Perhaps the most interesting 'gacha' release of this year is Duet Night Abyss. It's by Hero Games, of Black Myth Wukong fame, and introduces us to a sprawling fantasy world where you're armed with both melee and ranged weapons. The difference is that there "is no gacha" - at least not for characters.
I got an early look at the game a few months ago, and wrote in my Duet Night Abyss preview that while it's very reminiscent of aspects of our favorite gacha games, there's plenty to set it apart. This holds true for the full release. Duet Night Abyss does have an art style similar to Wuthering Waves, and a setting comparable to Honkai Star Rail's Jarilo-VI, along with characters that draw comparisons from a few titles.
The aspects that make this game different are the combat, the stat-based gameplay, and the gacha mechanics. During my preview, there was still a gacha system for the characters (which royally screwed me over, and I got so few that it was hard to make a proper team). Now, there's none of that… or is there? Instead, you use pulls on cosmetics banners. There were outfits already in the game for most characters, but now you can get a fine selection of hats and accessories with just a few pulls.
So, how do you get characters? Allow me to try to explain. You can get all characters for free, including as many dupes as you want. To get one, you collect Thoughts related to the character, which you can then convert into a copy of them when you have enough. To get these, you have to obtain a Secret Letter of the character you want, which then lets you access a domain where you get the Thoughts as a reward… sometimes. You can purchase these Secret Letters in the store using Secret Letter Clues that you pick up, but most are locked behind levels. Early on, you can get Berenica, Margie, Randy, and Outsider.
Once you have the Letter, you can then access the character commissions to do a mission and hopefully receive the related Thoughts or different rewards entirely. I tried to get Thoughts for Randy, but after completing the domain, I only had the choice of XP or upgrade items as a reward. So, while it's not a literal gacha banner, there's still an element of chance. If you're desperate for a specific character, you can pay by buying Phoxene Plumules. As there are now no rarities, they all cost 4.5k currency, which you can get by buying a couple of different bundles in the store with real money.
The first Secret Letter commission you're given happens early on in the story, and is for Truffle and Filbert. However, unlike the story missions that have low-level enemies, this one has level 41 enemies, so it may take you a moment to do.
For the full review, I got access to a beginner and a late-game account. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually swap between the two, as the launcher would freeze when I clicked the switch button, so this review only covers the beginning section of the game. But when it comes to big live-service games, that's where we all start, and that's what needs to draw us in.
Still, I've played enough gachas and big open-world games to know what sets one apart and makes it good. As I mentioned before, there's stat-based gameplay here - decisions during conversations will grant you different stats, and you do need these to pass some roadblocks. It's still a little chance-y, as it's literally rolling a dice.
The combat is fun. You get a melee weapon and a gun, and can freely switch between the two. There are also a lot more enemies here than in other similar games - I'm talking waves that you need to gun down, not just a handful slowly coming at you. Thankfully, you can have some characters with you that remain on-field. They're not massively strong, and you can't control them, but they do help if you need to fall back and rethink your strategy, or wait for moves to cool down.
Another good thing is that all your active characters use one weapon - unlike other games where you need to outfit every character, you only need to level up one main item here. This saves a lot of time, effort, and resources, honestly.
I have even more good news for you: if you played the beta, you know how annoying it was that there was no sprint. You could dodge and jump, but there was no way of just running. Now, it's in the game. This is a very welcome change as the map is fairly big.
Some things that I hoped would get addressed between the preview and the full release have unfortunately not been changed. I encountered some issues with audio mixing, where voice lines were much louder than music and effects. For some reason, most voice work is also quite echoey, though this is only really obvious if you play with headphones on.
There are some issues with the text not being translated properly, and I had a couple of glitches where the quest marker disappeared, or I couldn't quit certain menus using a controller. Something else I find odd is that you unlock your first character, Margie, before you meet her in the story, so it's a little odd moving around as her in the world but swapping to the main character for quests.
I did have some technical issues on PC, though they may be related to the early access launcher and build I got to play, rather than the state of the game. Having tried the game on my iPad now, it all seems to be fairly smooth - though the dragging of the onscreen joystick to perform a slide or jump can be a little tricky.
While it isn't groundbreaking enough for me to add it to my current (very busy) game schedule, I'm intrigued to see where the updates take this game. I do enjoy the idea of not having to roll for characters, so I might start up my own account and see how long it takes me to get that elusive Randy.
Duet Night Abyss offers a new experience with a heavier combat focus than similar games, but a familiar feel for those who know their way around live-service gachas. Some small issues hinder it at launch, but there's plenty of intrigue here - especially with the unique removal of a character gacha system.
I would liken Duet Night Abyss to Wuthering Waves more than other games like Genshin Impact, so if that's more your cup of tea, I do recommend you test it out - it's a free game, after all.