The latest game from publisher Devolver Digital – Phantom Abyss – will be here a bit earlier than expected as the unique multiplayer game arrives on 21st June instead of 22nd June.
Announced for released into Early Access just last week the official Twitter account for the game hinted that the date could be moved up over the weekend.
The new release date for the game is now “late Evening US Pacific Time” today, 21st June, though that may still be closer to 22nd June depending on your time zone.
At the time of writing on early Monday morning here in South Africa and it’s not even midnight in the US Pacific Time Zone. Those local players eager to get in super early will likely need to stay up late.
So what’s on offer that may make it worth working tomorrow on little sleep? Phantom Abyss is a weird mix of co-op and cooperative play that sees players attempting to successfully navigate deadly temples. When you enter one of these temples you will see the phantoms of past players who have died trying before you.
Players are thrown at a temple continuous dying until one player makes it to the end, at which point they claim the title of besting the level (and all the treasure inside). After this the temple is sealed forever and can no longer be attempted making each randomly-generated level its own limited-time beast.
“Phantom Abyss is a massive asynchronous multiplayer game that casts players into procedurally-generated temples and tasks them with retrieving the sacred relics hidden within deadly chambers. Intrepid adventurers will dodge scores of hidden traps, leap treacherous chasms, and flee relentless guardians through branching paths until one of the relics are claimed or the devices of death overwhelm them. Be warned, you only get one attempt at each temple and failure or settling for a lesser relic means you will never see that temple again…” reads the official Steam description.
Think of it as a mix between Indiana Jones and those ghost players that are fairly common in racing games. It’s also the only Indiana Jones fix players will get for a while as the official game bearing that IP’s name is still very far from release.
On Steam Phantom Abyss will be in Early Access when it launched today. It’s planned to stay that way for “at least a year” before a 1.0 release based on player feedback and anything new that may be added based on that.
