Warriors: Abyss Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Earlier this year, Koei and developer Omega Force achieved a landmark success with their reboot of the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise. As we concluded in our Dynasty Warriors: Origins review, there’s no going back for the series now that it has established a strong new gameplay formula – then along comes Warriors: Abyss.

This wonderfully experimental spin on the Musou template offers up a Roguelite remix that apes the action-packed lunacy of Vampire Survivors. From a top-down perspective, you’ll descend into an underworld overrun by demonic nasties, playing as one of the many characters from the combined Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors rosters.

Despite the shift in perspective, Warriors: Abyss will feel instantly familiar to Koei fans. Each of the 100+ heroes have had their own unique movesets lifted from past games in the Warriors series to give them all a distinct flavour. You’ll be met with little resistance against the waves of rank and file grunts who may occasionally try and get a swing in as you clobber them by the dozen. However, as you advance between waves, these enemies will be flanked by an increasingly diverse menagerie of monsters – each run of Warriors: Abyss will inevitably climax with hundreds of foes writhing on-screen beneath a chaotic purple lattice of telegraphed attack indicators.

To help cleave through the madness, players have plenty of loadout options at their disposal. Between phases (in which you’re usually required to KO a set number of enemies or complete a specific mission) you’ll have the option to recruit other heroes into your Formation, each offering stat bonuses and abilities. For your first few runs you’ll likely ignore the finer details of these mechanics, but you’ll quickly find there’s plenty of options to tweak your playstyle, collecting specific heroes to find synergies and unlock powerful upgrades whether that’s an increased attack range/speed or imbuing your weapon with one of several element types.

Recruited