Phantom Abyss

Phantom Abyss isn’t a perfect endless temple speedrunner, but for a dozen or so hours, it has a great hook.

Phantom Abyss is a trek into a lost and trap-filled temple that constantly has you on your toes. Each room is filled with several ways to die, or at least take a good amount of damage, and the constant pressure from the guardian means you have to think while moving. While there's something to be said for tearing through the level at top speed, the rooms are frequently interesting enough that it would be nice to stop and look around for a minute without being pushed forward. The secrets are highly satisfying to find, and when a guardian is dropping poison bombs or just relentlessly advancing that can feel like it's working against the necessary concentration or experimentation needed to reach them. A lot of the time it can feel easier to just dash on through, ignoring the intricate room design to reach the door to the next one, and the next and the next until finally reaching the exit. Every once in a while, though, Phantom Abyss manages to balance the speed and exploration, and that's when it's at its best.

Phantom Abyss is built on a brilliant and original concept, which is unfortunately brought to its knees by a half-baked execution. The adrenaline-fueled experience of exploring temples alongside the spirits of other players is often marred by technical issues and repetitive design. For a title that was in development for so long, the final product feels surprisingly unfinished and clunky. Somewhere deep inside lies a gem, but it’s buried under too many layers of problems and wasted potential.

Phantom Abyss is an interesting temple runner game that provides fast paced platformer gameplay and an ever escalating level of traps as you move from biome to biome. Despite having interesting ideas that should have spoken to me and my tastes, I didn’t find myself hooked into the game as much as I thought I would. Nothing about it, from its online systems to some of its later levels, did enough to make it worthwhile.

Phantom Abyss can be a run roguelite with its free-running, puzzle solving, and trap avoiding adventures. But throw in the phantoms of real-world players who act as a guide of what to do and not do through these temples takes things to another level. Mileage can vary though as a lot of the puzzles, temples and traps are reused and thus can make the game start to drag on and feel repetitive. Being in early access for so many years though there is quite a lot of content here that players can dig through before fatigue will set in. And with all the talk about Indiana Jones lately, why not start practicing your whip skills.

In Phantom Abyss, the search for relics in mysterious ruins offers a captivating experience, but not without challenges. The intriguing gameplay and asynchronous multiplayer add interesting layers to the narrative, even if it is quite simple and not very standout, while progression through the Abyss and Adventure modes provides a welcome variety that can please different player profiles. However, some limitations, such as layout reproduction, steep difficulty curve, and unobtrusive soundtrack, may impact player complexity. Quirky iconography, while it contributes to a unique atmosphere, can require an additional learning curve. A contained but still interesting adventure.

Phantom Abyss offers a thrilling gaming experience, but it won't keep you hooked for hours on end unless you have a group of friends to tackle the temples alongside you.

This is all to say that Phantom Abyss falls somewhat short on achieving the goal of offering a challenging parkour adventure in a roguelite package. The whip and phantom gameplay involving other players’ trial and error are unique, but its clunkiness, difficulty, and disparate progression are worth a pause. I’m confident that additional polish and content are coming down the pipeline, but I need more from the current state of the game.

Phantom Abyss is an adventure game with a heavy emphasis on movement mechanics, semi-cooperative gameplay, and a great deal of trial and error. Conquer traps, collect whips, and escape an esoteric prison in this “Indi” adventure game published by the masters of originality, Devolver Digital.

Phantom Abyss is a roguelike game. You navigate through procedurally generated temples in search of relics while avoiding traps and guardians. Developer Team WIBY and publisher Devolver Digital have created some real challenges as you duck, dodge, and slide your way through. Is it enough to keep players engaged and having fun?