We Came From the Abyss
Allow me to take you back. To a time when Fromsoft, despite their rather expansive catalogue of games, were but a small curiosity outside of Japan known almost exclusively for their mecha combat series Armored Core. Back to 2003. To a time before Dark souls, and Demon Souls. Before Miyazaki. Before George R R Martin.
Enter Shadow Tower Abyss.
A game steeped in mystery, and having never left Japan, sadly allowed to fall in to near obscurity.
But a game that undoubtedly sowed the seeds of what was to come.
How did we end up in a place like this
All the staples we know and love are here; A gloomy, melancholic world that defies natural logic, seemingly frozen in time. Beautiful but hostile locales haunted by all manner of strange creatures and wayward souls, in equal parts majestic and horrific. Intricately designed looping hallways and corridors with unlockable shortcuts that expertly mark progression. A permeating sense of hopelessness. Tragic characters who meet sad and unjust ends. Obtuse, underplayed storytelling shrouded in intrigue. Messages scribbled on walls warning you of dangers yet to come. Illusory walls that hide secrets and hidden paths. Death traps that'll send you back to the title screen within minutes of loading up the game. Weapons and loot to pillage besides the resting corpses of fallen warriors. And lest we forget to mention; the infamous poisonous swamps. Ladies and gentlemen, this is page 1 from the Souls playbook (or 2 if we're counting Kings Field, which we obviously should).
But whereas the Souls titles only grew in size, Shadow Tower: Abyss is smaller by design, more restrained and intricate. You will get to know these locations intimately by the time you've finished ascending each and every distinct and varied floor of the 'Shadow Tower', inching ever closer towards the top. From subterranean forests and icy caverns, to the rot infested wastes of alien civilisations, signposted with strange moving platforms and monolithic structures, the first person perspective adds wholesale to the immersion, in turn creating a sense of claustrophobia and confinement lacking in the subsequent entries. This shift in camera perspective lends itself perfectly to the close quarters encounters, making you witness the horrors up close and personally, even allowing you to dismember and maim foes with a swing of your sword if aimed right. Roaming these strange winding hallways filled me with a sense of loneliness, dread and unease that I haven't really felt since playing Konami's Silent Hill 4: The Room.
And why are we even here, exactly? What is our goal, in this strange, forgotten and cursed land? Outside a vague notion of acquiring some ancient, hidden power, I'm not sure even our nameless protagonist knows. All we can be sure of for certain, is reaching our destination.
Will you survive, or die trying?
There are no checkpoints to be found, nor tutorials. Save points are few and far between. Traversing the labyrinthian corridors requires you to pay keen attention to your surroundings, as they're littered with pitfalls and traps designed to slow your progress. Although daunting at first, thankfully no area really outstays its welcome for too long and the game moves you along at a relatively brisk pace, so long as you're observant and resourceful. You're encouraged to map things out, take mental notes and rely on recognising landmarks to progress, as naturally there's no menu map or waypoints to be found. Different entry and exit points allow you to explore the various zones mostly in your order of choice, and if you're stuck, there's often another area off the beaten path to focus your attention on, to level up and find gear, before looping back round to where you were previously. It feels tightly designed and satisfying.
Enemies offer a challenge, especially in the early game, but none will stop you in your tracks or fully halt your progress unlike certain roadblocks encountered in the later titles. Weapons and armour are doled out generously, but are prone to degrade and break rapidly if overused. The game walks a fine line between difficulty and fairness- nothing felt cheap in my time playing, but caution and problem solving are pre-requisite to success. Should I push deeper in to the level to hopefully find that next save point, or spend time retracing my steps to heal and repair my gear first? Shout out to whoever came up with the idea of having to sacrifice your HP to repair broken gear, and vice versa- it's purely masochistic in design and brings with it a real sense of risk/reward as you're not always sure what's more important in the moment. And you can't just rely solely on combat skills alone to brute force your way through, as some areas demand solving actual puzzles to progress, which seems to be a sorely lacking aspect of Fromsoft's more recent titles.
And if that isn't entirely your bag, did I mention there are guns in this game? Like, literal fucking Uzis and Grenade launchers.
In Summary
I hope that Fromsoft eventually decide to revisit this series in some form, if not a direct continuation (which is highly unlikely at this point), at the very least dare to return to its first person perspective and its slower, more methodical and weighty combat. For all their merits, and there are many, their later games have become a bit bloated and have started to lean too heavily on fast paced action, dodge rolling and frustratingly difficult boss battles, which in my opinion is not the reason these games are so compelling. A title that strips things back a bit, and better balances their unrivalled atmospheric design with more of an emphasis on puzzle solving as opposed to just killing increasingly difficult enemies, would do wonders in helping me to stay immersed in their worlds.
And if not? Well, I still have all the Kings Field games left to play through...
Allow me to take you back. To a time when Fromsoft, despite their rather expansive catalogue of games, were but a small curiosity outside of Japan known almost exclusively for their mecha combat series Armored Core. Back to 2003. To a time before Dark souls, and Demon Souls. Before Miyazaki. Before George R R Martin.
Enter Shadow Tower Abyss.
A game steeped in mystery, and having never left Japan, sadly allowed to fall in to near obscurity.
But a game that undoubtedly sowed the seeds of what was to come.
How did we end up in a place like this
All the staples we know and love are here; A gloomy, melancholic world that defies natural logic, seemingly frozen in time. Beautiful but hostile locales haunted by all manner of strange creatures and wayward souls, in equal parts majestic and horrific. Intricately designed looping hallways and corridors with unlockable shortcuts that expertly mark progression. A permeating sense of hopelessness. Tragic characters who meet sad and unjust ends. Obtuse, underplayed storytelling shrouded in intrigue. Messages scribbled on walls warning you of dangers yet to come. Illusory walls that hide secrets and hidden paths. Death traps that'll send you back to the title screen within minutes of loading up the game. Weapons and loot to pillage besides the resting corpses of fallen warriors. And lest we forget to mention; the infamous poisonous swamps. Ladies and gentlemen, this is page 1 from the Souls playbook (or 2 if we're counting Kings Field, which we obviously should).
But whereas the Souls titles only grew in size, Shadow Tower: Abyss is smaller by design, more restrained and intricate. You will get to know these locations intimately by the time you've finished ascending each and every distinct and varied floor of the 'Shadow Tower', inching ever closer towards the top. From subterranean forests and icy caverns, to the rot infested wastes of alien civilisations, signposted with strange moving platforms and monolithic structures, the first person perspective adds wholesale to the immersion, in turn creating a sense of claustrophobia and confinement lacking in the subsequent entries. This shift in camera perspective lends itself perfectly to the close quarters encounters, making you witness the horrors up close and personally, even allowing you to dismember and maim foes with a swing of your sword if aimed right. Roaming these strange winding hallways filled me with a sense of loneliness, dread and unease that I haven't really felt since playing Konami's Silent Hill 4: The Room.
And why are we even here, exactly? What is our goal, in this strange, forgotten and cursed land? Outside a vague notion of acquiring some ancient, hidden power, I'm not sure even our nameless protagonist knows. All we can be sure of for certain, is reaching our destination.
Will you survive, or die trying?
There are no checkpoints to be found, nor tutorials. Save points are few and far between. Traversing the labyrinthian corridors requires you to pay keen attention to your surroundings, as they're littered with pitfalls and traps designed to slow your progress. Although daunting at first, thankfully no area really outstays its welcome for too long and the game moves you along at a relatively brisk pace, so long as you're observant and resourceful. You're encouraged to map things out, take mental notes and rely on recognising landmarks to progress, as naturally there's no menu map or waypoints to be found. Different entry and exit points allow you to explore the various zones mostly in your order of choice, and if you're stuck, there's often another area off the beaten path to focus your attention on, to level up and find gear, before looping back round to where you were previously. It feels tightly designed and satisfying.
Enemies offer a challenge, especially in the early game, but none will stop you in your tracks or fully halt your progress unlike certain roadblocks encountered in the later titles. Weapons and armour are doled out generously, but are prone to degrade and break rapidly if overused. The game walks a fine line between difficulty and fairness- nothing felt cheap in my time playing, but caution and problem solving are pre-requisite to success. Should I push deeper in to the level to hopefully find that next save point, or spend time retracing my steps to heal and repair my gear first? Shout out to whoever came up with the idea of having to sacrifice your HP to repair broken gear, and vice versa- it's purely masochistic in design and brings with it a real sense of risk/reward as you're not always sure what's more important in the moment. And you can't just rely solely on combat skills alone to brute force your way through, as some areas demand solving actual puzzles to progress, which seems to be a sorely lacking aspect of Fromsoft's more recent titles.
And if that isn't entirely your bag, did I mention there are guns in this game? Like, literal fucking Uzis and Grenade launchers.
In Summary
I hope that Fromsoft eventually decide to revisit this series in some form, if not a direct continuation (which is highly unlikely at this point), at the very least dare to return to its first person perspective and its slower, more methodical and weighty combat. For all their merits, and there are many, their later games have become a bit bloated and have started to lean too heavily on fast paced action, dodge rolling and frustratingly difficult boss battles, which in my opinion is not the reason these games are so compelling. A title that strips things back a bit, and better balances their unrivalled atmospheric design with more of an emphasis on puzzle solving as opposed to just killing increasingly difficult enemies, would do wonders in helping me to stay immersed in their worlds.
And if not? Well, I still have all the Kings Field games left to play through...