The Lovecraft universe and turn-based strategy come together in Stirring Abyss. We analyze this combination to discover the hidden charm that it carries.
According to a study, only 5% of the ocean has been explored while only 20% have been mapped. Don’t you get curious to know what lies beyond the seabed after knowing these figures? Stirring Abyss fantasizes about it in a game that aims to unify the Lovecraft universe with turn-based strategy. Dive with us in the USS Salem and join us to discover the mysteries of the deep sea.
Lovecraft and strategy united
When we refer to something being inspired by Lovecraft, it is because it deals with everything that the human being does not know, either in space or, as in this case, the seabed. Stirring Abyss delves into an underwater abyss in the North Atlantic during the Cold War.
As one of the crew of the USS Salem, our objective will be to meet with our companions, collect material and fix the submarine to escape the horrendous creatures that inhabit these lost lands.
As we played we had the lingering feeling of reading a choosing your path book. In fact, you must decide what to do with some artifacts that you find in your journeys, obtaining different results depending on which option we had chosen. However, sometimes it will be the dice that will decide whether the outcome of your decision favors or hurts you.
The difficulties of the unknown
Each character has two action points to spend on attacking, moving, using objects or skills, so meditating on our next move is essential to ensure our survival in a demanding game in itself. Do not be afraid to put the game in easy mode (recommended by the developers), the normal difficulty has been an experience as rewarding as it has suffered.
Proper rationing of the material and the planning of a prior strategy is essential for our survival. Stirring Abyss is a game that requires a lot of patience because its entrance door is quite high due to the amount of variables and numbers that you have to face. He has no compassion for the player, especially if he is inexperienced in these types of genres. Luckily, SlitherineGames has made a discord available to help anyone who wants to enter the deep sea.
However, Stirring Abyss is difficult enough and necessary to warn you that it is not going to be a ride. And if something does very well, it is that you have the persistent feeling that every time you make a decision, later on you will regret it. We not only talk about situations in combat, but also about the manufacture or the use that we make of the facilities of the USS Salem.
Preparing the expedition
In our base of operations is where fundamental issues are decided such as the arrangement of rooms to access other functions, leveling up or unlocking passive skills through the use of clues, an element that we will achieve as we defeat enemies and discover objects lost from the USSR submarine.
In addition, on the USS Salem we can start the objectives and decide which crew will go. The secondary missions are very important, but they are very functional and repetitive. Most only serve to obtain useful materials and therein lies their importance, but they do not contribute or deepen anything in the story except for one that will unlock one of the two endings.
As well as the missions, the enemies are constantly repeated and there is hardly any variation, an element that we have greatly missed considering the universe in which it is based. However, the final enemies are another world. They are very different from each other and have a terrifying design worthy of the Cthulu Mythos.
And this is where the quality of Stirring Abyss shines through. The battles against them are very tactical and patience is necessary to defeat them, since if you focus on them you could end up surrounded by their minions or falling into their trap. They are so different from each other that the strategy and items you must use is key to ensuring your victory without losing any of your crew members.
Of course, you should not only worry about your life, since maintaining sanity is also a priority so as not to lose control of that character. Running out of oxygen, staying in combat for a long time or some enemy attacks will make our characters go crazy, losing their control and attacking the first thing they see, friends included.
To avoid this, the game always offers you alternatives, although they are never quite nice to the player. For example, although it is true that they offer you the possibility of making medicine kits, these are only effective to heal part of the damage received in the last two turns. That small print that you should always read in Stirring Abyss so as not to get any last minute surprises is crucial.
Believe us when we say that it is very important that we use all the objects that the game offers us and not focus on just one. In the same way we must also apply this to mutations. These will modify our body to gain unique abilities or statistics, so that each character will feel very different from the rest and specializing in support, melee, ranged or tank.
The horror of the sea abyss
One of its most outstanding sections is the immersion that SlitherineGames has managed to create. The graphics are excellent and a better one could not have been chosen. You have the constant feeling of being immersed in Lovecraft illustrations with a very strong style. The shapes of the world around you, the movements and the color palette they use are among the best decisions to produce a slight feeling of anguish.
But it is that the thing does not end here, since the soundtrack acts at the same level as the graphics. Do not expect songs or anything like that, since it is very environmental and its main purpose is to make the player feel immersed in his world, something that he achieves perfectly.
If the 15 hours of the campaign is not enough and you get both endings, Stirring Abyss also has an infinite mode in which the death of the crew marks the end of the game. In this mode the maps and enemies are randomly generated, making it ideal for players who are left wanting to continue exploring the abyss.
CONCLUSION
Lovecraft joins the strategy genre with Stirring Abyss to bring this universe to video games with a magnificent setting. It is a strategy game that has nothing to envy the greatest and that, although we miss more variety of enemies and situations, fans of both genders will be amazed when unraveling the mysteries of the sea abyss.
THE BEST
- The setting is very successful.
- The amount of tools it offers so that each game is different.
- The design of the final enemies is magnificent.
WORST
- Enemies and repetitive side missions.
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not present serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher heights.
