I’m Obsessed with the Upcoming “Gachaless Genshin Impact”

One of the many benefits of marrying someone who is similar to me in likes is that we get to work in tandem here at GameGrin, and sometimes that even includes testing an upcoming title together. Whilst I’ve been slowly getting to a burnout point with live-service games, my wife really wanted to check out Duet Night Abyss when she found out it’s gachaless.

While that’s a bit misleading because there is an element of gacha in the game, it’s only tied to cosmetics: every character, weapon, and pet can be acquired through playing (or paying). This means no actual gameplay element will be locked behind lootboxes, only appearances.

Recently, I’ve turned a new leaf and begun abandoning most of the live service games I play, so I wasn’t overly interested in Duet Night Abyss. The Genshin Impact aesthetic and gameplay have slowly become synonymous with disappointing and predatory (ironically, not so much because of the game itself, but its copies). Still, I tried out the game with my wife, as she had asked for two accounts to try out co-op, and I’ll do anything to spend time with her.

For all who are tired of half-hearted games that feel like nothing more than another attempt from a corporation to get money, I come bearing hope. Duet Night Abyss is everything I didn’t think it would be, and possibly more.

After a few days of playing it with my wife, I can confidently say I’m delighted — in love, even. While the gameplay is a bit slow to open up (it took us a few days of playing to unlock co-op), I think it’s for the best. There is so much to do and experience that it would’ve been overwhelming had they tried to throw us into it all at once.

From the very beginning sequence, it's evident that the developer has taken inspiration from many greats in the industry, as the music and characters were so reminiscent of Nier: Automata. Despite how incredible the game is, I’ve not come across any others trying to capture the essence, and I think Duet Night Abyss does a great job at doing just that!

But what really got my excitement pumping was the way the playable characters are handled, as it is very similar to the way GrandChase does: you have to play and farm to get them. My wife and I love this, as it feels much more rewarding to feel the progress and get to play! This used to be the way titles worked before the age of DLC and microtransactions. Of course, you can also just buy them directly (though this is a bit expensive, obviously).

The way to do this is via Commissions, which really are just dungeons; these can be done solo or in co-op. While I don’t know how boring they’ll become after the 100th run, I had fun with them during my time with the game, and I’m looking forward to running them on my real account!

My only little niggle with it is that I never felt like I could unleash the true power of my characters because I never felt overwhelmed enough; this was especially true whenever I went out exploring. Thankfully, this is also a compliment to the game, as fighting is just that fun, especially when I found my favourite character.

It’s also unmistakable that games like MapleStory inspire the character customisation, as there are a myriad of cosmetics to unlock, and they’re everything from silly to cool. Each character can be adorned with them, allowing players to customise to their heart’s content. The ability to make characters unique from everyone else’s is exciting: I’m a sucker for any customisability, especially when it’s tied to progression.

In the version we got to play, we already had access to the banners that will be available at launch, so we got to see Psyche’s blue butterfly outfit, and we were smitten. That’s also how we found out that clothing and weapons can also be dyed various hues, deepening the element of customisability even further.

The more I played, the more I found to love about Duet Night Abyss. It’s more than just lovable characters and an interesting story: the effort and attention to gameplay are evident in every aspect. One of my favourite features is that as you complete side quests for the people in the area, you gain stat points depending on your answer.

This RPG element made me feel more weight behind the dialogue I chose because each one opens up the ability to do certain things, such as accept missions or buy items from a special shop in the town. I loved having to do a stat check because it made it feel similar to Dungeons & Dragons. This is still not the end of the customisation, either, as every character has access to every weapon, melee and ranged.

Since the gameplay itself isn’t locked behind gacha, Duet Night Abyss allows you to mix and match characters with weapons. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I found this out, especially as a big lover of the scythe, and it breathed life into battle exploration. My wife and I spent a while switching between characters and weapon combos to find which ones we enjoyed the most.

Throughout the land, there are also pets you can find and feed for a chance to tame them. They work similarly to the ones found in GrandChase, meaning that, although they’re adorable, they do more than just look good: they offer abilities, too! I was delighted by their various appearances, which included adorable bots and a demon pony (which I love calling a demoncorn).

As I write this article, it’s so evident to me why I’ve been left so smitten — it feels like the game accommodates a wide variety of likes, whether you enjoy completing challenges, finishing quests, or finishing a variety of collections. No matter what we spent our time doing, it felt like the proper attention and love were poured into each feature.

Of course, I’m still wary: there have been many games that seem promising and full of depth at the beginning. Palia is one of the live services that disappointed me, as the team became hyper-focused on the things they could monetise, completely forgetting to add actual gameplay... and I won’t even open the can of worms that Infinity Nikki is.

Duet Night Abyss is hands-down the most fun I’ve had playing a live-service game, as someone who has dabbled in everything from Genshin Impact and GrandChase to Infinity Nikki and Disney Dreamlight Valley, which I still play and love to this day. There is potential in its many features, but there are many ways to ruin a title.

There is a lot I didn’t touch on because there’s just that much that I loved about the game, but I have to stop writing at some point. Considering the game is free and the only thing you have to pay for is cosmetics, I more than recommend checking it out. Duet Night Abyss stands out with its uniqueness and own personality in a vast ocean of heartless Genshin Impact clones. 

Duet Night Abyss is available now on iOS, Android, and PC via the Epic Game Store and the game’s launcher, with Steam coming later on (you can wishlist and follow it). Want to learn even more about the game? Check out my wife's review!