End of Abyss scored 8, 90 and 6 across Shacknews, GamingTrend, GameSpot and IGN. What they all agree on, where they split, and who should skip it.
End of Abyss Review Roundup: Is It Worth $29.99?
Yes, if you are buying it for exploration, atmosphere and the scanner. No, if you are buying it for combat feel — the four launch reviews split cleanly along that line, scoring anywhere from 6 to 90 for the same game. At $29.99 with a free demo on Epic, the safe move is to play two hours of the trial first, because what the critics disagree about is not quality but which half of the game you notice first.
The scoreboard: four reviews, two camps
| Outlet | Score | Verdict | Build reviewed | Deciding line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GamingTrend | 90/100 | Excellent | Early PS5 copy from the publisher | "an intricately crafted facility to explore" |
| Shacknews | 8/10 | — | Epic Games Store code from the publisher | "great exploration elements and serviceable combat" |
| GameSpot | 6/10 | Fair | Platform unstated, 13-hour playthrough | "an inconsistent patchwork instead of an inspired amalgamation" |
| IGN | 6/10 | Okay | PC | "all of these pieces don't coalesce into something greater" |
All four landed on September 30, 2026 — a day before the October 1 launch — so treat the bug complaints as a snapshot of launch-day code. GameSpot's headline verdict, "End Of Abyss Commits A Metroidvania Cardinal Sin," is about the map, and that complaint has a partial fix story attached.
Metacritic told the same story: PS5 at 77 across 13 outlets, PC at 66 across only 5, as of October 3, 2026 — both still moving. A mid-70s debut average from a three-person studio is good, not great, and the 84-point spread between GamingTrend and the two 6s is why a roundup beats a single verdict.
What all four agree on
The facility is the best thing in the game. All four reviewers describe the same clay-doll art direction, the same isometric camera, the same midnight-blue palette, and the same reaction to it. IGN called atmosphere "the most captivating thing End of Abyss has to offer." GameSpot said "the world is gorgeous." Shacknews listed "nails the creepy atmosphere" as a pro. GamingTrend called the visuals gorgeous and grotesque in one sentence.
Audio is the sleeper upgrade. Shacknews put "excellent sound design" in its pros — drips echoing down sewer pipes, the crack of a husk rising. IGN went further: "some of the best I've heard recently," with reverberating clangs and wet enemy squelches giving a tight corridor a sense of scale.
Backtracking is the loop, and it works. Shacknews listed great exploration as its top pro. GameSpot called gated exploration "my favorite part of the game," with upgrades like explosive charges and the grappling hook opening avenues that pay off later. GamingTrend found "the overall world design superb" despite getting lost.
The scanner is the best mechanic. Shacknews scanned everything, including enemies mid-chase. GamingTrend called continuous scanning the key to progress, because scanned objects get labeled on your map. The scanner guide covers what it opens.
The map is well designed and badly implemented. This is the one flaw all four name. GamingTrend praises a "detailed and mostly intuitive map system" while also calling navigation disorienting. GameSpot calls unreliable maps a cardinal sin for the genre. IGN describes checking the map every few seconds rather than soaking in the atmosphere. That gap between design intent and shipped behavior is why one reviewer says superb and another says slog.
Where they split: combat versus navigation
GameSpot's complaint is genre-blend, not moment-to-moment feel. Its verdict lists "horror elements evaporate due to the soulslike enemy encounters" and "several bosses lack differentiation." The mechanism is specific: restoration pods work like Dark Souls bonfires and reset enemies, so the jump scare you already survived comes back with the tension drained. "There are only so many times the monster can jump out of the proverbial closet before someone sleeps through it unphased." Its conclusion — "I stopped seeing End of Abyss as a true survival-horror experience and started seeing it more as a darker, creepier Metroid" — is the sharpest framing in the roundup, and it explains its power-balance verdict: hard early, "almost too easy" late.
IGN reaches a similar verdict by a different route. Its praise for combat is real — "moment-to-moment combat mostly strong," grenades for crowds, grouping mobs into a red barrel explosion — but bosses "feel rote by comparison," with circular arenas playing out the same way: roll away, pop shots, repeat. Its harsher line is about resources: Fragments are so abundant that "for every new weapon or piece of equipment I found, there were five rooms full of just Fragments," turning exploration into errand-running. IGN also hits the story as "mystery for mystery's sake," with the plot only gaining momentum in the back third of its roughly 10-hour campaign.
Shacknews splits the difference and lands at 8. Its single con is "combat loop doesn't always work," because standard enemies "can feel more like busy work than an actual obstacle when rooms are packed with them." Its overall read is a "tight and well-paced adventure" that "doesn't overstay its welcome."
GamingTrend's 90 is the outlier, and it is not careless — it praises "unique boss encounters." Its two cons are navigation, not fighting: disorienting layout, and crucial objects easy to miss in the dark. Read those against IGN's identical complaint and the honest summary is that the disagreement is about which word you attach to "dark and confusing." GamingTrend calls it atmosphere; IGN and GameSpot call it friction.
The launch-build caveat is not optional
Three of the four reviews describe code that no longer represents the shipped game. GameSpot notes a patch arrived just before its final boss and "scrubbed out some other issues I faced to the point that they're not even relevant to this review anymore," though "the map problem remains for now." IGN's most damaging detail is also a launch-code one: "random invisible walls that would stop me dead in my tracks on a ladder," each costing 10 to 15 minutes of checkpoint restarts.
That is the strongest argument for the free trial instead of a review. If invisible walls are your tolerance, you find out in an hour. If you hit them, the invisible wall and map bug guide has the symptom-to-fix table.
Official source: End of Abyss on Epic Games Store — $29.99 one-time purchase, free demo available, no Steam edition.
All four reviews were published on September 30, 2026, before the October 1 launch, and GameSpot confirms a patch landed mid-playthrough. Section 9 has not published accessible patch notes, so nobody can say exactly which complaints survived. Check the map and wall behavior on your own build before treating a 6 as final.
Who should buy at $29.99
Buy it if you play Metroidvanias for the pull of an unmapped space and will scan every crate and take the long way back because the map layer is interesting. That player gets what GamingTrend's 90 describes: an intricately layered facility with secrets near every corner.
Buy it if you want a short, self-contained horror trip with unusual art direction and the best audio in the genre. At roughly 10 to 13 hours it is not a big commitment — the how long to beat breakdown separates story completion from full Logbook clears.
Wait on it if you want combat that stays novel to the credits. Two independent reviewers called the boss roster repetitive, one called the mid-game resource economy meaningless, and both GameSpot and IGN said exploration stops paying off. There is no New Game+ and no documented difficulty selector as of the 1.0 release, so a replay is route knowledge only — the difficulty and death penalty page covers what a death actually costs.
Wait on it if you are a completionist on a budget. The trophies guide ranks entries by real unlock rates, and the Logbook guide breaks the four collectible categories down.
Buying on PC
The PC build is Epic Games Store only — there is no Steam version to wait for, and this roundup leans on console codes (GamingTrend played an early PS5 copy, Shacknews and IGN played PC). The PC on Epic guide covers install, spec and platform questions, and the free Epic demo plus an Xbox free trial sample the first stretch before you commit $29.99. For the format itself, read what End of Abyss actually is.
FAQ
What did End of Abyss score? Shacknews gave it 8/10, GamingTrend 90/100, GameSpot 6/10 and IGN 6/10. Metacritic showed PS5 at 77 and PC at 66 as of October 3, 2026.
Is End of Abyss worth $29.99? If your priority is exploration, atmosphere and audio, yes. If it's combat variety and a difficulty curve, the two 6s are the honest signal, and the free demo is worth two hours first.
Is End of Abyss a good Metroidvania? It uses the genre's gated backtracking well, but two reviewers argue the map is unreliable at launch and one says exploration stops rewarding you late. Think Metroidvania with an unfinished navigation layer.
Did the launch bugs get fixed? Partially. GameSpot confirms a patch landed during its playthrough and fixed some issues, but says the map bug remained. IGN's invisible wall reports are launch-code reports too. Verify on your own build.
Which platform did the reviewers play? GamingTrend used an early PS5 copy, Shacknews an Epic Games Store code, IGN reviewed on PC. GameSpot's review does not state a platform.
More End of Abyss Guides
End of Abyss spawns random invisible walls and a map that marks open doors as locked. What each bug looks like and how to get past it.
Every End of Abyss area and floor in one table: Outer Sector, Habitation, Factory East and West, Waterworks, Containment Sector, Lower Levels.
End of Abyss PC is Epic Games Store only. How to install and run it, which settings actually exist, and the answer on co-op and Steam.
The End of Abyss scanner is on the d-pad and it gates progression: it reveals Energy Nodes that open locked doors, hidden paths, and the map itself.
The exact End of Abyss progression chain: three power cores, three SCU overrides, the Central Elevator to Lower Levels, and every keycard on the way.
End of Abyss never explains itself. Who Cel is, why she was sent underground, and what the parasite, the crew and the notes actually tell you.
Missing a lever you already walked past? End of Abyss buries progression in dark multi-floor rooms. A symptom-to-fix table for the common softlocks.
How End of Abyss Suit Power works, where Energy Cells raise it, and which Suit Mod you need to survive radiation. The gate is your suit, not your damage.