Fortune and Glory and Phantoms

When one thinks of adventure and stealing precious relics from a tomb only one name comes to mind. Nathan –sike Indiana Jones. Well luckily the game Phantom Abyss evokes the later, even gives the players a whip. In Phantom Abyss players are put in the explorer boots of an adventurer who has died. Yep, you didn’t quite make it and now have found themselves trapped in an abyss with an otherworldly being. This being claims that he can free the both of you if players can find enough relics to return his power. Not at all Shakespeare in its complexity but believe it or not this little bit of a setup is more than enough for some fun; if you like roguelites that is.

MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

In order to locate these relics players will tackle random temples filled with traps so diabolical Pitfall Harry wouldn’t dare. As players make these runs and inevitably fail, they will leave behind the titular phantoms. These phantoms can help players navigate the temple and will even show where they died in the hopes that similar mistakes won’t be made. Moving thru the tombs is a breeze, players will have a jump, slide, dash and even a roll maneuver when trying to avoid fall damage. Mercifully the game allows the roll-animation to be turned off as it can be a bit much to experience in first-person. But when it really comes to getting around these tombs, players will utilize their whip most of all.

The whip is going to used to attack yes but it is also going to be an explorer’s best friend for navigating the various temples. The whip can attach to any surface and pull players up and toward the impact, which is needed to make it through certain traps and puzzles. As players progress, they will earn and find new whip variations that can provide buffs and debuffs; for instance, one made me immune to fall damage but it increased the health of guardians. Guardians are randomly assigned when a player starts a temple and they will chase players and push them forward. While they come in a few varieties the only one I hated was the floating head that looked like Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple. (Shout out to you if you remember that show on Nickelodeon, the good ole days) His AOE poison attacks are just a pain, and make it hard to go after some of the scattered treasure chest around each temple.

Phantom Abyss, is like I said a roguelite and doesn’t have any sort of difficulty slider, which makes sense with the way the phantom system works. I thought being able to chase after someone else’s phantom was pretty cool and it made finding my way through maps easier. That being said; because this game is more dynamic than randomly generated a lot of the traps and things will start to become tedious as they are reused.

Phantom Abyss can be a run roguelite with its free-running, puzzle solving, and trap avoiding adventures. But throw in the phantoms of real-world players who act as a guide of what to do and not do through these temples takes things to another level. Mileage can vary though as a lot of the puzzles, temples and traps are reused and thus can make the game start to drag on and feel repetitive. Being in early access for so many years though there is quite a lot of content here that players can dig through before fatigue will set in. And with all the talk about Indiana Jones lately, why not start practicing your whip skills.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.