There’s a lot of latent potential in Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness, even for people like me who have yet to see the series. The execution of the majority of the game’s concepts is lacking or counterintuitive, leading to an unbalanced experience that has bursts of fun. It’s a shame, as the concepts at play could create an excellent title – it just never comes together.
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness
Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Price: $60
Platform: PS4, Nintendo Switch (reviewed), and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a Switch code for review
All I know about Made in Abyss comes from a guy who gave a presentation about it in a class I took in college a while back. Apparently, it looks cute but gets super dark, and though it’s been on my watchlist for ages, I’ve been a bit busy. One positive about Binary Star is that it moved the anime it’s based on further up my list, as the premise is intriguing. Unfortunately, this game never quite manages to nail all of its ideas – despite a moderately valiant effort.
There’s a strange decision made right at the beginning of Binary Star, which comes in the form of a non-optional five-hour-long tutorial of sorts that recaps the beginning of Made in Abyss while familiarizing you with the game’s mechanics. It’s a very mixed experience, as it feels as though it drags for its runtime since the items you gather won’t matter later. This mode does introduce the narrative concepts of Made in the Abyss effectively, which is one of Binary Star’s stronger points. The world feels mysterious, ominous, and deadly – plus, it got me interested in the series itself.
When you get to play as your own avatar, the game comes more into its own. What you pick up actually matters, the story has higher stakes, and the cycle of collecting relics to sell and using the funds to improve your equipment and preparedness is certainly addictive. Measuring risk vs reward while going out of your way to grab goodies can be a lot of tense fun, and making your own character with which to plummet the depths adds a bit of personality to the experience.
The biggest problem with Binary Star is how it implements the “Curse of the Abyss.” Going back up from lower levels of the Abyss has negative effects on raiders, ranging from nausea on the higher levels to essentially death on the lower levels. Though it may be accurate to the show, it’s very frustrating when ascending a slight incline (like a hill or a short staircase) makes your character weaker. The screen darkens, and if you don’t stop for a while, your avatar throws up, reducing your hunger meter and just being kind of gross. This means that anytime you go even a couple of meters up on an incline, you either need to stop until the screen clears or sacrifice your hunger meter. It’s very frustrating and hampers the game experience throughout its majority.
Enemies also spawn in groups seemingly endlessly, which becomes frustrating when you’re trying to figure out where you’re going or just stopping for a moment. Given your weapons have diminishing durability, endless waves of foes that become harder to avoid leads to frequent bad situations. Combat is very straightforward and a bit dull, with boss fights feeling very stiff and awkward.
It’s unfortunate, as the concepts present are pretty awesome. Diving deeper and deeper into the Abyss, with status ailments affecting you as you go up in larger portions, and trying to gather as much as you can could all lead to a great game. For as oversaturated as the market is with them, this could have made for a genuinely excellent roguelike title.
The visuals and audio are mixed. Binary Star adapts the visual style of the series well, but the overall visual quality is pretty average. The voice acting is solid, with both English and Japanese being available – a rarity for most anime titles.
The Final Word
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness has all the potential makings of a great anime game adaptation, but it, unfortunately, ends up falling short. Its frustrating mechanics and lengthy mandatory tutorial mean that you’ll have to put up with a lot in order to get to the best part. If you’re a big fan of Made in Abyss, you may be able to look past these flaws, but otherwise, I’d wait for a polished sequel.
MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Mediocre
