You got your Hades in my Dynasty Warriors!
Through victory and defeat, traverse the merciless trials of hell in Warriors Abyss, a really interesting take on the long-running Muso series of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors video games. As a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series in particular, but also someone who has felt the genre has done all it can, Warriors Abyss is a refreshing spin-off for the franchise.
The team at KOEI TECMO have taken the formula of Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors and crossed it with with the likes of Hades. You still mow down hundreds of enemies at a time but now do so in these short stages that rarely take longer than a couple of minutes to run through. And it’s this brisk pace that helps keep the energy high as you work your way down through the stages of hell.
This crossover works thematically as some kind of demon lord of hell recruits the player to get down to the bottom and beat the big bad boss and help him reclaim his role as king of the underworld. It’s a very simple premise that allows for this big crossover. That’s because you have the ability to “bond” with a character from the living world and use their powers and abilities to aid you on your adventure.
You get to choose one of what feels like something along the lines of 100+ characters, each with their own difficulty rating and skills, to take down through hell. It sure seems like every single character that has appeared in one of KOEI TECMO’s Muso games is on offer here. But it’s the bonding element that keeps things pretty interesting. As you progress down each level of hell you’ll find these trees of light that allow you to pluck a warrior from time and space to be a support.
You can choose up to six characters to supplement your adventure, with the fun being finding the best combination for your given run. While playing you can unleash one of these characters through a simple combo system freely only having to wait for a small cool-down between uses. And then you can launch a special attack to have everyone on the field at once utterly laying waste to enemies. This makes for a frantic and fun experience of mowing down enemies. With each run you’ll learn a little more and understand how characters work together. It’s a surprising fun experience and shows how addicting this type of game can be.
The gameplay loop is loads of fun, probably because of how short the stages are. You’ll constantly be moving forward and the gem never slows down. That joy people who love Dynasty Warriors get when facing of against hundreds of enemies works here just as much, if not more. It’s not a deep experience and can use with more diverse stages and enemies, but it’s that loop that kept me coming back. Then there are the unlocks in certain stages that can stack after your run. You can also purchase new heroes as well as formations to help while in battle.
You also have to remember that this is a budget title launching for $25. That’s a steal of a deal, especially for those that love rouguelikes such as Hades and Muso games like Dynasty Warriors. And for someone who passed on Dynasty Warriors Origins because of feeling a little burnt out on the genre, KOEI TECMO has hit it out of the park with Warriors Abyss in concept. It’s a blast of an adventure that actually makes me want to jump back into some core Dynasty Warriors games again.
Is it the best roguelike out there? Almost certainly not. Warriors Abyss has issues with build progression and an over reliance on specific upgrade paths early on to get the most out of it. And then there’s the fact that certain characters are almost broken with combos that match the power of some special attacks. It also feels like a budget game with its bare-bones nature, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I like a company trying something new while not charging me $60 to take a gamble. And if you do like the experience there is DLC packs to help support the game and studio.
Still, Warriors Abyss is a game that understands that the most important thing a video should be at the end of the day is fun, even if it’s a little unbalanced. As someone who has avoided the roguelike space, Warriors Abyss has me wanting to jump into other games in the genre and finally see what all the buzz is about. Warriors Abyss is a complete surprise of a release, especially when the studio dropped a full Dynasty Warriors game on us. This just shows shows that when a company takes risks it can pay off, all without breaking the bank. I say pick this one up, especially if it ever goes on sale for under $20!
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