Warriors Abyss Review (PC) – Chaotic Bliss

I was watching the PlayStation State Of Play on February 12th, when Warriors Abyss was announced, and, well, being a fan of the series, it blew my mind! Combining the endless addicting formula of the Musou genre with the replayability of the roguelike genre seems like a match made in heaven. Now that I have more than 20 hours into the game, was it worth it?

Game Name: Warriors Abyss
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Omega Force
Publisher(s): Koei Tecmo
Release Date: February 12th, 2025
Price: $24.99

The story for Warriors Abyss is pretty bare-bones. Lord Enma king of the underworld is afraid of a new entity known as Gouma. It has taken over the underworld and reduced Enma’s power to practically nothing. Lord Enma has summoned a warrior he could trust to help him take control back. That warrior is whatever character from the Samurai Warriors or Dynasty Warriors series you have selected to play as. Tasked, you’ll need to advance through the four realms of the underworld to make it to Gouma and hope to defeat him.

The Good

Warriors Abyss throws you into its gameplay loop almost immediately. You get a few tutorials and a bit of story, but after that, the training wheels come off, and you’re left to navigate the underworld on your own. The musou gameplay is similar to Warriors Orochi 4, except the magical relics serve as the foundation for the characters. Essentially, the game uses character models and animations from Dynasty Warriors 8 and Samurai Warriors 4. As a result, Samurai Warriors characters retain their hyper charge attack motions, while Dynasty Warriors characters have long attack strings that can be comboed into stronger moves. Some characters have been slightly reworked to improve their movesets for handling large mobs.

Each realm in the underworld consists of eight floors, each with an objective—usually defeating a set number of enemies. Once you complete the objective, you receive a reward for that floor and choose which path to take next. Initially, you get three choices, typically allowing you to recruit a new character, earn more Karma Embers, or collect Tears of Blood. There are also two surprise choices that can appear: Kingspots, where you can spend Tears of Blood to recruit characters or upgrade your formation, and Peach Trees, which provide a health boost and increase your maximum HP.

Occasionally, certain floors will be marked as danger zones. These areas spawn more enemies than usual and require you to defeat a large number of them. Floors can also include side missions, where, after meeting the base enemy count requirement, additional objectives appear. These can range from defeating a mini-boss to eliminating a set number of enemies within a time limit. Completing side missions grants special rewards such as extra health, new emblems, Karma Embers, Tears of Blood, or even unique weapons for a character.

One of the biggest surprises for me was how well-optimized the game turned out to be. I played entirely on the Steam Deck, and while the game defaults to a 30 FPS cap in Steam Deck mode, I removed the limit and consistently hit 60 FPS throughout my runs. This makes it a fantastic game to play on the go!

Warriors Abyss also makes a smart design choice with its progression system. Every character you unlock grants extra base stats, meaning each run increases your chances of defeating Gouma. The loop is simple but effective: you climb as far as you can, die, spend your Karma Embers to unlock new characters, and boost your base stats, then try again. If you manage to defeat Gouma, you unlock a new difficulty level, where stronger enemies provide even greater rewards.

The formation system adds another layer of strategy to each run by granting passive bonuses to your team. However, you rarely get the ideal formation unless you acquire the right relic after defeating a realm’s boss. Instead, you choose the formation that best suits your current needs from the Kingspot and hope to recruit characters that maximize its passive benefits.

The Bad

Warriors Abyss throws you to the wolves right after the tutorial. Unfortunately, the tutorial doesn’t do a great job of preparing you for the game—it expects you to learn the mechanics and systems on your own, improving through trial and error with each run. While some players may appreciate this approach, others might find it frustrating. Advanced mechanics, like the emblem system and how it connects to the characters you recruit, are only explained through text-based tutorials that don’t provide much practical understanding. Additionally, there are numerous passive abilities tied to different hero categories, but the game leaves you to figure them out by analyzing the heroes’ passives and effects as you go.

The final realm is absolute chaos, with countless things happening on-screen at once. You have to dodge the purple area-of-effect (AoE) attacks from high-ranking enemies while avoiding regular soldiers and environmental hazards triggered by monsters. There’s an overwhelming amount of purple indicators and projectiles that must either be dodged or countered, making defensive abilities like Cao Ren’s shield incredibly valuable. However, only Cao Ren and one other character provide this kind of shield, which significantly reduces the damage taken. With over 100 playable characters and only three to five choices when selecting a new recruit from a tree, the odds of getting a shield-bearing character aren’t great. I wish there were more characters with shields or that their importance was toned down in the harder difficulties.

For the most part, Warriors Abyss uses a camera angle that fits its Survivors-style aesthetic. However, it doesn’t always work well. Sometimes, you’ll need to track down a specific enemy that’s far off-screen, but the camera offers little flexibility, forcing you to rely on the objective marker to guide you. This becomes frustrating in levels with maze-like walls, where finding a clear path can be difficult—especially when enemies continuously spawn around you while you’re trying to reach a target 50 meters away.

The Verdict

Warriors Abyss is incredibly addictive. The combat, the gameplay loop, and the time it takes to complete a run—all of it keeps pulling me back for more. If you’re a Musou fan, this is a must-buy, given that the game is pretty cheap being priced at $25. And if you’re curious about trying a Musou game without committing to a $50 or more price tag, this is a great way to see if the combat system clicks with you. While it doesn’t offer a complete picture of everything the genre has to offer, it gives you enough to determine if the combat style suits your tastes.

The game also excels as a roguelike, blending these elements into the experience in a way that’s surprisingly fresh. I’m amazed it took this long for a Musou game to incorporate this concept. I’m already ready to dive back in for another 20 hours, aiming to unlock everything. Do yourself a favor and grab this game—it’s perfect for short gaming sessions that still offer plenty of fun.

The insane thing with this trailer though is the fact that Warriors Abyss is available to buy and play right now! Warriors Abyss is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: Warriors Abyss was provided to us by Koei Tecmo America for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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