Luna Abyss review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

Do you ever look at upcoming titles and see if there’s something that went under your radar, but something that seems to perfectly nail a really niche spot in your interests? That’s what it felt when I saw Luna Abyss for the first time. Luna Abyss is a first person shooter that’s also a bullet hell while also being a pretty cool story-driven experience. It’s like a unique blend of something like Wolfenstein and DOOM, some minor feels of things like Bloodborne and Lies of P (this makes sense when you get to the city), and some of Bungie’s peaks. All of that combined with the stress of Returnal’s bullet hell combat makes for one of the most interesting games I’ve played so far in 2026.

I wanna start by going over the gameplay a bit more. You’re doing a lot of platforming and dodging to navigate the maps and enemy attacks, but you’re also doing some weapon swapping like ID Software’s shooters. Getting the hang of the fast pacing with the bouncing between weapon types takes a minute to fully grasp, but when it starts to click it flows extremely well. It’s not as challenging as you might think from that description so you don’t have to worry about being super overwhelmed. Using your quick swap between weapons, your dodge and jump, and your surprisingly unique Metroid Prime style of lock on, you’ll have a blast blowing away enemy encounters.

Each time you acquire a new ability or weapon, you’re sure to be seeing it required for new enemy types. For instance, your first acquired weapon is an energy shotgun. Yes, it’s still very much a shotgun, but it serves another purpose: it can destroy shields. You’ll need this to make certain enemies vulnerable to damage as well as blast through certain doors. Sounds a little like missiles in Metroid, right? Luna Abyss is somewhat of a Metroid Prime style game too, so if you’re a fan of those games, you’ll definitely like this game’s lock-on and dash combat.

The area and level design blends with the art direction to make something really cool. It’s both super science fiction but also there’s some gothic influence. When you’re indoors, it’s this dark and bleak interior with lighting coming from the occasional source and your weapons, whereas outdoors is bright and almost like something from specific areas in Destiny or Halo. The world feels downtrodden and depressing, but with the cast of characters within you still get some of that cheerful banter to spice up the doom and gloom.

The story follows a character named Fawkes sentenced to prison on the moon of Luna. She serves her time by undergoing expeditions in the Abyss, which is a fairly unexplored megacomplex beneath it all. You’ll battle through hordes of cosmic entities trying to uncover the secrets of this mimic moon and figure out what’s really happening. There’s a boatload of logs around the area to give you a bigger scope of what’s happened before you arrive as well as an insight to the people that lived there. It’s a seriously interesting story and premise I don’t want to talk much about because it’s much more worth it for you to play the game and experience it yourself.

I can’t say I’m super familiar with Kwalee’s other work, but if it’s anything like Luna Abyss, it’s probably a great time. Luna Abyss hits so many specific combinations of games that blend well together here that I sincerely hope they do more with Luna Abyss’ world, whether it’s a new moon or something else. From the super interesting visual contrasts to the tight gameplay and the phenomenal musical score, it’s a genuinely great title. According to the Steam hardware section, it’s not a superbly demanding title either, so you can enjoy it likely no matter what hardware you’re rocking. While it can be a little tough to navigate sometimes, or at least just generally see the landscapes thanks to the lighting, the rest of the game is so well put together. The voice acting is generally really solid across the board and often had me wondering if I’ve heard them before. I’m unfamiliar with the cast, so I can’t speak on other work, but the work done here in Luna Abyss is really good.

If you’re seeking some adrenaline pumping shooter gameplay with tight platforming and an engaging story, look no further. Kwalee has shown that they understand the genres they’re blending on a fundamental level that some other games seem to miss the mark on. Outside of some minor complaints, I really don’t think you should skip out on Luna Abyss, especially if anything I’ve said nails other games you’ve enjoyed. Excellent job from the devs here and I can only look forward to any future games from them with excitement and eagerness.

Note: Kwalee provided us with a Luna Abyss code for review purposes.