End of Abyss, from three ex-Little Nightmares leads, launches October 1

End of Abyss lands on October 1 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Epic Games Store. It is the first game from Section 9 Interactive, a Malmo studio founded by three people who used to run programming, art and game direction at Tarsier Studios - the team behind Little Nightmares and Reanimal.

What it plays like

Despite the pedigree, this is not a puzzle-platformer. End of Abyss is an atmospheric top-down twin-stick shooter built on Metroidvania bones. You play Cel, a young combat technician sent into a sprawling underground facility to find out what has gone wrong down there, and what has gone wrong is mostly teeth.

Combat is twin-stick with dodge rolls and deliberately limited healing, and the arsenal grows as you go - an energy pistol you can tap for quick shots or hold to charge, a shotgun, flares and grenades. The structure is the familiar locked-doors-and-shortcuts loop, with a scanner that fills in your map as you sweep rooms, and a crafting economy that turns materials scavenged from enemies and the environment into ammo, gear and permanent upgrades at stations.

Alien and The Thing, from above

The studio is open about where the mood comes from: Alien and The Thing, filtered through industrial corridors and a top-down camera that keeps the monsters at a slight remove until it doesn't. Epic Games Publishing is funding and publishing it, which is how a three-person-led debut gets a simultaneous launch on two consoles and PC.

Neither Xbox nor the studio has announced a Game Pass or PS Plus placement.