Abyssus

Roguelikes and firstperson shooters appear ideally matched, given their shared emphasis on reactivity and thriving in the moment.

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But combining the two is tricky. The best FPS games have carefully crafted levels and combat encounters tested to destruction. Yielding this ground to procedural generation and the whims of chance typically results in uneven shooters, as the likes of Strafe and Mothergunship demonstrate. Abyssus, therefore, deserves credit for being a Roguelike FPS that works, even if it doesn't solve the problems that a Roguelike structure brings to FPS play. The thrills it supplies through blending gun-based action with a run-based power trip outweigh the shortcomings of its repetitive arenas and occasionally wonky combat.

Seeing Abyssus at its best does require tolerating some initial drudgery. Themed around a descent through the archaeological strata of a sunken civilisation, it plays at the outset like a diet Doom Eternal. Your Welsh-accented diver can blast enemies with the primary and alternate fire of his chosen weapon (a light machine gun by default), deploy a tertiary ability such as a grenade, and dash and double jump to avoid enemies.

All of this is capably designed, if a little lightweight. While your machine gun makes a decent starting weapon, the subsequent shotgun is squid-limp — an ill omen for any FPS. The procedurally connected cave network you run through functions as a combat arena, but is otherwise a stale space, while the initial enemy roster resembles rejected designs from BioShock’s Rapture — a gaggle of flying mechanical sharks, spinning death-Roombas and lumbering Big Doggies.