The Ascent vs End of Abyss

• Co-Op Teammates: The game supports 4-player local couch co-op and online multiplayer, allowing friends to synergize their cyberware abilities to dominate the battlefield.
  Other Players
• The Cyberdeck: Your constant companion. With a press of a button, it hacks nearby doors, ATMs for money, and turrets to turn them against your enemies.
  Digital Hacking Tool

• SP-4 Service Drone: Hovers above Cel, projecting an omnidirectional searchlight and delivering intermittent shock taser bursts against leaping pests.
  Autonomous Utility Automaton
• Deployable Auto-Sentry: Deployed during terminal hacking sequences to automatically track and suppress oncoming waves of mutant hostiles.
  Tactical Defensive Tripod

• Cyberdeck Upgrades: Crucial modules hidden throughout the arcology. Finding them levels up your hacking device, granting access to high-tier loot chests and heavily encrypted doors.
• Orphan Skill Points: Physical skill points hidden in the environment independent of leveling up, rewarding players who explore every corner of the map.
• Datapads: Glowing lore terminals scattered across desks and corpses that provide deep background information on the alien species and mega-corporations of Veles.

• Research Terminal Audio Logs: Located beside fallen personnel terminals throughout the facility; reveals the chronological events of the outbreak and provides safe codes.
• Neural Schematic Data Wafers: Hidden inside sealed maintenance shafts and wall alcoves; unlocks permanent upgrades for Cel's scanner and suit.
• Overseer Security Keycards: Recovered from mini-boss encounters and security stations; grants access to high-tier armory supply vaults and shortcut doors.

• Cyberpunk
• Dystopia
• Megacorporations
• Twin-Stick Shooter
• Sci-Fi Action
• Arcology
• Rebellion

• Sci-Fi Horror
• Metroidvania
• Bio-Mechanical Mutations
• Body Horror
• Subterranean Facility
• Twin-Stick Combat

• The Dominator: Assault Rifle
  A rapid-fire ballistic weapon perfect for shredding crowds of unarmored gang members and low-level mutants in the slums.
• EBR Enforcer: Energy Burst-Rifle
  A highly accurate energy weapon that melts through the heavily armored corporate security forces and robotic enemies encountered in the upper tiers.
• Guillotine: Heavy Melee Sword
  Introduced in the Cyber Heist DLC, this massive, brutal blade completely shifts the dynamic of the game into a close-quarters hack-and-slash experience.

• ARC-9 Rechargeable Energy Pistol: Rechargeable Sidearm
  Cel's standard-issue technician firearm featuring infinite ammunition that regenerates over time; can charge high-voltage bolts to detonate environmental power cells.
• Breacher 12-Gauge Combat Shotgun: Pump-Action Heavy Firearm
  High-impact close-quarters shotgun capable of dismembering mutated beasts and breaching damaged containment blast doors.
• Vulcan Industrial Flamer: Thermal Chemical Projector
  Repurposed high-temperature plasma welding tool that projects a continuous cone of flame, burning away creeping organic tendrils and pest nests.
• Cryo-Stun Arc Rifle: Experimental Sub-Zero Weapon
  Fires pressurized liquid nitrogen charges that freeze biological tissues instantly, making armored enemies brittle to subsequent physical melee strikes.
• Pneumatic Rivet Impaler: High-Velocity Industrial Tool
  Fires heavy titanium construction rivets that pin fast-moving stalkers to walls and conduct electrical current into neighboring targets.

• Habber Dash Jacket: Standard, low-tier street clothing providing minimal physical defense but high mobility, worn by common workers in the Warrens.
• CorpSec Riot Gear: Heavy, bulky tactical armor looted from corporate security forces, providing massive physical and energy defense at the cost of evasion speed.
• Cyber Warrior Armor: A premium cosmetic/tactical set offering a striking, neon-infused Samurai aesthetic, providing excellent balanced defense for endgame content.

• Standard Combat Technician Rig: Kinetic Defense +25%, Battery Recharge Speed +15%; Cel's standard utility harness with integrated flashlight and magnetic holsters.
• Reinforced Hazmat Exosuit: Corrosive Acid Immunity +100%, Toxic Spore Shielding +80%, Sprint Speed -5%; sealed containment suit required for bio-lab sectors.
• Vanguard Prototype Armor: Damage Reduction +45%, Dash Invulnerability Window +20%; heavy experimental carbon-plate armor looted from security armories.

• Cybernetic Tattoos: Extensive character creation options allow players to cover their avatar in glowing neon circuitry and gang tattoos.
• Transmog System: A heavily requested feature added post-launch, allowing players to equip high-stat, ugly armor but change its visual appearance to any cool outfit they have previously looted.
• Animated Weapon Skins: Purchasable or unlocked weapon paints that feature moving digital patterns, making your firearms glow brightly in the dark industrial slums.

• Industrial Technician Jumpsuit: Durable reinforced orange-and-slate jumpsuit equipped with reflective safety strips, tool pouches, and reinforced knee pads.
• High-Pressure Gas Respirator: Dual-filter atmospheric mask with illuminated cyan eye visors protecting against toxic aerosolized contaminants.
• Insulated Thermal Utility Coat: Fleece-lined tactical jacket designed for exploring the freezing subterranean permafrost sectors.

The Ascent features a deep ARPG progression system. Players level up to earn Skill Points, which are invested into attributes like Tactical Sense, Weapon Handling, Aiming, and Evasion. The game's defining feature is its 'Cyberware' system. Players can install active augmentations (such as launching a barrage of homing missiles or summoning an explosive spider mech) and passive modules (like increasing maximum health or adding dodge-roll evasion). Additionally, the 'Cyberdeck' acts as a hacking tool that players must continually upgrade to slice open high-level corporate doors, ATMs, and hostile automated turrets.

Progression combines precision twin-stick movement mechanics with an evolving toolset. Cel's signature tool is the Multi-Spectral Scanner, which can be toggled to highlight hidden power conduits, structural weaknesses, concealed resources, and enemy armor vulnerabilities. Traversal abilities acquired throughout the facility open previously sealed paths: Kinetic Thruster Boots allow high-speed directional air-dashes across toxic chasms, the Plasma Torch Attachment cuts through reinforced steel bulkheads, the High-Frequency Bypass Decrypter overrides security forcefields, and Bio-Filtration Implants grant immunity to corrosive spores. Weapon modifications include overcharging Cel's standard rechargeable sidearm with concussive burst fire and installing magnetic ricochet slugs in the combat shotgun.

Veles is designed vertically, separated into distinct 'Tiers' that represent the socio-economic status of its inhabitants. 'The Warrens' and 'Deepstink' are the lowest tiers, characterized by claustrophobic slums, raw sewage, and heavy industrial machinery. The mid-tiers feature bustling commercial hubs, neon-soaked nightclubs, and dense residential blocks. The absolute pinnacle, 'The Pinnacle', is where the corporate elite reside in clean, opulent, sunlit luxury. Exploring the map involves seamlessly riding massive elevators and traversing open urban battlegrounds filled with countless interactive NPCs, alien races, and destructible cover.

The game features a sprawling, multi-layered interconnected facility structured as a classic Metroidvania with dark verticality. Key sectors include the Quarantine Transit Docks (a ruined freight terminal littered with derailed mag-trains and flickering emergency lights), the Hydro-Cooling Aqueducts (flooded lower tunnels choked with bio-luminescent toxic algae and submerged hydraulic pumps), the Cybernetics & Gene-Splice Laboratories (a sterile nightmare of shattered cryogenic tubes, surgical bays, and dangling neural cables), the Geothermal Engine Core (a blistering industrial sector filled with molten steam vents and heavy piston hazards), and the Obsidian Sanctum (the alien bedrock cavern housing the pulsing biomass of the primary anomaly).

• The Inter-Tier Transit Train: Public Transport
  The immersive fast-travel network players use to move between the massive horizontal districts of the arcology.
• The Arcology Elevator: Vertical Transport
  Massive, city-sized freight elevators required to travel between the socio-economic Tiers of Veles, bridging the gap between the slums and the corporate luxury zones.

• Subterranean Mag-Lev Transit Car: High-Speed Facility Monorail
  An automated mag-lev train used to travel across long transit tubes connecting distant sector hubs of the research facility.
• Motorized Maintenance Draisine: Manual Utility Railcar
  A light electric service handcar used by Cel to cross collapsed tunnel tracks where automated monorail power has failed.

• Ferals: Mutated Humanoids
  Rabid, heavily mutated creatures that hunt in massive packs in the dark, industrial depths of 'Deepstink', requiring heavy crowd-control weapons to suppress.
• Mechanical Spiders: Robotics
  Corporate defense drones that scurry across the ceilings and floors, harassing the player with energy blasts and self-destruct mechanisms.

• Flesh-Weave Stalker: Mutated Bio-Mechanical Quadruped
  Hyper-aggressive predator that blends into pipework and ventilation shafts, dropping down on players from ceiling shadows.
• Cystic Leaper: Amphibious Aquatic Abomination
  Bloated mutated creature inhabiting flooded cooling tunnels that spits corrosive digestive bile from distance.
• Chitinous Sentry Crawler: Cyber-Infested Insectoid Drone
  Heavy armored sentry bug with reinforced carapace plates that requires Scanner targeting to expose unarmored nerve clusters.
• Corpse-Hive Parasite: Swarm Organism
  Tiny skittering parasites that burst from fallen host corpses to overwhelm Cel in narrow maintenance ducts.

• The Indent: Player Avatar
  An enslaved corporate worker who must utilize extreme violence and cybernetic enhancements to survive the collapse of their mega-corporate owners.
• Poone: Syndicate Boss
  The stressed, foul-mouthed leader of your home district who acts as your primary early-game quest giver, trying desperately to keep his turf from being overrun.
• Kira: Corporate Handler
  A highly capable, mysterious operative who takes an interest in your lethal efficiency, guiding you through the complex espionage of the upper tiers.

• Cel: Combat Technician & Protagonist
  A resourceful, determined young technician sent to investigate Sector-9 who must rely on her engineering skills and combat prowess to survive the abyss.
• Dr. Aris Thorne: Chief Geneticist (Audio Logs)
  The obsessed lead scientist whose hubristic experiments with the subterranean Core Well triggered the facility-wide biological catastrophe.
• Overseer Vance: Facility Security Commander
  The ruthless security director who initiated total lockdown protocols, trapping research personnel inside to contain the outbreak.
• Unit-0 (The Mother Abomination): Apex Synthetic Hive Mind
  The grotesque, towering amalgamation of human tissue, supercomputers, and organic cables acting as the prime boss of the abyss.

• Mutual Dependencies: Early Campaign
  Fight through rival turf in the deep slums to restart the district's primary water supply, establishing your value to the local crime boss.
• Data Miner: Corporate Espionage
  A massive mid-game raid on a high-tech corporate facility requiring heavy hacking, culminating in a brutal boss fight against a heavily armed mechanical spider.
• Unhandled Exception: Story Finale
  The climactic final campaign mission requiring players to defend a central hacking terminal against endless waves of the most elite corporate security forces in the game.

• Restoring the Primary Generator: Facility Repair & Survival
  Traverse the flooded lower cooling corridors, avoid aquatic leapers, and manually restart backup generators to restore power to elevator lifts.
• Purge the Gene-Splice Incubator: Bio-Hazard Containment
  Infiltrate the bio-hazard research ward, locate and incinerate three pulsating biomass nodes, and escape before the room self-destructs.
• Severing the Core Well: Climactic Apex Boss Battle
  Descend into the lowest bedrock depths of the complex and destroy Unit-0 to permanently sever the anomaly from reaching the surface.

The Ascent features both single-player and up to 4-player cooperative multiplayer. Uniquely for a modern game, it fully supports 'couch co-op' (local multiplayer on a shared screen) as well as online co-op. Playing with a squad fundamentally changes the combat dynamic, allowing players to synergize their cyberware—such as one player acting as a heavy tank with energy shields while others use sniper rifles and hacking abilities to control the battlefield. Enemy health and spawns scale dynamically based on the player count.

The title is intentionally crafted as an uncompromising, single-player survival horror experience. Eliminating multiplayer elements allowed Section 9 Interactive to maximize psychological isolation, deliver meticulous pacing, calibrate resource scarcity, and execute tightly scripted environmental jump-scares and boss confrontations that rely on solitary vulnerability.

The Ascent launched on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S (including Day One on Xbox Game Pass) on July 29, 2021, and later expanded to PS4 and PS5. The base game is sold standalone, but Curve Games also released the 'Cyber Edition' bundle, which packages the base game with the 'Cyber Heist' story DLC and several cosmetic/weapon packs, including the 'Cyber Warrior Pack' and the 'CyberSec Pack'. These premium packs offer unique Samurai-inspired armor sets, animated weapon skins, and tactical grenades.

End of Abyss launched on October 1, 2026, priced at $29.99 USD across PC (Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. On PC, purchasing the game on the Epic Games Store automatically unlocks the exclusive 'Cel Outfit' and matching 'Scanner Pickaxe' in Fortnite. A Digital Deluxe Edition ($39.99 USD) bundles the full game with the complete industrial dark-ambient soundtrack composed by former Little Nightmares audio designers, an interactive digital artbook exploring creature concept designs, and an exclusive in-game 'Prototype Hazardous Technician' skin for Cel.

Neon Giant provided excellent post-launch support. The major expansion, 'Cyber Heist' (released August 2022), takes place immediately after the main campaign. It introduces new overworld locations, new main and side missions, and highly requested melee weapons like the Rock Crusher and Guillotine. Additionally, several cosmetic DLCs ('CyberSec Pack', 'Cyber Warrior Pack') were added, alongside free game updates that introduced a highly requested Transmogrification system (allowing players to change their armor's appearance without losing stats) and a New Game+ mode.

Section 9 Interactive and Epic Games Publishing have confirmed post-launch support focused on hardcore survivalists. Planned free updates include a 'Hardcore Permadeath Protocol' mode featuring scarce ammunition drops and persistent room states, a 'Speedrun Time-Attack Gauntlet' with global leaderboards, and an integrated Photo Mode allowing players to capture high-contrast horror imagery with customized lighting filters.

• Q: Does The Ascent support local couch co-op?
  A: Yes! It is one of the few modern ARPGs to fully support up to 4-player local shared-screen co-op, as well as online multiplayer.
• Q: Is it a looter shooter like Destiny?
  A: No. While you do collect armor and weapons, it is a traditional ARPG. Weapons have fixed stats (which you can upgrade), meaning you aren't constantly grinding for randomized 'God Rolls'.
• Q: Is there a New Game Plus mode?
  A: Yes. A post-launch update added NG+, allowing you to restart the campaign with all your high-level gear and cyberware against significantly tougher enemies.
• Q: Do I have to play the DLC?
  A: The 'Cyber Heist' DLC is entirely optional but provides an extended endgame story, new locations, and highly requested melee weapons that change the combat dynamic.

• Q: What is End of Abyss?
  A: End of Abyss is a dark sci-fi survival horror action-adventure developed by Section 9 Interactive and published by Epic Games Publishing, featuring twin-stick combat and Metroidvania exploration.
• Q: Who developed End of Abyss?
  A: The game was developed by Section 9 Interactive, a Swedish indie studio founded by former developers of Little Nightmares at Tarsier Studios.
• Q: When was End of Abyss released?
  A: End of Abyss officially released on October 1, 2026.
• Q: What platforms is End of Abyss available on?
  A: It is available on PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
• Q: What are the core gameplay mechanics?
  A: Players control combat technician Cel through an interconnected facility using precision twin-stick shooting, dodging, environmental scanning, and ability-gated Metroidvania progression.

Despite being developed by an incredibly small indie team of 11 people at Neon Giant, The Ascent boasts 'AAA' visual fidelity. The game is played from a classic isometric perspective, but the camera seamlessly shifts and pans to showcase the breathtaking scale of the arcology. The environmental detail is staggering, with hundreds of physics objects, volumetric smoke, and neon signs reflecting in rain-slicked puddles. The implementation of Ray Traced reflections and shadows on PC is considered some of the best in the industry, making the grimy, futuristic city look hyper-realistic.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, End of Abyss delivers a visually arresting top-down isometric horror experience. High-definition PBR materials highlight rusted iron girders, peeling paint, and slick, glistening biological matter. Lumen dynamic global illumination bathes dark sectors in realistic bouncing flashlight beams and flickering emergency strobes, while Niagara particle systems render thick rolling smoke, sparks, and dripping fluids that pool realistically on concrete floors.

The auditory experience is a standout feature, headlined by a pulsating, heavy synthwave soundtrack composed by Paweł Błaszczak (known for his work on Dying Light and The Witcher). The music dynamically shifts from brooding, atmospheric synthesizer hums during exploration to aggressive, high-tempo club beats during massive firefights. The weapon sound design is incredibly punchy, and the diverse alien languages spoken by the ambient crowds make the arcology feel like a true melting pot.

The soundscape is engineered to create oppressive dread and tension. Audio design emphasizes metallic creaks, echoing pipe drips, distant shrieks through ventilation ducts, and the terrifying wet squelch of crawling mutations. The musical score blends dark ambient industrial drones, metallic percussion, and distorted analog synthesizers that surge into heart-pounding rhythmic pulses during desperate combat encounters. Advanced 3D spatial audio allows players to pinpoint creatures stalking within wall cavities or crawling beneath floor grates.

The UI embraces the cyberpunk aesthetic with sleek, red-and-cyan holographic menus. In combat, the HUD displays a health bar, energy meter (for augmentations), and a tactical charge meter. One of the best UI features is the 'Waypoint' system; pressing a button projects a glowing digital line on the ground guiding the player to their next objective, seamlessly integrating navigation into the world without cluttering the screen with permanent mini-maps.

The user interface utilizes a tactile, diegetic industrial aesthetic. Ammo counters and battery charge levels are displayed directly on weapon chassis and Cel's shoulder-mounted tactical rig. Activating the Scanner transitions the screen into a subtle phosphor-grid overlay, highlighting interactable nodes, enemy health thresholds, and acoustic vibration ripples without intrusive screen clutter. The multi-level facility map is presented as an interactive 3D holographic wireframe blueprint that marks uncollected upgrades and locked security doors.

The game offers standard accessibility settings including text scaling, subtitle backgrounds, and UI color adjustments. It also includes highly customizable aim-assist settings, which is incredibly helpful for players using gamepads in a fast-paced twin-stick shooter. Difficulty can be adjusted at any time, allowing players to scale back enemy damage if a particular boss fight proves too punishing.

Section 9 Interactive has integrated extensive accessibility options: full controller and keyboard/mouse remapping with customizable deadzones and aim-assist magnetism; adjustable combat difficulty sliders (modifying enemy damage output, health pools, and resource drop rates); an optional 'Guided Navigation' map mode that highlights the next objective path; scalable UI text and subtitles with directional speaker identifiers; and three high-contrast colorblind modes (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia) that clearly distinguish enemy threat indicators.

• System requirements are strictly verified against the official Steam store page. The Ascent utilizes Unreal Engine 4, featuring highly dense, destructible cyberpunk environments and impressive, hardware-intensive Ray Tracing capabilities for reflections and shadows.
• Laptop Performance Note: The extreme environmental density and massive amount of particle effects from explosions and lasers will heavily tax mobile hardware. Maintaining high frame rates is crucial for a twin-stick shooter, so managing thermals to prevent GPU downclocking is vital.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.
• Game Name: The Ascent

• Engineered on Unreal Engine 5 featuring dense atmospheric fog, dynamic volumetric shadow casting, and intricate physical environmental destruction. An SSD is strictly required for seamless sector transitions and rapid room streaming across the massive underground facility without elevator hitching.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine 5's dynamic lighting and intense volumetric mist during multi-enemy swarm encounters put sustained demands on mobile GPUs and CPUs. Gaming laptops should maintain at least 75W to 105W TGP and run on a flat, elevated surface or cooling pad to avoid thermal throttling during intense boss encounters.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Target 75W-100W+ TGP on mobile GeForce RTX or Radeon RX GPUs to ensure steady 60+ FPS when rendering complex fluid gore and volumetric light shafts.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Multi-threaded physics simulation and dynamic particle lighting require high sustained multi-core CPU throughput; periodic dust maintenance and cooling pads help preserve boost clocks.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows Power Delivery to High Performance to ensure continuous high instruction rates during chaotic multi-target mutant breaches.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Enabling discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch eliminates internal display latency, vital for twitch twin-stick aiming and frame-perfect evasive dashes.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS 2/3 with Frame Generation, AMD FSR 3, Intel XeSS, and Unreal TSR resolution scaling.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Fog Density, Screen-Space Reflections, Shadow Quality, and Particle FX provide the largest boosts to average frame rates.
• Game Name: End of Abyss

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS 2/3 with Frame Generation, AMD FSR 3, Intel XeSS, and Unreal TSR resolution scaling.
• Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Fog Density, Screen-Space Reflections, Shadow Quality, and Particle FX provide the largest boosts to average frame rates.

• G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.

• G P U T G P: Target 75W-100W+ TGP on mobile GeForce RTX or Radeon RX GPUs to ensure steady 60+ FPS when rendering complex fluid gore and volumetric light shafts.
• Cooling Thermals: Multi-threaded physics simulation and dynamic particle lighting require high sustained multi-core CPU throughput; periodic dust maintenance and cooling pads help preserve boost clocks.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows Power Delivery to High Performance to ensure continuous high instruction rates during chaotic multi-target mutant breaches.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Enabling discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch eliminates internal display latency, vital for twitch twin-stick aiming and frame-perfect evasive dashes.