game you do this by recruiting warriors from the series’ cast. Once you join forces you’ll add these warriors to the end of your six combos, and by pressing the heavy attack button again summon them to do a big attack. These range from elemental explosions to spinning projectiles, and always help clear out the demons.
As well as providing this support in battle, your allies will also grant you emblems that power up your base abilities. These come in a bunch of different types, from power and agility to various elements like bolt and flame – and they all provide totally different benefits based on how many you’ve collected. Your first agility orb will grant you invulnerability when you dash (which is essential) but after a few more you’ll reduce your dash’s cool down or even gain a second dash. Other emblems will power up your attacks, special attacks, or even grant you access to huge team attacks that are perfect for sticky situations. Emblems are absolutely game changing, and should always be how you pick allies to add to the squad.
For my first hour or so of Warriors: Abyss I was having fun, but no matter what I did I would lose to the first boss of the game. This giant and his massive health bar and huge attacks just wiped the floor with me, and it turns out this was because I was underpowered. This isn’t a Roguelike that you should expect to beat on an early run, because you gain power between runs by unlocking new allies with a currency you collect. Adding new allies to the roster is helpful, but what really beef you up are the permanent stat boosts you gain each time you unlock one. Gaining a few extra percent of strength or health will eventually lead to you being so much more powerful, making this more of a grind than your traditional Roguelike.
Alongside getting the best allies, there’s some hidden depth in Warriors: Abyss. By placing your heroes in the best formation you’ll gain extra buffs based on their position, as well as based on any keywords they share with your other allies. Placing friends from the rest of the series together will grant you handy buffs, which will likely delight long term fans.
At first I was overwhelmed by all these different systems that the game had thrown at me, and was struggling to work out the best allies to recruit. Then I realised that there was a handy power level number displayed on the screen, which shows off how much stronger you’ll get by grabbing a new buddy from the selection of three. It turns out if you just go for the bigger number you’ll always get super strong, so don’t worry about thinking and just pick the highest.
The reward for lack of thought also carries across to the formation system, where the best way to position your allies is shown to you by pressing a button for Enma’s recommendation. Why bother worrying about how to cleverly position your units when there’s a button that does it for you? It makes the game a little more brainless, but if the option is right there you’d be daft not to press it.
I really like Warriors: Abyss, but it has quite a lot of problems. The bosses have such a stupid amount of health, which just means you have to wail on them for ages as it’s very slowly chipped away. There’s a lack of variety in enemies and stages as well, with every run featuring the same bosses, environments and basic baddies to kill. The grindy nature of the game is a double edged sword too, because while it’s compelling it also makes the stakes of each individual run feel particularly low. There’s just no point stressing about dying when you know it’ll just mean you can come back stronger next time, so instead you’ll just be grinding away and waiting for the next cycle to begin.
Although Warriors Abyss has a lot of issues, I can’t pretend I didn’t enjoy playing it. The action is fast paced and flashy, and even if it lacks nuance it’s satisfying to watch that power number grow and grow. As long as you can make peace with the grind then you’ll have a lot of fun here, and kill an absurd amount of demons as you do.
