Review: All in Abyss Tries Match Danganronpa’s Tone

A number of games attempted to capitalize not only on the Danganronpa experience, but its vibe, and Acquire and WSS Playground’s All in Abyss: Judge the Fake is the latest. It’s not a courtroom drama with murder investigations in any way, mind you. However, there’s still a death game going on, and this time the battlefield involves Texas hold’em Poker with some light visual novel and RPG elements. It leans hard into the grittiness! The result is a game that feels unique, but mechanically falters.

Asuha doesn’t know who she is, but she believes she’s the most gifted, luckiest gambler out there. To put that to the test, as well as experience a thrill, she heads to a dark and desperate city where gambling runs rampant and five Witches rule over every area and defeat anyone who dares challenge them in the Coliseum. After losing everything to the witch Ulu, Asuha doesn’t back down, commits to another match, and prepares to expose and permanently defeat every Witch. It also means finding out what’s going on behind the scenes in the city.

First, the general vibe and no hope, dismal atmosphere with extremely flawed people in All in Abyss absolutely calls to mind Danganronpa. Asuha is an edgy antihero who basically is a scammer herself. The humor is dark, though funny. It’s typically very dark, though a few situations can be a bit warmer. In general, I’ll say the story starts out promising, I feel like it ended up being at its best in the first three chapters. From there, I feel like it dwindled a bit due to pacing issues and repetition due to nature of the gameplay loop. Also, as this is a death game where lives are on the line, people are going to die and it will be dark. Like in the Kazutaka Kodaka series, there is a “scene” for each one in a Punishment Report. These can be sexualized and dark, which can get uncomfortable, and there’s typically detailed, extended narration going over exactly what’s being done to the victim. I hated it. The fanservice present outside of these Punishment Reports is pretty normal and expected from this sort of game, but I feel like these parts go too far.

As far as All in Abyss gameplay goes, it’s divided into an investigation phase that also features NPC Texas hold’em matches and the big match against the chapter’s Witch, which again might make things feel a little like Danganronpa. After you find out who Asuha will face that chapter, you need to figure out exactly how that person is cheating. This means meeting with certain people, collecting items, and going through NPC matches to gain the experiences and resources needed to unlock active and passive abilities for Asuha. It’s okay, but the non-boss matches are rather easy to win and aren’t exactly thrilling. 

Speaking of, the Texas hold’em Poker hands in All in Abyss also feel a bit inspired by Danganronpa. This is mainly due to the exposition that happens during matches against Witches and the inclusion of passive and active skills.In general, it’s standard Texas hold’em. You have two cards dealt to you. You look to the five community cards to make your hand. If your five cards between the two you hold and three face-up on the table make a hand that is better than the one your opponent can make, you win. 

In the case of All in Abyss, there are other elements to consider. The amount of chips you and your opponent have are your HP. Passive skills can do things like increase your luck, ensuring you’d get a card that would work for you and help you win, give you a hint about cards your opponent may hold, or help make certain sorts of hands for yourself better. Active skills can actually affect the battle, such as keeping them from folding and forcing them to fold. Certain actions can increase the multiplier of the bet, earning more money/damaging your opponent more. Folding gives you an out, but still sacrifices a substantial portion of cash. 

The thing is that the balancing isn’t great. Certain skills are much more useful than others. You always should equip Luck of the Draw and Sharp Eye, to hopefully set yourself up. Ace in the Hole is pretty essential, since it gives you a card you might need. Sweat ‘em also ends up being really great, since it forces the enemy to fold. The standard, faceless opponents get to be too easy. The bosses sometimes will involve a gimmick that might force you to play in a way you haven’t been for the entire game or lock out a skill you might rely on. If you really enjoy Poker, you’ll probably have a good time with these matches. Especially the boss fights.

I know I’d have been be okay with those gameplay choices if wasn’t for Poker Royale. This is an extended segment that comes up later. I feel like it drags things out, even though it was updated to be less frustrating. There are some good Texas hold’em matches in this later half, but I felt like the pacing, execution, and narrative choices meant it didn’t feel as fun or satisfying as earlier ones. Especially given the narrative choices and there being no warning that your money doesn’t carry over to chapters, so there’s no sense in grinding. 

Sometimes I feel like if All in Abyss: Judge the Fake ended after the third chapter, I’d like the game a lot more. After that point, it feels like the other characters didn’t end up being as engaging and the Texas Hold’em hands and execution felt more tedious and uninteresting. I would say it’s close to being the epitome of an uneven game. The idea is interesting! For the first few hours, the Poker parts can feel fun! Some of the early Witches and scenarios made me want to quickly get through to find out what happened. But I feel like the design directions and some choices make it fall apart at points.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake is available for the Switch, PS5, and PC. 

The post Review: All in Abyss Tries Match Danganronpa’s Tone appeared first on Siliconera.