No pun intended, I guess. The Arcade Crew announced a demo for their upcoming “brinepunk” multiplayer roguelike Abyssus. Along with the demo, we’ve been sent a deep dive video showing off the guns, gunplay, and some of the powers you’ll be playing with when you try out the demo.
The video goes over a bunch of weapons you’ll have access to, some of the powers that are synonymous with roguelike gameplay, and shows off a fair bit of the gunplay which is nice. Despite the game looking a little bullet spongy with some of the encounters shown, playing this with 3 other people looks both hectic and satisfying. Matching a lot of roguelike mainstays there are things like powers, forges to upgrade your powers and guns, and a wide range of guns. The hook, jeez this is becoming punny, is that you’re an underwater diver going through the abyss looking for a resource called ‘brine.’ Of course, this can only be found in the deepest depths of the ocean, the abyss as you will, so it’s a dangerous job.
In Abyssus, Brinehunters are sent to scour the ocean floor to investigate a powerful electromagnetic source, a journey leading the crew to an ancient, sunken city. Explore the ruins of this forgotten civilization to discover its secrets while fighting through corrupted hordes of enemies with weapons made of ancient tech that deliver responsive feedback, making each shot feel precise and impactful.
Amid high-octane multiplayer action, the Brinehunters must utilize the vast weapon modifications and ancient artifacts to adjust their playstyle to stay alive and return to the surface. Explorers can enter the abyss solo or venture in with up to three friends in co-op. The rewarding progression loop will satisfy veterans of the genre while remaining accessible to newcomers, both of whom will find themselves sinking countless hours into obtaining every mod, artifact and ability hidden throughout the fascinating and dangerous civilization.
I’m a sucker for novel hooks, and even though you could replace brine and the depths of the ocean with something like, unobtanium in space, I still think the setting and hook gives it a lot of novelty. Let’s just say we’re not playing enough games that take place underwater.
Abyssus Key Features
- Visceral, fast-paced FPS action, with top-notch weapon feel and combat responsiveness
- Up to 4-players co-op
- Roguelite meta progression with advancements, rewards, and unlocks
- 64 hand-crafted levels, procedurally sequenced to make every run a new experience
- 8 different weapons customizable with 45 weapon mods
- Extensive pre-run and in-run character customization options
- 36 different enemies and four bosses that will put your skills to the challenge
I have to say, seeing the hand-crafted levels there also comes across as pretty novel. Although I imagine this is how a lot of procedural generation is done in the roguelike genre, hand crafting specific level parts and having them jimmied together procedurally, it’s nice to see the boast. My concern with these titles, as always, is how homogenized strategy can end up becoming. A meta forming around what types of weapons work best and that dominating the multiplayer scene. My hope is the customizations are varied enough in how useful they are that you don’t end up seeing a group of four with the same loadout every time.
Abyssus doesn’t have an official release date yet but DoubleMoose Games and The Arcade Crew are expecting to release in 2025 on PC via Steam. If you absolutely cannot wait or want to get a nice little taste of what’s to come, a demo is available on their Steam page. We’ll be keeping an eye on Abyssus so you keep an eye on MonsterVine for more Abyssus and indie game updates.
