Abyssal

I follow some University publisher pages and DigiPen is one of them. However, for this particular project, I could barely stand about 20 minutes for this game. The UI, story telling, character introductions is straight up bad. The design and music is somewhat okay so thumbs up for designers but gameplay and mechanics and the buggy mess of UI makes this unplayable sorry.

There's such a weird lack of responsiveness when clicking to target abilities and continuing through the tutorial dialogue. Why does it fade out like that instead of just letting me play? Why does YOUR TURN fade in and out of the screen for so long? The camera appears to be bound to the playable area so I can't look ahead if I have to navigate the camera through a narrow passage. I don't understand how a school specifically teaching game design apparently has no UX instruction?

6/10 TBS with a minions party TLDR: it's a nice student project with good visuals and audio. Yet the lack of QoL features and the clumsy controls make it hard to play Good: + free + nice, even if low-poly models. Nice looks overall + thematic music So-so: +/- can't rotate the camera or zoom in/out. So it's unclear why this game even have to be 3D if the view is fixed Bad: - the cursor has an additional picture above it showing the currently selected ability. It's confusing and often makes you click below the objects you wanted to click because you can't exactly see the hotspot of the cursor. The extra picture should have been shown maybe on the right of the cursor, not above it - hard to see HP of the characters - can't see how far enemies can move, what abilities they have, or their attack range. Also, tiles on the ground are only visible within your movement or attack range. So, you can't really plan ahead and take into account the "danger zone" of enemies - no numbers in tooltips of abilities. What amount of dmg a spell does? How much healing heals? It's not really a strategy game if there are no numbers [table][tr][th][i]I'm a Steam curator, you can [url=https://store.stea…

Abyssal is one of literally thousands of student projects infesting Steam. It's from DigiPen in Europe (Bilbao). While student projects tend to be better quality than most "amateur" made games, we must still question what value such projects have for gamers. As with all student projects, this isn't really a fully fleshed out game, it's just the result of an academic exercise, and as such it has much more limited value as a game than a professionally developed game would have. Educational institutions should not be using Steam as a dumping ground for homework assignments (especially if the students didn't even pass the course). Sure, it helps their marketing and helps the students feel good about themselves, but this is another case of a business putting themselves before the needs of gamers. This year the students made a 3D turn-based strategy title. You battle Eldritch-like creatures as a Monk using arcane magic and minions. The story centers on two warring brothers and their feud, involving a pact with abyssal creatures. The problem is that, of course, as a student project this isn't a fully fleshed out game. There's no save features. There's unskippable cutscenes and …

This isn't my favourite student project I've checked out, but it's still pretty solid keeping what it is in mind. The turn based combat would be too basic if this were a full game, with no sort of character building or gear system, but for an hour long game it's fine. The enemy spawners were pretty annoying, as soon as that mechanic was introduced I stopped trying to clear each map and instead planned out how to protect the main character Archivald as I used him to run to the exit. While I appreciated the layer of tactics and strategic thinking this added, and I now realise that may have been intentional, it also seems to further reinforce the feeling that the combat is just a chore to get through rather than the main draw. The little bit of story that's here is fine, it works and you don't exactly need a ton of depth for such a short game. The setting and creature designs are pretty cool, the cinematics are fairly well done, and the music is great. I don't know if it was composed for the game or is royalty free work available online, but it perfectly compliments the overall vibe. Additionally, the game runs really well. I like to check out student projects whenever they look eve…

I usually go into free student games expecting a buggy mess or a half-finished tech demo, but Abyssal actually feels like a complete, thought-out experience. It’s a turn-based tactical RPG that leans heavy into that dark, Eldritch "monks and monsters" vibe, and it honestly hits harder than some paid indie titles. Why it’s actually worth the download: - The Story is Solid: You play as Archivald, a monk coming back to settle a blood feud with his brother, Alaric. It’s a classic revenge plot, but the way it’s tied into this infested, rotting city makes it feel way more intense. - Combat with Consequences: It’s isometric and turn-based, but you aren't just spamming attacks. The mechanic of using magic and minions to fight your way through actually requires some brain power. If you like the tactical positioning of games like XCOM or Divinity, you’ll feel right at home here. - The "Free" Factor: It’s under 700MB and costs zero dollars. In an era of $70 games filled with microtransactions, playing a tight, focused story made by students who clearly love the genre is a breath of fresh air. - Killer Atmosphere: The creature designs are genuinely creepy, and the environments look great for …