From publisher Devolver Digital and developers Team WIBY comes Phantom Abyss. Announced during Devolver Digital’s 2021 E3 showcase, this rogue-like game offers a unique perspective in its single-player/multiplayer gameplay and a premise that is fun, fresh, and exciting in its game setting and delivery.

In Phantom Abyss you are tasked with obtaining relics that are located at the end of each temple, but to get to the end, you must traverse a variety of traps and obstacles that you and many others must attempt. Once a relic is obtained by anyone, that particular temple is no longer accessible and a new one is randomly generated. Each Temple is broken up into five parts, and each section increases in difficulty as you go.

To break up the sections, shrines can be found that offer blessings used to help in your journey, adding abilities such as double jump or extending the reach of your whip. Yes, just like Indiana Jones, you get a whip, adding to the sense of adventure, but all blessings come at the cost of gold. Gold can be found in chests scattered throughout the temples, and some are even hidden away, so a keen eye is needed to not only evade traps but to find more gold to aid in the temple raid.

Did I mention before you get a whip? Well yes, you get a whip to help you climb ledges and to break open jars, and it becomes your best friend during your game, but at other times it is a curse. Other whips can be unlocked as well, with each whip carrying a minor blessing that can make things interesting. As for the game’s controls, a short tutorial is recommended when starting out, but the game is very fluid in its movements and very few buttons are used, especially when using a mouse and keyboard. Your very basic run, jump, etc are the fundamentals of the controls. Having basic controls lets you focus more on the gameplay rather than overburdening players, which is always great.

The developers went with more of a light and fun feel to the environments of the game. Even when it is dark, in-game lighting still feels warm and engaging to explore. This is very different from most other games that follow the same kind of theme, with most being dark and dreary. On the other side of things, they were a little less adventurous with the traps set throughout the game. These are the classic traps we would all expect, such as your spike traps, falling blocks, or pits of death, but all are presented in an interesting and well-designed manner.

Aside from the randomly generated temples being closed off once the relic has been obtained, the game offers an asynchronous multiplayer experience. I’m guessing at this point you are googling what the hell is ‘asynchronous’? Well, asynchronous is the opposite of synchronous, as to be in sync with other players like your ordinary multiplayer game. The Phantom Abyss asynchronous multiplayer experience is when you get to see what others have done previously by watching a phantom attempt the same level you are doing, seeing where they failed and how they overcame the various traps and obstacles during their playthrough.

I often used it to help me find better ways to overcome traps, including where all the secret gold stashes are located. The first time seeing these Phantoms compared to trying to complete a temple that may not have any gives off a sense of competitiveness that overwhelms you. Seeing everyone run around, dashing past traps with ease, then suddenly seeing them get impaled by a spike trap that you knew was obviously there, only to be impaled by the next set of spike traps because you got reckless.

The point I’m getting at is that it’s fun to see everyone attempting the same temple as you, even if only seeing the ghosts of past attempts. I do have to say it would be good to have multiplayer with friends and all jump into a temple together, but sadly the game is technically still a single-player game. You can still share temple codes with friends so others can attempt the temple in their own time, and seeing your friends along with 20 other players phantoms all try and mostly fail is enjoyable on its own.

Overall Phantom Abyss offers a fresh break from your usual cut and copy games out there, such as your Call of Battlefields or your Assassins Dogs, and gives us a fun, somewhat competitive jump into a not so visited concept or world. Having a chance to live out my fantasy of being Indiana Jones going on adventures and retrieving ancient relics, will have me shouting “This Belongs in a museum” while cracking a whip and avoiding traps. Let’s just hope there are no snakes.

Written by: Simon Hayward