End of Abyss Might Be the Next Obsession for Fans of Little Nightmares and Metroidvanias

A surprise hit from Summer Game Fest blends eerie visuals with sharp gameplay design—and it just works.

You don’t always expect to fall in love with a game after a 20-minute demo, but here we are. End of Abyss, a new metroidvania shown off at Summer Game Fest, might just be one of the smartest and most atmospheric entries in the genre in recent years. It feels like a weird love child of Little Nightmares and Metroid, but somehow more readable and grounded. That’s not an insult—it’s a breath of fresh air.

If you’ve ever gotten lost in a metroidvania (and who hasn’t?), this game does something smart. It helps without holding your hand. No more wandering in circles because of one missed wall or locked door. End of Abyss puts visual clarity front and center, and honestly, more games should steal this idea.

A Smarter Way to Navigate a Maze of Shadows

Let’s be real—most metroidvanias leave you to figure things out with minimal direction. And while that’s the genre’s charm, it’s also its curse.

In End of Abyss, every blocked path on the map comes with an icon showing what’s stopping you. That might sound small, but it changes everything. Instead of second-guessing yourself, you get a clear heads-up:

• Locked doors? Marked.

• Breakable walls? Noted.

• Ventilation shafts you need to crawl through? Crystal clear.

It’s all baked into the map system. That means less time backtracking blindly and more time actually exploring and fighting. It’s like someone took the usual clunky metroidvania map and gave it a brain.

And this isn’t just some toggle in the settings. It’s baked into the game’s philosophy. A good metroidvania should be mysterious, yes—but not opaque.

Combat With Bite (and Bullets)

You’re not rolling around in a high-tech exosuit here. The protagonist in End of Abyss feels painfully human.

You start with just a pistol. It has infinite ammo, which is nice, but let’s be honest—it’s not enough. Eventually, you pick up a shotgun, and even in the short demo, it felt like a game-changer. Limited ammo, of course, so you’ve got to make your shots count.

The controls? Twin-stick shooter style. That might take a second to wrap your head around, especially if you’re used to more traditional side-scrollers. But once you get it, it clicks. Movement feels urgent. Combat is snappy. And when things get hectic, it gets really hectic.

There’s a moment that stood out—early in the demo, you run into a boss that feels pulled straight from a soulslike. Giant, grotesque, unforgiving. Dodging is key. You can’t just spam bullets and hope for the best.

And if you get enough shots in? You get a stun window. Just long enough to rush in and land a brutal melee attack. But it’s timed, and if you hesitate, you miss your shot.

Visuals That Get Under Your Skin

Now let’s talk aesthetics. Because this is where End of Abyss really leaves a mark.

It’s got that eerie, almost puppet-like art style you’d recognize from Little Nightmares. Which makes sense—some of the devs actually worked on that series. You can see it in the lighting, the character animations, the way shadows play across the walls.

Everything feels drenched in dread.

But not in a gory, jump-scare kind of way. It’s more subtle than that. The spaces feel abandoned, rotten, forgotten. You’re not just fighting monsters—you’re pushing deeper into a place that doesn’t want you there.

In one hallway, I stopped just to look at the way the lights flickered off a pool of water. It didn’t need to be that detailed. But it was.

Who’s Behind This? A Familiar Team With a Twisted Vision

There’s a reason the game feels this polished even in early form. The team behind it includes veterans from the Little Nightmares series, and that DNA is obvious. But this isn’t a rehash—it’s its own thing.

They’ve taken that atmospheric expertise and fused it with better gameplay systems. No awkward climbing, no trial-and-error puzzles that make you throw your controller. Just smooth, unsettling design layered over rock-solid mechanics.

Here’s a quick comparison:

This table tells a story. One about a team that’s grown up and gotten bolder.

Demo Was Brief, But The Impression Lasts

You only get about 20–30 minutes in the demo, and yet, it sticks with you.

Even now, I’m thinking about the weird pipes running across the ceilings. The shuffling enemy that made a noise like a crying animal. The way the map blinked softly as I moved, lighting up just enough of the path to feel hopeful—and then fading into black again.

There’s not much exposition, at least not yet. But that’s part of the hook. You’re dropped into this world with no idea how it ended up like this. You don’t know who you are, or why you’re here. All you know is that you’ve got to move forward.

And every time the music swells, or an enemy screeches from a dark corridor, you feel like you’re being watched. That’s rare in this genre.

It’s creepy in a way that doesn’t feel forced.