It’s a surprise, then, that team behind it has been laid off from Kwalee Labs. Its CEO, Hollie Emery, was the bearer of this bit of bad news, citing reasons that were “out of our control” as the cause of this closure. It will leave nine talented employees at the mercy of a rather volatile job market (which isn’t looking so hot these days, considering what’s happening at Xbox).

Regardless, the acknowledgement they’ve received could be seen as bittersweet from that perspective, so we’re going to focus on the positives: gratitude for the game’s reception and for the hard work that went into making it. Especially since it took so long to finally bring to life.

“We’re enamoured by the love and support it received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media. Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers – and we are incredibly proud that Luna Abyss has finally seen the light of day (thank you to everyone who believed in us!)”

We’re certainly sad to see Kwalee go, as we felt that it could have built on a very successful foundation to bring us something bigger and better the next time around. Here’s hoping the minds behind Luna Abyss find their feet sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can check out the game today on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

But let’s be real: expecting production and gameplay quality on the level of Saros, much less Returnal, is unrealistic and unfair. Besides Luna Abyss offers enough compelling elements, even if it doesn’t quite match the very best in either genre.

So to start with, no, the actual Moon isn’t haunted. Instead, there’s a mimic, known as Luna, that serves as a penitentiary for individuals like Fawkes, ostracised by her red eyes. She’s sentenced to serve thousands of days as a Scout, plunging into the mysterious and once-highly populated megastructure that has since fallen to the Scourge. Oh, and a giant snake-like head named Aylin serves as her prison guard, blankly looking around the cell when not electrocuting her for insubordination.

"Dialogue choices feel especially meaningless – the story is the story and will play out regardless – but the thought of portraying a Fawkes who can crack the odd joke here and there, despite decades of death-defying penal labor to serve, is endearing at times."

The rot emanating from the Scourge is only the tip of the mythical Abyss, and things only take a weirder turn when meeting the mysterious Urien. Transformed into something altogether different, Fawkes is then tasked with assassinating Urien while slowly piecing together the Collective’s fragmented past and the true purpose of her increasingly maddening expeditions.

Between its jargon, average production values and lack of compelling characters in the first hour or so, Luna Abyss has a hard time drawing you in. It doesn’t help that the actual gameplay feels slow-paced and one-note with a gun that overheats far too quickly, some unimaginative fodder and impromptu rot-cleaning. The maws and gaps in the megastructure lend to some intriguing platforming and exploration, yet for the most part, it feels like you’re barreling down corridors to get to the next uninspired “puzzle” and combat arena to progress.

First impressions matter. First impressions can also be extremely deceptive. And boy, does Luna Abyss ascend beyond its first impression.

The hunt for Urien requires heading to the abandoned city of Greymont, conveniently locked behind two seals. Unlocking those requires venturing to two reactors, all while the being in question bestows new skills to help you out. Why won’t he tell you what’s going on over the radio? Seeing is believing, but unironically, especially when witnessing the various ecosystems that govern the megastructure.

A giant head works the lift, and you’re encouraged not to listen to her poetry. Two spider-like Wardens roam the environment, offering good tidings to Fawkes. Giant beings with powerful, destructive capabilities have their own commune, seemingly in penance for failing to stop the corruption. Or the darkness, or whatever centuries of disinformation have wrought on their lives.

To the credit of the writing (and the voice acting), they feel like actual characters, but only a select few occasionally elicit sympathy, mostly depending on their screen time. Fawkes is also surprisingly amicable as someone trying to come to terms with this nightmarish sentence and empathising with the other “inmates,” even if she can’t fully understand their circumstances (and not for lack of trying). Dialogue choices feel especially meaningless in this context – the story is the story and will play out regardless – but the thought of portraying a Fawkes who can crack the odd joke here and there, despite decades of death-defying penal labor to serve, is endearing at times.

"I was initially apprehensive about this since it trivialises the initial encounters, but it helps to constantly adjust movement while dealing consistent damage (especially given the lack of immunity while dashing)."

Of course, there’s more to the plot, with some intriguing twists along the way. All of this to say that if it doesn’t initially grab, Luna Abyss will reward your patience beyond the seemingly cliched grim-dark setting. It may not win Best Narrative by any stretch, but it’s still surprisingly better than you would expect.

The same goes for the gunplay, especially after unlocking the shotgun and dash. The former is useful for breaking shields, and while the latter doesn’t grant invincibility frames, it’s useful when repositioning against tougher enemies. Yes, the variety of threats becomes more diverse, along with their tactics, be it in a spiralling beam or in expanding energy rings. Dashing can also be useful when dealing with hitscan beams, the telltale flash indicating the correct timing. Fawkes also gains the ability to execute foes on low health to recover her own, though this is less a visceral Glory Kill and more like a Thanos Snap (but more underwhelming and without any actual snapping). It does the job, though, and if you’re full on health, another option opens up later for dealing with crowds.

That said, the movement can feel floaty at first, and the gunplay can get repetitive. Despite the variety of enemies improving throughout your journey, you’ll still face the same randomly floating blobs that detonate when close, the same laser-shooting hedrons and the same fodder. Perhaps my biggest annoyance is with certain shielded foes who can become completely invulnerable during periods. Muscle memory dictates swapping to a specific weapon and letting rip, only to deal no damage before the corresponding colored shield appears. By then, you’ve only got another shot until cooldown, so better hope this one lands.

Which should be easy enough, thanks to the addition of a lock-on targeting mode. I was initially apprehensive about this since it trivialises the initial encounters, but it helps to constantly adjust movement while dealing consistent damage (especially given the lack of immunity while dashing). In the late-game sections, it fuels a ballet of flying around and quickly decimating targets while swapping to the next weapon in mid-air. But while each weapon has its unique function, they’re woefully low in number. The lack of alternate-firing modes or upgrades is also a bummer, even though I can see it increasing encounter complexity beyond what the developer may be capable of.

On the bright side, at least the traversal remains fresh, especially when the environments open up to accommodate all your different abilities. For all the air-dashing, double-jumping and other options that seamlessly chain together (and which I won’t spoil), you have the power of Possession. Fawkes can enter the bodies of different beings, and though it may seem gimmicky at first, it lends to several unique sequences, including possessing a Warden that can unleash devastating firepower, perfect for clearing out tons of rot.

"Luna Abyss isn’t what I expected, and even if the first hour didn’t exactly grab me, the slow, eventual descent into the mimic Moon’s ruins, mirroring Fawkes’ own journey as she attempts to make sense of the world, proved compelling enough."

It’s a shame then that this particular option isn’t available more often, but others often make up for it, especially when seamlessly interlinked with the rest of your traversal abilities. All that exploration eventually culminates in a boss, and each frames your most recently acquired ability as a linchpin for the encounter, mostly to survive hazardous projectiles or terrain. Their bullet patterns weren’t the most differentiating at times, but they still offer a decent enough challenge, especially on the highest difficulty.

All of this is backed by an aesthetic equal parts satisfyingly washed-out, grungy and tinged with scarlet. Alas, Luna Abyss can sometimes feel low-budget, whether it’s in the cutscenes, the lackluster facial animations, or select character portraits. Even the character models aren’t safe from this, especially Fawkes, whether in her regular form or when she inhabits the crimson veneer. And yet, it’s hard to deny some truly breathtaking sights, whether it’s finally laying eyes on Greymont from afar before taking in the remnants of panicked evacuation head-on or a later area with its vertigo-inducing heights.

Luna Abyss isn’t what I expected, and even if the first hour didn’t exactly grab me, the slow, eventual descent into the mimic Moon’s ruins, mirroring Fawkes’ own journey as she attempts to make sense of the world, proved compelling enough. There are moments where it feels like something beyond the sum of its disparate parts, even as those same shortcomings rear their mechanical heads more often than not. Again, it won’t reign over the very best that either genre – first-person shooter and bullet hell – has to offer, but it’s still a fun avant-garde mesh of the two, backed by some good traversal and an intriguing story.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Luna Abyss occupies a unique space as a narrative focused bullet hell shooter. What inspired this pairing of genres?

Benni Hill: We have always been inspired by high-octane action games that tell stories – such as Nier: Automata – and wanted to take that inspiration into thematic areas that we as a team were interested in. A lot of Manga and Anime inspired how we approached our storytelling and action – with a focus on escalation and high-stakes.

Hollie Emery: We were also a bit obsessed with shmups and classic cave shooters, and exploring high density bullet hell patterns. We wanted to overcome the challenge of rendering lots of bullets on screen in a 3D space, as we felt it would create a unique gameplay experience for a first person shooter.

"Our visual style was heavily inspired by the infinite structures from the manga BLAME!"

What were the biggest inspirations behind Luna Abyss in terms of story, gameplay, and visual style?

Benni Hill: Our visual style was heavily inspired by the infinite structures from the manga BLAME! As well as soviet constructivist brutalism. The almost alien feel of concrete allowed us to conceptualise the Abyss, and from there we let our imaginations run wild – bringing in Victorian and diesel punk elements to build out the world.

For gameplay, we really drew on our love of action-adventure games – the feeling of exploring an alien environment and using the gun to interact via shooting was inspired by Metroid Prime, whereas the bullet-hell action was inspired by Nier: Automata. We envisioned a game where aiming was not the goal, but evasion of awesome bullet patterns, and high-threat attacks.

Narratively our inspiration comes from many different areas – but our love for manga and anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion – as well as strange fiction – drove our creativity to develop what we feel is a unique and engaging world and story.

How did the idea for the game’s main setting, a strange megastructure inside an artificial moon, come together?

Benni Hill: Harry, Hollie and myself had gone through a long process of concept exploration, and found that we kept coming back to one core concept – what if a new moon suddenly showed up in Earth’s orbit? What would people do? Would it spark a new type of space-race? What would they find on it? These questions were exciting, and the more we dug into them the more we found. The questions drove the mystery, and we wanted to share that mystery with players.

Hollie Emery: Harry was reading the manga BLAME! and wanted to explore megastructures in a game setting too. We hadn’t really encountered that style in a game before, so we were really excited to explore it. Creepypastas were also inspirational, such as the backrooms: weird, uncanny valley discomfort, and playing with scale to make the player feel like a small cog in a large machine.

Given that Luna Abyss takes place inside a derelict structure, how has the team avoided making its environments feel repetitive?

Benni Hill: Without giving too much away, the Abyss is not always as it seems. The structure is very liminal – what is up may be down – spaces that feel that they should be outside are inside. There is human architecture within the Abyss as well – these are mysteries that we want players to uncover as they play – but the flexibility of the world’s mystery has allowed us to create a suite of unique and interesting environments to explore!

"Without giving too much away, the Abyss is not always as it seems."

How varied will the arsenal be in Luna Abyss?

Benni Hill: Every weapon in Luna Abyss has a specific reason to exist to counter the enemies that you will face as you explore. We have four firearms, each with specific roles in combat – from a standard rifle (The Scout Rifle), to a cybernetic shotgun (The Shieldbreaker). The four weapons cover everything from sharpshooting to heavy artillery. To top that off we also have two execution skills to help regain health and clear multiple enemies.

Will certain weapons be more effective against specific enemy types or encounter designs?

Benni Hill: Each weapon has a specific reason to exist, and enemies will have varying states that require specific weapons to be used to overcome them. An example of this is that some enemies will have a blue shield that requires the Shield Breaker to shatter it. The Shield Breaker can be used as a standard weapon too, but has a longer cooldown than the Scout Rifle, so overusing it isn’t a wise choice. We aim for players to be fluidly moving between their arsenal in flow as they carve their way through the combat encounters – combining their firearms skills with their traversal skills.

What approach is Luna Abyss taking to storytelling?

Benni Hill: Our narrative team is passionate about building a world through the eyes of the characters that exist within it – including the inconsistencies of personal perspectives. There is a traditional narrative to follow at the heart of Luna Abyss that flows through to a conclusion for the protagonists, but the periphery of this world – and the strange characters you meet along the way – is for the player to discover, rather than for it to be forced on them. Interpretation is important to us, so instilling this idea in the story has always been key from the start.

Hollie Emery: We worked with loads of awesome voice actors to bring the story to life too, such as Safiyya Ingar, Nina Yndis, David Menkin, Amelia Tyler, Patrick Moy, Dianne Pilkington, Bethan Dixon Bate and more.

"Our narrative team is passionate about building a world through the eyes of the characters that exist within it – including the inconsistencies of personal perspectives."

Replayability is often an important part of the genre. How does Luna Abyss encourage multiple playthroughs?

Benni Hill: Luna Abyss has varying difficulty modes, including a hard mode, where players can challenge themselves to beat the game’s toughest bosses. There are also a lot of discoverable collectables, such as codex lore entries, that build out the story in unique ways. We have a level select to allow players to jump into missions to search for missing content and try to fill out the codex to hit 100%.

From a developer perspective, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro, and how does the added GPU power change your approach compared to the base PS5?

John Reynolds: Any increase in GPU power allows the developer to share the game world in more detail and give the player a more immersive experience.

What are your thoughts on PSSR 2.0, and what opportunities does it open up for your game?

John Reynolds: PSSR 2.0 allows games to target higher resolutions or framerates, which can show off the environments in all the detail, or get the smooth 60, 90, or 120 frames per second that make the experience feel great.

What resolutions and frame rates are you targeting on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro?

John Reynolds: Luna Abyss targets 1920×1080 for all platforms. With the Series S and Steam Deck, we’re using some upscaling to keep the 60 framerate that makes the bullet hell work so well. The game is also Steam Deck verified.