Welcome to our review of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness, let’s find out together if and how much it is worth facing this journey into the abyss by Spike Chunsoft and Chime
It must be admitted that the quality of tie-in video games, and not just those dedicated to famous anime series, have rarely managed to impress. These are often derivative titles, with medium-low budgets and that bet everything on the affection that the fanbase feels towards the particular franchise. Just think of the many titles dedicated to One Piece, Dragon Ball or My Hero Academia, that alternate the genre of fighting games, to musou, to move on to more open world formulas and of dubious quality. In short, you will have understood: we are not so much fans of tie-ins, in general.
But when the release of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness was announced, our hearts got slightly (and we emphasize “slightly”) agitated. Do you want because the work of Akihito Tsukushi was able to immediately demonstrate a great maturity in the topics covered, often turning out to be rather raw and “cruel”, both because the concept of the manga (then exchanged from the anime series) lends itself easily to the creation of an atypical and rather interesting video game. Will the guys from Chime and Spike Chunsoft manage to make it happen? No. Welcome to Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness review.
Welcome to My World
The first problems are noticed as soon as you start the game. Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness it consists of two distinct modalities and with different purposes. The first is called “Hello Abyss” and will allow us to relive the original narrative of the first part of Tsukushi’s manga, practically until the end of the first animated series. Hello Abyss will act as a wacky tutorial, in which we will be able to impersonate Riko and Reg in their adventure and learn the basics of exploring the Abyss. This mode has a duration of approximately four hours and is strictly mandatory to unlock “Deep Abyss”, the real game experience of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness.
In Deep Abyss we will be able to create our little explorer who will start from bases much further back than those of Riko, obviously. We will be real inexperienced Red Whistles whose only dream and purpose in life is to become a legendary White Whistle. A sort of stand-in of the original protagonist of the manga, which will however dictate its own story (somewhat banal, obvious and that has nothing to do with the strong themes and rawness put in place by the Riko-Reg couple) and its path outlined by the video game script.
The First Layer | Review Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness
What is the main problem with this distinction? Simple: that Hello Abyss is required. Having been built more confusingly than suitable for tutorial purposes, Hello Abyss will see you running from start to finish clinging to Reg at any useful ledge, to quickly descend from layer to layer. The only mechanics that will actually remain imprinted on you are two: confusing combat and escape. Crafting will turn out to be completely useless if not to recover a minimum of life every now and then, also because Riko’s weapons will have infinite resistance, exploration will be just as superfluous and not encouraged in any way. And given how they are told, not even the events of the manga that are the background to Hello Abyss will be particularly compelling. Fans will certainly not be happy with it and novices will understand little.
Barring this modest shame, Deep Abyss is the real heart of Chime and Spike Chunsoft’s experience. Our protagonist, of whom we will be able to choose some basic characteristics in a rather lean but ultimately effective character editor, is an orphan who will join the ranks of explorers of the Belchero orphanage. Once he has the okay to explore the Abyss, he will find himself faced with a vast world to learn about and a series of mechanics to be acquired. Basically, as in any game based on survival and exploration of the surrounding world, we will have to keep an eye on the three classic bars: life, stamina, hunger.
Walking the Tightrope | Review Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness
Exploring the world of the Abyss we will be able to put our hands on important Relics to be evaluated at the camp, to get money, experience points and skill points. The same rewards can be obtained by completing primary and secondary missions, the latter almost all Fetch Quest or little more, which will enrich and expand our exploration tour. In summary, Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness can be summarized in: departure, exploration, return to the safe area, restart. Nothing exceptional, therefore, but with the passing of the hours of play a sort of addiction is created, useful to make us always come back to turn the console back on.
Also because, it should be noted, the game world of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness is alive and functioning exactly like the one outlined in the Tsukushi manga. The symptoms of the ascent curse will be particularly annoying whenever we try to return to base camp or to get that specific relic placed just a little higher and it will therefore be necessary to have a good supply of food and medicinal herbs with you. So far, in short, not so bad. The problem comes with a weapon in hand.
In the Blind | Review Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness
The combat system of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness is, in one word, Broken. Any smaller enemy is easily broken, with a single blow they are “stunned” and lose all ability to move (or, directly, die). The ones that don’t freeze are the biggest, but they will be terribly slow and easily dodged. The bossfight attempts, then, will be particularly ridiculous. In short: the enemies will only bother you while you climb particularly high rock walls. For the rest, you will break everything right away.
If we add to this a general woodiness that is particularly evident in the combat phases, but which accompanies our every step since the first excursion into the First Layer, you will understand well why that addiction that the Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness loop manages to achieve. donating easily becomes frustration once you’ve spent more than two hours with the console on. A sort of invitation to take the video game of Chime and Spike Chunsoft in small doses, here.
Mirage | Review Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness
Let’s move on to the sore point of a sore review: the technical and graphic sector of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness. Let’s start with a premise: we played the title of Chime and Spike Chunsoft on Nintendo Switch and we don’t know how the game turns on PS4 or PC. Stuttering, frame rate drops, visual poverty with very low resolution textures and pop-ups of environmental objects too much, too noticeable. All this is not even compensated by an attractive aesthetic, indeed, the poverty of details and elements on the screen does not do justice to the world conceived and conceived in the original series.
Probably the technical problems are mainly due to a lack of optimization for Nintendo’s hybrid console, of this we are quite certain, but that basically Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness is insufficient also in this respect is undoubted. In extremis, the soundtrack is saved, which has catchy traces, even if very repetitive considering the inevitable long time spent in the First Layer. Too bad they didn’t take a few more from the original series.
Roar of The Abyss
Ultimately, to wrap up this Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness review, we’re holding our hearts in telling you we’re sorry. The idea behind the Tsukushi series is excellent for creating an atypical and original video game, of any genre you want to do, but on the other hand Spike Chunsoft and Chime have not been able to take advantage of this great opportunity. Woody, technically insufficient and bored by the obligatory nature of the Hello Abyss mode, we are quite convinced that Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness could have reached enough if only it had not been made with the change left over from the coffee machine. And it is sold at full price. Recommended only for fans, after a rather important price drop though.
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness is currently available on PC, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Let us know if you have played it below in the comments, we will continue to keep you updated with all the news, guides and reviews themed gaming and tech! And if you are interested in game keys at affordable prices, we recommend that you take a look at the InstantGaming catalog!
Points in favor
- Partly addictive Deep Abyss mode
- Excellent conditions …
Points against
- … destroyed by insufficient realization
- Technically backward
- Annoying and completely useless Hello Abyss mode
- Full price?