Imagine being rejected by the world the moment you take your very first breath, not because of something you did, but because of what you are, or rather, what you were born with. Without warning and without any right to choose, you are exiled from Earth to a completely unknown place where a sentence of 9100 days awaits you.
,,To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” These words were spoken by Nietzsche, and Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl often referenced him in his book ,,Man’s Search for Meaning”, which also contains the famous quote: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Frankl believed that a person can endure almost any form of suffering if they manage to find meaning within it. Even when something as fundamental as freedom is taken away from us, we still retain the ability to choose our attitude toward what is happening.
You’re probably wondering what psychology and philosophy are doing in a review of a game that, on the surface, looks like nothing more than a bullet – hell shooter, however, this game, besides offering fantastic combat and adrenaline fueled action, hides a story capable of leaving a far deeper impact than you might expect.
After playing Saros and Returnal, I was searching for something similar that would raise my adrenaline levels while also lingering in my thoughts long after finishing it, and I stumbled upon this game completely by accident. I knew almost nothing about the story, but seeing the gameplay alone was enough to catch my attention. Still, I ended up playing through it almost in one sitting, and I doubt I’ll stop thinking about everything I saw and experienced in it anytime soon because it genuinely impressed me that much.
Luna Abyss is a game made and published by Kwalee, a relatively small studio, but one that clearly pours an incredible amount of care into the narrative and atmosphere of its games, and that passion shines through here more than anything else.
The story begins in a prison. You didn’t steal anything, you didn’t kill anyone, you were imprisoned simply because of the red color of your eyes. And you are not in an ordinary prison either. You are on the moon. Not the real moon, but an artificial copy of it – a blood red satellite that mysteriously appeared 250 years before the beginning of the game and hides countless secrets within it, including an entity known as the Abyss. Our protagonist, Fawkes, possesses the “mark of Luna”, the aforementioned red eyes, which people on Earth consider a curse. Because of this, she is sentenced to 9100 days in prison and in order to slowly reduce that sentence, her prison overseer, Aylin gives her a series of tasks such as exploring the depths of this place, recovering forgotten technology, gathering information, and surviving. Every successful mission shortens her sentence by a few days, but the deeper you venture into this world, the more you begin to realise that your presence here may not be accidental at all and that something far darker and more sinister lies behind everything.
The moment when the philosophy mentioned at the beginning of this review truly comes into focus is when an entity called All Father contacts you and orders you to investigate something completely unknown. You are given very little information and, more importantly, no choice. All you have is an android like machine called the Warden, which Fawkes controls through a neural interface. This is where your journey truly begins, a plunge into the unknown where fear and confusion gradually transform into something far more disturbing and complex.
Since this blood red moon existed long before your arrival, it quickly becomes clear that it carries a long and dark history and you will uncover fragments of it through conversations with the characters you encounter throughout the adventure, as well as through over 80 collectable texts hidden across the world. The story is filled with twists and mysteries, so I highly recommend exploring every corner of the map if you want to fully piece together everything that happened. To help guide you, you will often notice graffiti of a winged serpent painted on walls, signalling that something valuable is nearby.
Now let’s talk a bit about the gameplay. The game offers four weapons, you receive the first one at the very start, while the others are unlocked gradually, with the final weapon arriving almost at the end of the game. Although each weapon feels distinct, all of them share an ,,overheat” mechanic if you fire for too long. The duration of the cooldown depends on the weapon you are using. For example, the Scout Rifle has the shortest cooldown, while the Shield Breaker shotgun has a slightly longer one but is designed for enemies protected by blue shields and for destroying blue barriers and Monarch’s Lance acts as a sniper rifle capable of dealing with purple shields. As for the fourth weapon, I’ll leave that as a surprise.
Also, the developers were clearly inspired by Metroid Prime, since shooting doors and switches is often how you open pathways and progress further. Sometimes you shoot directly at a door, while other times you need to hit a specific trigger.
Besides the intense combat and enemies firing colorful projectiles in every direction similar to what you would see in Saros, the game also features a significant amount of platforming so you’ll have access to a double jump and a dash, and later gain abilities such as a grappling hook, that looks like an arm, that lets you swing across gaps, create floating ice platforms in mid air, transfer your consciousness into a rolling train like robot that speeds through dangerous sections while you dodge obstacles, transform into a biomechanical spider capable of climbing surfaces with its long limbs, or even control a massive robot called Goliath whose devastating weaponry can obliterate both walls and enemies alike.
All of these abilities and weapons blend perfectly into the game’s fast and chaotic combat system, but their full potential truly shines during boss fights, where everything you previously learned is put to the test – for example, you will need to master movement, know when to use your temporary shield, hook yourself through incoming attacks, or quickly create ice platforms while projectiles fill the entire screen.
And speaking of boss fights, they are incredibly well designed. At first, the game felt somewhat easy on Warden difficulty, but the first ,,real” boss fight immediately proved otherwise and I felt the challenge that the developers prepared. That was the moment when the gameplay’s true focus became clear which is movement, precision, and combining every mechanic you had learned up to that point. There’s something undeniably brutal and satisfying about sliding toward an enemy while narrowly avoiding an attack, only to blast them on the spot with your weapon.
All abilities come as blue and red crystals, which are hidden inside chests, while you can also find health upgrades that permanently add additional health bars, with which, combined with the ability to drain health from stunned enemies on the verge of death, combat gains an even more aggressive and rewarding rhythm.
After every mission, you return to your prison cell, where you can talk with Aylin. These quieter moments between chaotic missions are what make the characters feel so human and relatable. The developers did an excellent job making you emotionally attached to them, especially because the world surrounding you constantly feels cold, hostile, and completely indifferent to your existence.
A major inspiration for the game’s visual style was the manga BLAME. The game feels like a fusion of biomechanical horror with gothic aesthetics seen through some levels. Grey environments drenched in heavy red lighting create a constant sense of danger and claustrophobia as you descend deeper and deeper into the abyss. Yet the monotony is occasionally broken by open outdoor areas where crimson trees and ruined structures create the impression of a forgotten world where everything appears silent and dead, yet strangely alive at the same time, as if the world itself is observing you instead of the other way around. What occasionally gives the game a touch of cosmic horror is its cold, futuristic architecture mixed with religious imagery and symbolism. Melancholy and loneliness are ever-present, which is exactly why the developers succeeded in making the characters feel so emotionally important. The world is so alien and hostile that simply seeing a familiar face who does not intend to harm you becomes genuinely comforting.
The voice acting is excellent for the most part. Fawkes and Aylin, whom you hear frequently throughout the game, both have very pleasant and memorable voices, while the other NPCs range from completely hopeless and broken to eerily calm, as if they lost their sanity long ago and simply accepted the reality surrounding them. Some sound mysterious and unsettling, which only strengthens the already tense atmosphere. The voice acting during boss fights, and especially during the scenes after, is absolutely phenomenal, while the dialogue itself deserves special praise. Certain lines hit you like a train and force you to stop for a moment and reflect on everything, particularly the feeling that you are part of something far greater than yourself. The soundtrack starts off subtle and almost unnoticeable, but the moment it fully erupts before the first boss fight, it completely consumes you and it continues doing so during every other boss fight, making the fights seem epic.
Games like this, the ones I discover completely by accident, often become some of my favourites. These are the kinds of games where, after finishing them, I immediately start reading every theory, every interview, every bit of lore I can find in order to better understand the story and learn more about the inspirations behind it. They’re the games I talk about for days or even months afterwards because they leave such a powerful impression through their gameplay, story, characters, and atmosphere that follows them.
We would like to thank Kwalee for providing us with a copy of the game for review purposes.
Luna Abyss
Kwalee truly succeeded in creating an unforgettable experience with Luna Abyss, one that quietly crawls under your skin and occasionally tickles you just to remind you of everything you went through, everything you saw and heard, the characters you became attached to, and the battles that kept you on edge, making you wish you could once again find something capable of leaving the same impact.
