Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review: Looks Aren’t Everything

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review
3.2
out of 5

Video games are a visual medium, and how a game looks on screen can go a long way to creating a joyful experience for gamers. But looks only matter for a small part of what makes a good game, and even decent gameplay — in theory — can elevate a mediocre game higher. But what happens when a great looking game has poor play control? That answer is Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition from developer ACE Team and publisher Atlus.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition is a updated version of a game that hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 last year, this year, making the jump to the PS4. All of the post-launch DLC has been added to try and offset a game that has some really neat ideas, but a forced grind and shoddy combat hold it back from ever achieving anything more than a cursory solo play experience, and only a decent online multiplayer and co-op outing.


The story is pretty simple: in 19th century Santiago, Chile, a Warlock has trapped himself at the bottom of a pit and is making his nightmares into physical manifestations. It’s up to a band of three different characters to descend into the pit and defeat the Warlock before his visions become reality.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review

The pit, or Abyss, is randomly generated and the path down is never the same. Also, there are three difficulties in the “rooms,” which are Castlevania-like mini-levels, and it’s not unheard-of to have the very first room be a “hard difficulty” (it happened to me). As the characters dig deeper and deeper into the abyss, they can level up and find treasure that allows them to purchase new weapons and items, and even important relics, like Camp Tokens which can be used to create check points. The problem is, you almost need a full play through to raise enough gold to buy a camp token, so the option is particularly moot when you start out. And if a player is lucky enough to get to the bottom of the abyss and can defeat the Warlock, there may not be enough incentive to ever do it again, so spend that gold as you get it.

If the hero character dies during their mission (and they will), a generic Chilean soldier will appear to continue the mission and take their remains (and collected items) to an altar to bring them back to life. The problem is that the generic soldiers are pretty weak, so if you fall during a mini-boss fight, or during a swarm event (where the way is blocked while waves of enemies storm the screen), the chances that the soldier makes it to an altar wanes considerably.

And death means starting all over from the very top, with XP, level, and item retention, but still, starting over is starting over. If the generic soldier happens to make it to the end of the floor without finding an alter, he triggers a new kind of level where the main character goes into a phantom zone and has to defeat enemies that appear in varying levels of difficulty. If they succeed, then the main character is returned to life. This phantom zone incursion is very difficult in the beginning, as later waves of enemies are way more powerful than the player.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review

The “phantom zone” or nether realm battles are some of the hardest in the game, especially early on.

Combat in Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition is very hit and miss (pun heavily intended). The main characters have a few distinct moves and can combo up — as long as they hit their target (which doesn’t always happen). Blocking is very important, so ACE Team made it incredibly touchy and most attacks will have already landed before the block is registered making the attempt fruitless in almost every way. About midway down my first play through, I just stopped trying to block and if I died, I accepted that I would start over. This kind of kamikaze grinding grew old quick.

The combat tries to be like Castlevania, especially the later Nintendo DS versions, with different weapons to choose from, but it doesn’t have the polish that the Castlevania games had and it suffers. Not greatly, but there is a level of frustration that comes while playing.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition brings a rather hefty multiplayer element with it. There are online versus modes for up to four players, and even drop-in couch co-op for the main story. It fills out the title nicely, but the hit detection still rears its ugly head, but now all combatants are affected, which I guess creates some kind of even ground. One cool element in the main story is that the main characters can cast a spell that captures enemies. These enemies can then be used in the online versus battles.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition Review

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition could benefit from its own difficulty and make a name for itself much like another Atlus-published game did with Demon’s Souls, but those chances are unlikely. It’s a pretty game to look at, and other than the combat’s overall spottiness, there is a really interesting game here. With a neat and fun multiplayer element and couch co-op (drop in, at that!), all of the pieces are in place for Abyss Odyssey to be a sure fire winner, but it needs better balance in the difficulty and the hit detection and blocking definitely needs to be addressed.

ACE Team brought it to the PS4 after a year and added new elements, so there is a possibility that we could see another, more-polished version in the future. Or possibly a sequel that fixes these issues while keeping the gorgeous art direction, story elements, and online multiplayer intact, because gamers have always loved Metroid-vania like games, and Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition is on the door step of that lofty genre. It just needs to wake up and step in.

Abyss Odyssey: Extended Dream Edition is available now for the PS4 from the Playstation store. This review was based off a review code provided by the publisher.

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