Feature
The Stuff Of Nightmares
Brothers Mattias and Marcus Ottvall and Gustaf Heinerwall worked on Little Nightmares and its sequel for Tarsier Studios, but End of Abyss is their first game after branching out and establishing their own studio
An elevator door opens onto a dark yet shockingly blue hallway, and a creepy but immediately endearing character, sporting a helmet and a gun, steps out with shaky confidence. It doesn’t take long to recognize that this is a hospital. Or at least, it was a hospital at some point. Now it’s an abandoned facility, with only sporadic flashes of light hinting that, even if some electricity is still running through these halls, it’s not enough to brighten your exploration.
The controls and camera perspective are immediately familiar, but uncommon in the survival horror genre (and many other genres that will make themselves known as I move forward). End of Abyss plays like a twin-stick shooter while the camera lingers overhead at a slightly tilted angle. The moment I can control this young (or at least I assume they’re young) helmeted soldier, I am impressed at how good the game feels. The character moves and animates well, aiming the gun is snappy, sprinting offers a worthwhile burst of speed without feeling like I’ve lost control, and I can roll out of danger, which I will be doing a lot soon.