Abyss Veil

I think some people will look at Abyss Veil and assume any enthusiasm for it is at least semi-ironic. I won't lie, I thought so when I heard about it. I went in expecting a janky game with some charm to it. But on the other end I'm pretty thoroughly impressed by what a fully realized and quality experience it is. The gunplay feels good, there's not much variety in enemies, but it's made up for by some solid level design that plays into the strengths of your arsenal. The writing can be a bit long winded at times, but I think the story is interesting, and it's told in a unique cool way. The music is great and elevates the mood in a lot of scenes. Even visually, despite some of the assets being a bit rough, there's a lot of style and intent at play. Every level is visually distinct, a lot of cutscenes have striking, memorable shots. I'd even say the less flattering parts of the visuals fit the tone and serve the game thematically. Abyss Veil feels like a passion project, something made by someone who wanted to make it, and wanted to make it right. I think anyone who approaches this game in good faith will find something worthwhile.

I know this looks like Deviantart slop. In some sense it kind of is, but hear me out. The 3D cutscenes are AMAZING. The actual direction for them is AMAZING. And the rudimentary artstyle (which is actually really interesting) genuinely leaves an insane level of surrealness to the world. I'm actually kind of amazed that in the introductory war scene there are fighters and bombers that fly overhead and destroyed tank wrecks all about. It was actually really visceral. There is an incredible sense of oppressive atmosphere even if it is told in this really derpy way. This game has very flawed visual design however, I often struggle to actually find out which objects you are supposed to interact with because they don't look any different from normal, static geometry. The shooting is fun, it is not as janky as it looks and its quite impressive that the enemies dodge roll. Don't expect the enemy AI to be on the level of FEAR, the enemies in this game really just shoot and advance and sometimes dodge. The grenades deal too much damage or explode too quickly from when they are thrown and its unclear how their blast radius works. I'm actually surprised that the AI does indeed know how to go prone and dolphin dive (even if they don't do it in the right situations). The game take a lot of inspiration from FEAR with its enemies. Some of the encounters feel unfair because the game sometimes ambushes you with some enemies that are effectively hitscan. Remember to use your lean everyone. One of the biggest issues is that it crashes a lot, particularly at the visual novel cutscenes. Infact it crashes so much it becomes a very active hinderance to the game. Many other technical aspects of this game are simply just not there. There are also many typos. The game is filled with softlocks and issues with scripts and sequence breaking the game. A whole pass needs to be done on episode 1 regarding the sheer amount of sequence breaking bugs. Because of the sheer amount of technical problems. I am going to wait a bit till the game gets into a better state. The frequent updates are promising and so far I believe the game is in good hands. Recommended with Caution. Get it in like 1 year at a sale.

[h2] I can't even describe it well at all. [/h2] It's unsettling, depressing, looks incredibly flawed, and that's what makes it feel authentic. Initially I thought everything was funny, until I actually played the game. The story somehow invested me on a personal level. Even though there is some pretty edgy looking stuff, most of the story beats felt real; now I just feel screwed up in the head after laughing quite a bit. The FPS portions played relatively well if a bit basic, and yeah, the music does its job of setting the mood. I don't even know if this is just me who feels this way; [u] just play the game. [/u]

surprisingly good mixed-genre passion project. i was quite immersed during horror sections and several combat sections. story feels to me to be the main strength and as i realized it was building into some kind of character/political drama i got more and more excited to see where things would go. the chapter ends with several hanging threads to explore and i'm very curious how the final 3 chapters will go. dialogue style can feel immature with slang and banter that makes every character feel like the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 20-something year old, but it kinda grew on me. in general, the world building, character development, and drama development are all great thus far. for gameplay i find the fixed-camera horror parts to be the highlights, good tension, and audiovisual design that put me on edge and having these quite early on and grabbed my attention for the rest of the game, the first person combat was decent enough. levels can feel too big at times, especially when you have to reboot a section, but wasn't a major issue and i feel the scale serves good aesthetic/thematic purposes at times. the pacing is well done, swapping between different gameplay styles, varied locations/themes, increasing variety and difficulty of enemy encounters, and a few varied boss fights sprinkled throughout. despite first impressions, this is a competently designed and quite enjoyable game/world, and i can't wait to dig in more when the later chapters roll out.

Cool as ♥♥♥♥

an incredible game with great story, art music and characters the very start does not do the game service, with it making the game seem much less interesting than it actually is you can really feel the passion in this game, i really recommend if this seems like something to your taste!

a deeply strange game that i cannot wait to see more of. an absolute must-play