From our small studio Section 9 Interactive, founded by three former Tarsier Studios members, comes the sci-fi action adventure game End of Abyss, launching October 1 for XBOX Series X|S players!
In End of Abyss, you take on the role of a young combat technician, Cel, as she and her crew venture down into a large broken down facility under ground. You will face threats lurking, upgrade Cel’s gear and find the tools you need to go further into the facility.
Taking this game from a prototype to a finished game has been a long time in the making. What started as an action-based top-down shooter, developed into a slower, more dynamic and atmospheric experience as we became more interested in exploration and creating a stronger sense of tension.
Along the way, we realized that we had not really seen very many top-down metroidvania games with action horror elements. That idea became our driving force and eventually helped shape the game into what it is today.
While early versions of End of Abyss had much of the character’s basic movement and equipment, some enemies with basic destruction, as well as some small levels, it didn’t have a clear focus when it came to its visual identity. Once we became more interested in an atmospheric and eerie experience, we discussed references, sketched our ideas and developed updated prototype enemies and environments to try to find the look that we found most interesting.
The inspiration behind the game’s atmosphere and art stems from the films, games, comic books and anime that we grew up with. The media created around the 1980s and 1990s was usually a bit rough and had some manually created effects in video and sounds, which gave them a certain weathered look and feel. We wanted to bring some of that into the facility in End of Abyss to develop a world that feels worn down and slightly awkward, and to make the player feel uneasy about the environment around them. At the same time, we still wanted it to look like a brand new world, so we balanced realism with a slightly stylised sense of scale and shapes in the world, as well as the creatures that reside in it.
Our workflow for creating enemies has been to first come up with gameplay functions that we would like to try out, and then try to find a fitting type of creature design that would emphasize those ideas. Sketching a lot of these concepts and getting fast, rough animation mockups and enemy prototypes running in Unreal was key to developing the variety of enemies and bosses in the game. We ended up creating a lot of mockups for enemy animations, their behaviors, as well as their destruction.
At times, we have settled with trying our own versions of familiar video game “tropes,” and other times we have tried to make more original creations from start to finish. Throughout the process, we always wanted the characters to feel like they belonged in the world and while also being fun to fight. The world in End of Abyss, and the characters that reside there, have been left decaying for a long time, deep underground, with some areas almost frozen in time.
For those who decide to explore this world, we hope you enjoy playing End of Abyss.
End of Abyss launches October 1 for XBOX Series X|S.
End of Abyss
Epic Games Publishing
Enter the Abyss
Descend into the halls of a sprawling complex, where broken machines whisper to you from the depths, and nothing you encounter is fully human.
Fight to Survive
Outmatched by the twisted horrors you face, you must upgrade your gear and adapt, pushing your limits just to stay alive against the crushing pressure of the facility you’re trapped within.
Explore Lost Paths
Navigate branching paths and uncover hidden areas using your Scanner and the tools you unlock along the way. Pathways open as you grow stronger, allowing you to return to forgotten corridors and secrets once sealed away.
Developed by Section 9
End of Abyss delivers a focused and immersive experience shaped by a small team in Malmö Sweden, led by experienced developers known for crafting hit games.
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