I think one of the first things people think after they go through Made in the abyss-that is, once they recover from the awe-inspiring world building and soul-crushing devastation of his story – is probably, “Gosh, this whole premise would probably be a killer video game.” Now that the incredible anime adaptation has allowed it Made in the abyss to earn himself the devoted following, Chime Corporation and publisher Spike Chunsoft, inc. have decided it is time to put that theory to the test. Is doing Made in the abyss make for an absolutely killer video game? The answer, it turns out, will be based on how literally you want to take the word “murderer.”
You will absolutely die while playing Made in the abyss: Binary star falling into darkness, and you will die in countless, horrific ways. These deaths are almost always brutal, but they are only sometimes honest, and whether you did or not pleasureWatching your adorable little Cave Raider child be brutally torn to pieces by the fauna of the Abyss is very dependent on how much love you have for the franchise as a whole, and whether your affection for Made in the abyssThe world and characters can strengthen your tolerance for whine. I will say that as a big fan of the series, I ended up finding a lot to love in binary staralthough, like the Cave Raiders of Orth themselves, I sometimes had to dig For real deep to discover the treasures hidden beneath a truly frustrating (and baffling) game design.
Straight off the bat, one of Chime Corporation‘s most inscrutable decisions almost made me write binary star off for good. The game has two gameplay modes, which are labeled as ‘Hello Abyss’ and ‘Deep in Abyss’. “Hello Abyss” is the story mode featuring Riko and Reg from the main anime/manga plot, and you cannot unlock “Deep in Abyss”, the mode that allows you to loot caves as an original created character, until you first hit “Hello Abyss”. ” defeated.
The problem is, “Hello Abyss” is kind of awful. As a summary of the anime, it’s barely useful even to someone who’s already familiar with the source material; it only takes up half the first season and ends abruptly just after Reg and Riko Ozen encounter the Immovable in the third tier of the Abyss, and it relies on cheesy cutscenes and stilted dialogue sequences that sap all the drama and suspense of the original story. As a game, it doesn’t even include most of the mechanics that make exploring the Abyss interesting or fun; there’s no meaningful resource management or interaction with the Cave Raider economy in Orth, no use of leveling or improving any kind of skill tree, and your exploration of the Abyss’ layers is functionally linear. If this very short (3-5 hours, tops) and disappointing campaign was all that binary star had to offer I would consider binary star be a total failure, period.
Not until you finally get through this glorified tutorial and the “Deep in Abyss” mode kicks in, binary star emerges as a surprisingly deep and often very immersive survival RPG. This mode is basically the “real” game, where you can take full advantage of the game’s crafting and leveling systems as you carefully sift through the different layers of the Abyss and work your way up the Whistle ranks to unlock the deeper and stranger mysteries to unlock those waiting downstairs. The story for this mode is also much more successful (although it’s still told with the same cheap-looking cutscenes and dialogue vignettes). Here we can explore a scenario created by Akihito Tsukushic himself, playing as a silent protagonist of our design who ends up in the same Belchero orphanage that Riko and Reg once called home. We’ll be introduced to old favorites and brand new characters as we learn a ton of cool knowledge about Orth, the world of the surface, Cave Raiding culture, and other details that made the original Made in the abyss story never had time to explore. It never reaches the cathartic heights of the main story, but at least it has something new to offer fans who have already worked their way through the manga and anime.
The actual exploration of the Abyss is just so much more engaging when binary star lets you play it as the meticulous survival and exploration sim it’s meant to be, rather than a quick recap of half a season of anime. Dealing with the effects of the Curse and trying to control the weight of all your supplies and relics is occasionally more annoying than coercive, but I found myself going back again and again for another dive, but still. That said, the experience is far of a perfect experience, and many will probably struggle to get sucked into the really immersive course of cave raiding because of how bare and unpolished the game’s presentation is.
Broadly speaking, the core gameplay isn’t much different from the kind of platforming and collecting you might do in Breath of the Wild or Genshin impact, but it just can’t compete with its peers in the more specific and technical details. The game’s graphics look straight out of the Play station 3 Era, for instance, and it should break the grand and seemingly endless vistas of the Abyss into discrete and often disappointingly bland chunks that vary wildly in size and scope. Character animations will fail sporadically when faced with unexpected geometry; random objects will jump in and out of the environment at crazy angles. I played the PS4 version of the game mainly through PS5’s backwards compatibility, so at least I’ve been able to experience all this junk at a smooth 60 frames per second, but I can’t say how well it performs on the Switch. I should also note that while the game’s music is excellent (to no one’s surprise), the chintzy and repetitive sound effects are not. Get used to your character “Hup!” to hear. their way up and down hundreds of cliffs, for many hours at a time.
All this means that Made in the abyss: Binary star falling into darkness is a frustrating package overall, as it takes a slam-dunk concept and makes it a game that is only…okay. Long time MiA fans will certainly have an easier time looking past the worst flaws and finding the fun to be had with the “Deep in Abyss” mode, but it will be a hard sell for casual players or newcomers interested in discover what the series is all about. I don’t regret my time playing it, and I’ll probably return to its paradoxically sociable and annoying cycle of heists and item management for a while, but anyone curious enough to give the game a try should keep their expectations high in check.
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