Take the dive of your life!
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is an Action RPG based on Akihito Tsukushi's famous adventure horror manga series Made in Abyss. Developed by Chime Entertainment and published by Spike Chunsoft and Numskull Games, it was released on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam) in Japan on September 1, 2022, and in North America and Europe September 2, 2022.
Binary Star Falling into Darkness features two different stories to explore. The first, "Hello Abyss", is a retelling of the manga's story, with players taking on the role of Riko, a fledgling Cave Raider. In the hopes of reuniting with her mother in the deepest levels of the Abyss, she joins forces with the mysterious robot boy Reg and embarks on a journey fraught with wonder and danger in equal measure. The other, "Deep in Abyss", is an original story that takes place concurrently with "Hello Abyss". In this story, players take on the role of a character of their own creation, a newly-minted Cave Raider on a journey of their own to explore the depths of the Abyss, rising through the ranks and making a name for themself with the goal of joining the illustrious ranks of the White Whistles.
Both stories will have players enter the Abyss, a mysterious chasm reaching deep into the Earth. Waiting within its depths are wonderous relics that can be sold for money, earning experience points for the player to level up. Quests by the people of the town of Orth will see players enter the Abyss as well. But beware, for the journey into the Abyss is not for the faint of heart! Not only will Cave Raiders have to contend with dangerous terrain and viscous monsters that can end their adventures — and their lives — in an instant, but also the "Curse" of the Abyss which makes the return journey to the surface a perilous ordeal in and of itself, with the effects of the Curse becoming more severe the further you travel. Do you have what it takes to survive in the Abyss and emerge victorious?!
Announcement Trailer
, System Trailer, Game Overview Trailer
Tropes
- Action Commands: When you defeat some of the strong enemies (or bosses), they won't outright fall and die, but a cutscene will occur with a button you should press or repeatedly tap in a limited time to finish them off. Failing doing this will make you receive damage instead. Also, see Press X to Not Die below.
- Another Side, Another Story: Deep in Abyss mode runs concurrently with the (relatively-short) Hello Abyss main scenario and is unlocked by beating it first. In this mode, you can create your own Cave Dweller and work your way up to the illustrious White Whistle status, while being at just around the same age as Riko.
- Artificial Stupidity: The AI companion (Reg in "Hello Abyss" or other Cave Delvers in "Deep In Abyss") is/are usually way too aggressive for their own good. Even if you are actively sneaking your way past encounters, it's not at all uncommon to see your party member sprinting at full tilt at a nearby enemy and trying to attack it to death, and they have a very big aggro range, so them wandering off and taking unnecessary damage can sometimes be unavoidable, even to the points it kills them. They will be recovered later, luckily. Their AI also seems to get stuck on the scenery quite a lot, and struggles to get out on his own, though thankfully moving far enough away from them will teleport them. In Riko's case, using a descend prompt on a tree branch will teleport Reg to where she is.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Your Blaze Reap after you defeat the True Final Boss. Whenever it hits something, it will make an explosion that also damages another enemy around the target. But due to its durability and limited usage, you won't use it too much in the end. You only have this one, and once it's broken, there's no other way to craft or to re-obtain it.
- Boring, but Practical:
- A move that Ozen will use in "Deep in Abyss", where an incredibly mundane action of just casually tossing you upwards into the air involves the Curse of the Abyss hitting you like a truck and crippling you upon landing.
- Riko's Scaled Umbrella only has 1 point damage. It's not usable in the practical combat due to the low damage, but it's very durable if you need to get the flying enemies off your back whenever you climb.
- Bragging Rights Reward: See Infinite Plus One Sword below. Also because of its durability, if you use it anyway, it will end up broken and there is NO OTHER WAY to obtain it.
- Breakable Weapons: Your delving equipment can break through repeated use and will need to be replaced eventually, though this is only a concern in Deep in Abyss mode, as Riko's gear all have effectively infinite durability.
- Character Customization: The "Deep in Abyss" mode allows you to create your own character to dive into the Abyss with.
- Critical Encumbrance Failure: Riko's backpack has a starting weight limit of just 10 kilograms. While she can carry well above this limit, having your encumbrance in the red will slow her down to a crawl and completely prevent her from attacking (or indeed interacting with anything) at all. What worse is, when you forget that your bag's weight and you excavate a rock when you're climbing a cliff and it happens to cross the limit, you will fall off the cliff right away.
- Curse: Just like in the manga, the Curse of the Abyss is a danger that must be accounted for. Attempting to ascend too quickly will result in the strains taking effect, with those strains becoming more severe the further down you try to ascend from. That said, the curses never outright kill you. The curses include:
- 1st Layer: Vomiting, forcing you to stop while puking while also reducing your hunger meter.
- 2nd Layer: More severe vomiting, reducing your hunger meter even further.
- 3rd Layer: Hallucinations and vertigo (indicated by the camera swaying) in addition to vomiting.
- 4th Layer: All of the above, plus severe hemorrhaging that gradually drains your HP.
- 5th Layer: All of the above, plus confusion and loss of sensation (indicated by your HUD and character model vanishing for a few moments).
- Death of a Child: You can't make older characters, and Riko counts as well. This is the
kind of game where you're going to potentially see them die a lot. - Gorn: While the gore in the anime series is downplayed, this game does not pull its punches in depicting how violently and painfully one can die in the Abyss, from having your head ripped off by a Hammerbeak to being reduced to amorphous chunks of melted flesh in an Amakagame's stomach.
- Final Boss: Tiare in Deep In Abyss.
- True Final Boss: Detchuanga in Deep In Abyss, although pretty much optional after you defeat the Final Boss.
- Optional Boss: Ozen, the Unmoveable Sovereign in Deep in Abyss. Winning the battle nets you her hat with the highest defense minus flashlight, her White Whistle's replica, and a Thousand-Men relic. Also look True Final Boss above.
- Fission Mailed: In the 1st area in the 4th layer, dying by the fall damage for the first time is a thing you must do so Nanachi will take you to her hideout and unlock the 2nd area.
- Guest-Star Party Member: At some side missions in "Deep in Abyss", your character will meet either Rico or Reg while they're looking for each other and ask for your help to find them. Interestingly, despite you'll see Riko first to find Reg, but later on you will also see Reg looking for Rico but it treats like you've never seen either one of them before.
- Guide Dang It!: How're you supposed to know about Fission Mailed above? Also Star Compass relic is obtained via rare drop of defeating the Interference Unit in 5th layer. The latter is not a must to get 100% achievements.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Aside from Hammerbeak decapitation and Amakagame digestion, as well as the death scene wherein a Corpse-weeper eats your innards, the game uses creative camera angles in its death scenes that conceal the particularly visceral elements of your demise, with the chief indicator of your death being your character's bloodied face.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Ozen in the Seeker Camp, who will just nonchalantly shrug off blow after blow from Reg without flinching, before slamming him into the floor with a Facepalm Of Doom, doing half of his health bar in damage in the process. Justified in that, like in the manga, you're not supposed to win. Averted in Deep in Abyss, as you can win the optional boss fight and she will call off the fight because she's tired and she grumbles that growing old sucks.
- 100% Completion: There's a lot of requests to do, but you don't need to clear them all or either collecting the relics to get all the achievements.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Blaze Reap as the reward of defeating Detchuanga as the Optional Final Boss.
- Item Crafting: Crafting is an important aspect of gameplay, and the environments of the Abyss provides you with plenty of materials to use. The various herbs and animal meats are used to cook various dishes to restore Riko's health and fullness meter, while plant matter and scraps are used to fashion utility items like ropes and mail balloons, and the different kinds of stones and creature shells are made into new weapons and armor.
- The Many Deaths of You: There are a lot of ways to end up dead in the Abyss, many of which are depicted in absolutely beautiful detail with their own dedicated cutscenes. These include, but are not limited to:
- Trampled by a Horncrier
- Head ripped off by a Hammerbeak
- Guts devoured by a Corpse-weeper
- Skewered by an Orb Piercer
- Chewed up and swallowed by a Valley Croaker
- Digested in the stomach of an Amakagame
- Ripped to pieces by a pack of Head-tails
- Swallowed whole by a Crimson Splitjaw or Valley Croaker
- Pulverized by a Tachikanata
- Cranium perforated on the tail of a Stingerhead
- One "natural" death that lacks a proper cutscene is fall damage. Which will just result in splattering face-down on the ground with twisted limbs and pooling blood.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Failing one of the quick-time events in "Hello Abyss" results in Reg trying to save Riko from a Corpse-weeper, only for him to accidentally vaporize Riko with his Incinerator. The look on his face afterwards says it all.
- Mythology Gag: "Hello Abyss" mode is named after the manga's working title. Meanwhile, "Deep in Abyss" mode's name is a nod to the first opening theme of the anime.
- Press X to Not Die: Quick-time events are a frequent feature in this game, typically appearing during cutscenes and requiring precise inputs to prevent your characters from dying.
- Save Point: The conventional save points are actually quite rare to come across, with the main method of saving in this game being mail balloons, which can be used almost anywhere as long as it doesn't have a physical ceiling. The game is also quite generous about providing you with balloon scraps to craft new ones with, so it's not exactly a stressing point to conserve them, since they also happen to be quite heavy. The game will auto-save if you cross an area though.
- A Taste of Power: While you need to play "Hello Abyss" first, you will need to work your way up to as par as Riko in Level or Skill in "Deep in Abyss" mode. Although Riko's still at Red Whistle level, you're gonna miss her skill at Cliff Launge, Two-hits Attack etc, especially the durability of your weapon. As you rank up, you will gain much more skill and ability above them (save the weapon permanent-durability)
- We Cannot Go On Without You: If you happen to have a Party Member in a quest, expect them to die a lot due to their AI stupidty (see above). But if you die, don't expect them to revive you. There's no such thing in the system to revive a party member, after all.
