End of Abyss: Explore and Fight Through the Abyss’ Horror

XBox Wire says Section 9 Interactive’s End of Abyss launches October 1 on Xbox Series X|S, with Epic Games Publishing backing the release. The studio is a small Malmö team founded by three former Tarsier Studios members, and the game puts players in the boots of Cel, a young combat technician investigating a broken underground compound.

What makes this one worth watching is the design pivot: the project started as a top-down action shooter, then evolved into a slower, more exploratory horror game with stronger tension and a clearer metroidvania structure. That shift should resonate with teams thinking about how to reframe a prototype when the core loop is there but the tone and pacing are not.

Section 9 says the team built the visual identity around worn, slightly awkward spaces inspired by 1980s and 1990s films, games, comics, and anime, aiming for a world that feels decayed without losing a sense of scale. Enemy design was driven by gameplay first, with rough animation mockups and Unreal prototypes used early to test behaviors, destruction, and boss variety.

For developers, the practical takeaway is the emphasis on iteration: the studio used fast prototypes to align mechanics, enemy concepts, and atmosphere before locking the final direction. The result is a horror-leaning action adventure that leans on exploration, gear upgrades, and branching paths rather than pure combat pressure.