Duet Night Abyss Review

In the wake of the gacha boom caused by Genshin Impact, we've seen a lot of games try to follow up on what HoYoverse accomplished with their titan. Clones, repetitions, and the normalisation of gacha have been the post-launch effects that have risen throughout the industry after the mobile-turned-PC title hit shelves.

It's been a troubling mix of great and awful games trying to incorporate what's seen as one of the most predatory approaches to microtransactions, often likened to legal underage gambling, and it's taken the industry by storm. Developer Pan Studios and Hero Games announced that their upcoming title would not follow the trend that’s decaying the industry.

Enter Duet Night Abyss, a smaller-scale title entering the live-service animesque genre, hoping to cash in on the surge of popularity, though their niche differentiates them from the others: it won't feature gacha systems… or at least, it won't feature them in the same way that the others have.

I'd want to make this very clear going into the review: Duet Night Abyss does — in fact — feature gacha. But unlike other titles, it’s purely cosmetic, and anything that affects the actual gameplay, characters, weapons, and Demon Wedges (which are additional stat buffs), is acquirable through blood, sweat, and tears on the gameplay side.

Let's unpack this incredibly complex experience as much as possible.

This mobile and PC title unfolds its narrative in a world known as Atlasia. At the start, players are prompted to pick their character from a selection of two genders — I chose the girl (whom the game suggested I name Vita). The tutorial quickly unravels, and our objective is made very clear: save the hero's childhood friend from the clutches of the empire.

Story has found itself intertwined deeply with this genre as a way to coax players into spending to acquire their favourite characters. Duet Night Abyss doesn't let go of these roots, and its focus on having a deep, entwining narrative is very prominent, though you'll have to get through quite a bit before you get to the meat of it all.

It's a slow start, as the story skips exposition to instead introduce you to everything at what is a very confusing beginning. Once it picks up, the tale spreads into two different stories telling the same anecdote about demons, with some mystery sprinkled in throughout — this is where the game gets its Duet part of the name.

It's surprisingly engrossing; I found myself deeply invested in the entire cast. How much you invest into the world is paid back in kind, with main quests, side quests, and more available to explore at your leisure, but by the end of the first narrative arc, I was enthralled.

Duet Night Abyss has hilarious moments that managed to get a chuckle out of me more often than not, but don't mistake humorous dialogue for a light-hearted adventure: it's a heartwrenching tale full of dark stories. Grim tones run through the very veins of Atlasia, as main and side stories alike are haunting, full of sombre and bleak tales sprawled throughout.

It's a surprising mix that Pan Studios managed tactfully without making too much of a sense of whiplash (not to say there is none) — the characters are lovable and hilarious. Duet Night Abyss doesn't forget to be a fun experience by incorporating goofy attacks and characters to root for, but it also never forsakes the rot that runs deeply in Atlasia.

Its immersive narrative is supported by a title built with mobile roots, but that “feel” isn’t there. Though this is part of its very DNA, with a pre-registration event for iOS and Android, these elements are entirely absent, and Duet Night Abyss could easily fool anyone into thinking it’s a bona fide PC launch.

While mobile has gotten a bad name for its drip-feeding gameplay elements in the form of energy or stamina, this game instead entirely forsakes these mechanics, opting to let the player make their decisions. There are hints to MMORPG-esque roots in the form of time-gated content you can only do so many times a week, but it's far less constricting than other games.

When you’re not holding back tears from the narrative, Duet Night Abyss is a hack-and-slash at its core, but its mixture of genres and well-renowned titles is more complex than any single word can encompass. Battles will have you facing a scourge stalking Atlasia known as Filthoids (which got a chuckle out of me), and these creatures come in packs to attack the civilians; as an ascended Charon, Vita is able to bring them down with relative ease.

The swarms of enemies aren't overwhelming, and at times, I do wish there were more so I could feel the true power that Pan Studios puts into players' hands. Each of the 19 characters comes equipped with one DMG, Buff, and Passive skill that makes its playstyle unique, and though I'm far removed from the hack-and-slash genre, I'll say Duet Night Abyss had me hooked.

The gameplay itself is split across various sections, as fighting is pretty much the meat of the game. The one you’ll be doing the most at first is fighting through the narrative, battling Filthoids and boss battles at the end of each main arc — these were exciting, as they feel kind of like MMORPG raid bosses with unique attacks and stages to keep in mind.

Post-game content, however, involves doing dungeons (named Commissions) that you need to battle through. These are simple, shorter combat encounters that allow the player to select the reward they get at the end — depending on the type, the dungeon drops ascension materials, experience, or character scrolls to unlock a specific one, which you select at the start of the commission.

Most of the content is solo, and none of it features mandatory multiplayer — instead, if you want to experience it by yourself, you’ll be prompted to select two other characters from your roster to join you. It’s fun to create a crew, and it offers more incentive to level up everyone — weapon included — to stand a chance against the hardest challenges.

It’s very sectioned and feels progress-focused as a whole: acquiring new characters requires having passed certain plot points and being able to fight bosses at a formidable level. It was always fun to get to a point where I could unlock a new ally, as it’s exciting to find new abilities to play with, and a possible new favourite.

The main selling point of the combat is the fact that it's scarily customisable. Though each character has a set role that they play in a group, you can mix any of them with any weapon, with well over 40 options to pick from.

This feeling of freedom was unprecedented — this gave me the opportunity to try out everyone without worrying that their basic kit wouldn't be to my liking. It opens the gates for experimentation, as each loadout can have a character (with preset skills), a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, and modifiers (usually stat increases) named Demon Wedges.

It feels like Pan Studios is actively begging its players to engage with Duet Night Abyss' most in-depth customisation at every turn of the corner. Dozens of weapons paired with 19 characters only scratches the surface, as cosmetic changes are also aplenty, including eight accessory categories to choose from.

The amount of player expression is mind-blowing, as you can change how the character looks (which reflects in the animation played when they cast their Buff). Some outfits and weapons also include dye options, giving you the opportunity to change the entire look radically. The colouring system lets you select from 27 hues, and each item ranges in the amount of customisation available, with some of the most complex pieces letting you change nine colours to your liking.

This is, however, where the "gachaless" mechanic comes with its caveat. No free-to-play title is fully liberated of microtransactions, and it'd be foolish to assume that Pan Studios wouldn't have a way to indulge for those who wish to whale.

Some elements of customisation are locked behind microtransactions and gacha. Some come in the form of direct payments (like the totally–not–Darth Vader lightsaber skin called "Tough Love") while others (like more intricate outfits and costumes) are hidden behind the gacha banner system. And the pricing is a little bit harder to swallow.

Credit where credit's due — Duet Night Abyss doesn't lock any gameplay elements behind payments (you can speed it up with purchases, but no playable content is locked behind these). There is less of an incentive to spend, and even free-to-play players are able to get a few gacha pulls on the seasonal banner by participating in events that’ll be available.

There are plenty of cosmetics that are acquireable through free means, and with a bit of saving (depending on whether the Pristine Hourglasses are made time-gated), free players should be able to get pity eventually.

The prices are a bit jaw-dropping, though, as a guaranteed pity on the seasonal banner will put you back $199.98 at face value. Even the Monthly Order, priced at $4.99, offers a time-limited skin and 300 Phoxene Plumules (of which you need 14,400 for guaranteed pity), with the daily reward offering the second-rate Premium currency that can only be used in the Standard banner.

While the price is, frankly, egregious, it's not a deterrent for me, as Duet Night Abyss offers so much content that isn't gated. Each character can be rated up (think classic gacha star system) six times, they can be ascended to raise their level, and each weapon can be upgraded.

There are a few flaws I’d like to mention, though they’re ones likely to be fixed soon after the official launch. During my playtime, there were some sections that definitely felt like a work-in-progress, like a few missing English translations in the text or outright missing Japanese voiceover. Nothing major was ever missing the proper content, but it was jarring to not be able to follow through a sidequest to the end because I couldn’t understand the final sentences.

Finally, donning an RTX 4080 with a respectable CPU and laughable RAM (16GB after one of my sticks broke), Duet Night Abyss didn’t run perfectly. Some places in the world would unreliably plummet framerate, but it seldom occurred during important moments, and I’m inclined to blame my limited memory for it.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of Duet Night Abyss — it’s a title that’s all too hard to condense into a single review: there are too many small mechanics I couldn’t even begin touching on. But if you take one thing from this piece, take this: I went into Duet Night Abyss a sceptic — especially after seeing the price — but I'll be the first to admit I came out the other side a downright fan.

I'm intrigued to see what else Pan Studios does moving forward, and the true fate of this live-service game depends on the amount of post-launch content offered to the players (just see Infinity Nikki), but I'm hopeful. At the very least, what's on offer for free on launch is enough to keep me going for a few months, maxing out characters, acquiring all the weapons, and getting through the narrative.

Though it's hard to call it "free" when therapy can feel mandatory after the story.