“The young knight Attar was betrayed by her country and allies. Before her death, she made a contract with the “Thirteenth Seat Demon” and fell into a different world called “Confluence”. She became a hunter, codenamed “Undertaker”, and began to fulfill the contract – hunting gods.”
That’s the basis for Abyss Knights, an upcoming free to play action Gacha game releasing Globally on to PC, Android and iOS.
Very few people are discussing Abyss Knights. Heck, equally as few people are even aware of its existence. Yet it is on my radar due to its phenomenal graphical style, dark, gritty aesthetic, fluid action combat and resemblance to Diablo, Path of Exile and Lost Ark.
But what exactly is it? Who’s developing it? When is it releasing? And will it be worth playing? That’s what we’re here today to attempt to find out. So let’s jump right in.
I’m a big fan of dark aesthetics, post-apocalyptic environments. Games set in a world where the remnants of civilization are struggling to survive. It’s gritty. It’s gorey.
Heck, the protagonist – the chick you play as looks fantastic. Sure, she isn’t packing in terms of plot, but neither is the protagonist in Genshin, Star Rail, Zenless or really anyone outside of female Rover.
She looks like she’s seen things. My single concern with Abyss Knights right now is that outside of the characters we’ve seen in the trailer footage, additional characters have yet to be revealed. There’s no official website, and no list of characters at present.
Abyss Knights is developed by – and I had to run this through a translator, so the rough translation is Devil’s Round Table – or Demon Round Table. This is their very first game, which means the devs are likely to run into quite a number of issues along the way. Which we’ll touch on in a little bit.
First, I want to discuss the kind of game Abyss Knights is.
It doesn’t feature an open world. Or at least not in the traditional sense. It isn’t seamlessly accessible and explorable like Wuthering Waves or Genshin Impact.
Rather, from what we’ve seen it’s going to either focus on instanced areas, or segregated zones. Think somewhere between Punishing Gray Raven or Honkai Star Rail. The exact style of game has yet to be fully confirmed outside of what we’ve seen.
It features a full action combat system, allowing you to cycle through abilities – however, unlike the aforementioned Gacha’s – and I guess Gacha games in general, Abyss Knights touts itself as being a “soulslike action RPG,” with a focus on real time responsive action gameplay. Dodges. Parries.
It has a top-down isometric perspective – viewed from above the player rather than behind, or over the shoulder. I’ve honestly never played a Soulslike game from a top-down isometric perspective, so this’ll be kinda interesting.
There are multiple recruitable characters. There is a functional gearing system. It’s very much so a “Path of Exile but Gacha with Soulslike combat,” for what it’s worth.
It was first revealed earlier in 2024. The devs released a gameplay trailer, showing off over 10 minutes worth of gameplay. I was incredibly excited when I saw it because it was an entirely new style of Gacha – and I’m always up for trying new games in new subgenres out.
Since then, pre-registration was opened on both Bilibili and Taptap, with millions of interested players – from all around the world. However, in August 2024, something happened that has put a damper on anticipation.
This was translated from Chinese, so it might not be entirely accurate, but I’m sure you can gauge what’s happening.
“Due to financing difficulties, the development of the domestic game “Abyss Knights” has been suspended indefinitely”
Recently, the 3D action RPG mobile game “Abyss Knights” developed by the Demon Round Table announced that after communicating with all parties, it has decided to freeze the development of the project indefinitely.
Investor Rosa posted a message saying “We will not stop moving forward, we will always insist on making games, and one day, we will gather enough strength to restart “Abyss Knights”.”
Development of the game has been suspended indefinitely. Not permanently. Not “shut down,” or “canceled.” Merely “suspended.” Which means they’re likely in the process of figuring out their next move.
“Official announcement:
After communicating with all parties, Gods Shall Know decided to freeze the development indefinitely. At the end of this bloody road, destiny did not appear for us. Now, we will stop the journey.
We have always been the most romantic and unique ship on this body of water. Now that everything is frozen and the rivers are frozen, we will not be sad or complain. We are still lightly packed and enthusiastic, and we will not bow down to fate. We will camp on the ice, pick, hunt, and resist the cold. Farewell to those who travel far away.
Friends and players in and outside the industry who are reading this text. I want to wish you all the best, but I can’t wish you all the best, life won’t be smooth sailing. I just hope you will always have courage. When next spring comes,
We will meet again.”
While never a good thing to hear, it’s better they be transparent with their players now, than go silent for years leaving their players hanging.
With this in mind, and while you can still pre-register, there is no confirmed release date, nor Closed Beta planned for the foreseeable future. 2025 is entirely off the table unless some miracle happens, which is highly unlikely.
Abyss Knights looks absolutely fantastic, and I genuinely cannot wait to finally be able to play it. Either as Abyss Knights, or as something else entirely. They confirmed they’re not giving up, and we shouldn’t write the game off yet. It’s far from dead.
And honestly? With how few Gacha games exist of this specific style, it’d be a waste to give up hope they’ll make a comeback even stronger than ever sometime in the future.
