Luna Abyss Review: A Memorable FPS Bullet Hell Dance

by

I saw the trailer for Luna Abyss and immediately, the game’s look grabbed me. We’ve seen a lot of first-person shooters with dark settings, but this one felt different. The way Bonsai Collective mixed sci-fi, unsettling character designs, and a really creepy, cosmic horror vibe just hooked me right away.

The first trailer for this game came out four years ago, back in 2022, and I’ve been following its development ever since. Despite the long wait, my excitement never faded. Now that it’s finally released, I’d say it was mostly worth it, although I still wonder what caused the delay.

Okay, so Luna Abyss is a pretty short game – it only took me about six and a half hours to finish, which is a little weird considering how long it was in development. But honestly, I really enjoyed it! It’s a solid first-person shooter that reminds me of the classics. It doesn’t quite reach the level of the really great FPS games, and it doesn’t really reinvent the wheel, but I’m definitely glad I gave it a shot. It’s a fun experience overall.

Welcome to Prison

In Luna Abyss, you play as Fawkes, a woman serving a 10,000-year prison sentence. To shorten her time, you must explore the Abyss – a massive, abandoned structure hidden beneath the surface of the moon. Your goal is to recover lost technology, but you’ll quickly discover that things aren’t what they appear to be.

As you play and finish tasks for Aylin, your jail time will decrease. You can see your remaining sentence on the left side of the screen, and it will visibly shorten as you make progress in the game.

Initially, I liked the idea of reducing a prison sentence by completing tasks – it seemed like a good way to make progress feel rewarding. However, it doesn’t really have much impact on the game. It would have been great if your choices could have actually changed the length of the sentence and influenced the story’s ending, but unfortunately, it’s just a minor detail that doesn’t matter in the long run.

I was really drawn into the story of Luna Abyss. It’s much more than your average first-person shooter, with a compelling plot full of unexpected twists and reveals. The voice acting is surprisingly good, and the characters are beautifully designed, making it enjoyable to interact with them, even when their stories are sad.

Throughout the game, you’ll encounter characters with distinct personalities and histories. They help reveal more about the game’s world and its lore. While their individual side quests are fairly simple – usually just involving talking to them in different places – I still enjoy completing them because the characters are so engaging.

I was really captivated by the story of Luna Abyss. It has a compelling plot with unexpected twists and reveals, which is a refreshing change from most first-person shooters.

I really enjoyed the story by the end. It’s a compelling tale of betrayal, regret, and uncovering the mysteries of a forgotten colony. If you like immersive stories in games, I highly recommend reading the data logs you find – they offer a lot of answers and help you fully understand what’s going on.

An Explosive Spectacle of Colors

Luna Abyss combines the intense dodging of games like Returnal and Saros with the fast-action shooting of DOOM, though it’s a bit more measured in its pace. Players will need to quickly switch weapons, dodge attacks, and heal themselves during combat to succeed.

As a player, I really loved the combat in Luna Abyss! It felt super smooth and each gun just felt right. There are four weapons – an assault rifle, a shotgun, a rifle, and a rocket launcher – and what’s cool is that each one has a unique core upgrade you can find hidden around the levels to make it even more powerful.

Each weapon has its own strengths and is best used for different situations. For instance, the shotgun is great for breaking blue barriers, the sniper rifle excels against purple ones, and the rocket launcher is ideal for hitting multiple targets or locks simultaneously.

The fast-paced combat requires you to constantly switch weapons. Because there are usually several enemies at once, you’ll need to quickly adapt. For instance, you might use a sniper rifle on an enemy with a purple shield, then immediately switch to a shotgun for a blue-shielded foe, and finish off incoming explosive enemies with a rocket launcher.

Constantly switching weapons during fights feels really good and makes combat more strategic. I’m glad the game encourages this, instead of letting you stick with just one favorite weapon for the entire game. It keeps the battles fresh and prevents them from becoming repetitive.

Battles are designed to be challenging but fair, gradually increasing in difficulty as you progress. Successfully switching between weapons is key to overcoming these challenges, and becomes more important later in the game. This ensures a smooth and consistent difficulty curve in Luna Abyss, without any sudden, frustrating jumps in challenge.

The boss fights are definitely a highlight of Luna Abyss. Each boss presents a distinct challenge, with stunning visuals of colorful bullets flying across the screen. They feel similar to the boss battles in Housemarque games – it’s all about learning the enemy’s patterns and skillfully dodging through the chaos.

The need to constantly switch between weapons feels great and adds a nice layer to combat.

While Luna Abyss has bosses, none of them are as challenging as those in Returnal. Only the final two bosses gave me some trouble. Most of them were actually quite easy! I played on the normal difficulty setting, but the game is good about letting you adjust the difficulty if you want a more challenging experience.

Jump, Grapple, Dash

Outside of battles, players will mostly be navigating platforming challenges. Just like the fights, these challenges gradually become more difficult as you advance through the game.

The game focuses on navigating levels by jumping, dashing, swinging with a grapple, and even possessing objects to teleport. You don’t start with all these moves, though. The game gradually unlocks them as you play, making progression feel rewarding.

Subscribe for newsletter coverage of Luna Abyss and more

Dive deeper into Luna Abyss and similar indie shooters by subscribing to our newsletter. Get focused breakdowns of combat mechanics, boss encounters, platforming design, and narrative secrets, plus curated indie FPS recommendations and analysis.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Luna Abyss does a great job of introducing gameplay elements gradually. Instead of overwhelming players with everything at once, the game keeps things interesting by adding new platforming mechanics as you progress. The first level focuses solely on simple jumping, but by the end, you’ll be skillfully combining jumps, grappling, dashes, and teleports to overcome challenges.

I really liked the platforming parts of the game, but I wish they were more difficult. They could get tricky, but I rarely failed or died. It would have been great if the sections were longer, needed more precise timing and button presses, and even included enemies to fight while jumping around.

I especially liked how the game used platforming skills to encourage revisiting areas. Often, I’d find a grapple hook or platform I couldn’t reach right away, because I hadn’t unlocked the necessary ability yet. This made me remember those spots and plan to return later, knowing there were hidden secrets to discover.

Once I unlocked the necessary movement skills, revisiting earlier areas often revealed valuable rewards. These included weapon upgrades, story-expanding data logs, or increased health. Discovering these hidden secrets felt really satisfying, and I think players who like to find everything will especially enjoy them.

The game also incorporates platforming elements into boss battles. Some bosses require you to use the grapple hook to swing across the arena and avoid their attacks. For instance, one boss fires unjumpable red beams, so you have to use the grapple hook to reach higher ground. This adds a strategic element to these fights, moving beyond simply shooting at the boss.

Closing Comments

Luna Abyss is a fun first-person shooter, particularly strong in its intense ‘bullet hell‘ moments. While it doesn’t quite reach the level of the very best games in the genre, the combat is smooth and engaging. Switching weapons to take down different enemies keeps things interesting and prevents the gameplay from becoming repetitive. The boss fights are visually impressive, filling the screen with a dazzling display of bullets, and feel unique. The game also features surprisingly well-done platforming – it’s enjoyable to jump, grapple, and dash around, even if it isn’t overly challenging. Beyond the action, Luna Abyss boasts a compelling and dark story with unexpected twists, excellent voice acting, and plenty of hidden lore for those who enjoy digging deeper. Overall, it’s a great choice for players looking for a focused and relatively short first-person shooter experience.

Read More

2026-05-20 19:11