Steam’s Bullet Heaven Week Belongs to a Bullet Hell FPS

Steam recently declared last week the official week of the bullet heaven, slapping a store tag on the Vampire Survivors-esque genre that practically demands compliance. Yet, while everyone else was dodging 2D projectiles in top-down arenas, the true standout emerged as a one-of-a-kind bullet hell FPS. Luna Abyss by Kwalee Labs takes the genre’s core loop and drags it into first-person perspective. Instead of relying on peripheral vision like Returnal, this game robs you of it entirely, forcing you to weave through pulsing, brightly colored 3D orbs that fly in mesmerizing patterns. It is a fresh take on a mechanic over three decades old, proving that the bullet hell FPS format has serious legs.

I first encountered Luna Abyss in demo form two years ago, and its lizard-brain appeal remains unmatched. The early game deliberately eases you in with a massive health bar and forgiving difficulty, letting you experiment with finishing moves that restore vitality or trigger area-of-effect overkill damage. Once the combat truly ignites, encounters begin to mirror Doom Eternal’s frantic rhythm. You will find yourself swapping weapons on the fly to handle different threats:

  • Using a shotgun to shatter blue shields in close quarters
  • Sniping charging eyeball cannons with a rifle from a distance
  • Laying down steady lock-on fire while homing suicide bombers explode around you

Mastering the Lock-On Combat Loop

What truly sets this bullet hell FPS apart is its generous lock-on system. Where Doom Eternal demands exhausting precision for headshots and crits across cooldown windows, Luna Abyss simply requires you to hold right-click on a target and tap left-click until it falls. This design choice perfectly mirrors classic shmups, allowing players to focus entirely on navigating the tiny gaps between deadly fire rather than micro-managing crosshairs. The base combat loop is incredibly satisfying, though I hope future updates add damage-overheating trade-offs or alternate firing modes to encourage more personalized build expression. Currently, weapons function somewhat like keys for specific enemy types, leaving little room for creative loadout shuffling. Still, the visual feedback from every hit keeps the flow state intact.

Navigating a Colossal Lunar Wasteland

Beyond the arena combat, Luna Abyss distinguishes itself through its platforming and environmental scale. The game takes place on a forsaken moon where everything is built at a thousand times your height. It dwarfs Warhammer 40K’s vast factory complexes, creating a dark, atmospheric world where the blacks are subtly lifted to hazy grays so you can leap between pipes and platforms above an infinite void. Capturing screenshots of this sense of scale becomes an obsession within hours of playing.

The exploration does suffer slightly from its narrative pacing. Aloof or quirky NPCs constantly interrupt your journey with verbose dialogue, and the cutscenes rely on awkward camera pans over static character models. A quieter presentation would let the crumbling architecture speak for itself, but the core experience remains rock-solid. The glowing orbs, floating obelisks, and rhythmic gunplay prove that the bullet hell FPS genre is here to stay. If a sequel materializes, I’d love to see developers from Amid Evil or Boltgun bring their boomer shooter sensibilities to the table.