End of Abyss review: This maintenance request has become unreasonable

The big picture

There should be a limit to what an employer can mean by “investigate a disturbance.” A strange noise in the ventilation system? Fine. A sprawling underground facility populated by things that have taken several creative liberties with anatomy? That sounds like a problem for a different department, preferably one located somewhere else. End of Abyss sends combat technician Cel into exactly that sort of workplace, where the machinery is broken and the job description is rapidly expanding.

Section 9 Interactive’s single-player action adventure, published by Epic Games Publishing, launched in full on October 1, 2026, for Windows PC through the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It approaches horror from above, combining top-down combat with a branching, tool-driven structure. The premise has an immediately useful tension: Cel is equipped to investigate and fight, but the facility gives every indication that it would prefer she stop doing both.

A building with several unresolved issues

The facility is the centerpiece. Its abandoned areas, broken machines, and branching passages set up a form of horror based on investigating something that has been allowed to decay for far too long. The atmosphere draws on weathered media from the 1980s and 1990s, while the shapes and scale retain a stylized edge. That combination gives the setting a stronger identity than a generic collection of metal corridors rented by the monster industry.

There’s an appealing contradiction in a complex that is both a place to fear and a place to understand. Exploration games encourage you to develop familiarity: remember a junction, recognize an obstacle, find a connection. Horror makes that familiarity feel slightly presumptuous. You may know where a corridor leads, but knowing an address has never guaranteed that you’ll enjoy the people who live there.

Returning with new tools can therefore serve two purposes. It offers the usual satisfaction of turning an old restriction into a new route, while keeping you involved with the same unsettling location. The building becomes more legible without necessarily becoming welcoming. It’s the architectural equivalent of learning a difficult colleague’s name and discovering that this has not improved the colleague.

Combat with a reason to keep moving

Cel upgrades her gear as she confronts the creatures in the complex. Combat and exploration therefore support each other: better equipment helps you survive, and surviving creates the opportunity to investigate farther. It’s a straightforward relationship, but an effective one for this kind of adventure. The next useful upgrade feels relevant when the local wildlife is so committed to providing a demonstration of your current limitations.

Section 9 describes the project’s evolution from a more action-focused top-down shooter toward a slower, more atmospheric design. That direction is important to the game’s identity. Players looking primarily for an uninterrupted flood of enemies may be less interested in the navigation and discovery surrounding the fights. The appeal is in the alternation, with periods of investigation giving combat some context beyond another room requiring pest control.

Enemy and boss designs were developed around gameplay functions, according to the studio. That’s a sensible priority for body horror: a grotesque silhouette is more interesting when it also suggests a different problem to solve. A monster’s alarming appearance can earn your attention, but its behavior needs to justify why you can’t simply apply the same answer to every alarming appearance in the building.

Bring curiosity, not a party

This is a solo game. Cel may have a crew in the story’s setup, but that doesn’t turn the adventure into cooperative multiplayer. Anyone searching for a shared evening of shouting warnings should account for that distinction. A friend can still offer advice from the sofa, although “don’t go in there” is unlikely to contribute much to a game specifically about going in there.

The focused format will suit players who enjoy spatial discovery alongside action. It offers a clear premise without requiring a competitive ladder or an ongoing social commitment. The main relationship is between you, your equipment, and an underground complex whose customer-service standards have collapsed along with everything else.

The final word

End of Abyss has a strong design proposition: make the frightening place worth exploring, then make exploration useful enough to draw you back into danger. Its technical protagonist and tool-gated paths give that cycle a coherent shape. If you like horror with machinery to investigate and routes to untangle, Cel’s assignment deserves a closer look. Just don’t confuse a compelling adventure with a reasonable working environment. Somebody owes this woman an extraordinary amount of overtime.