Relic Abyss Steam Demo Review
Verdict: Play
A roguelike Bullet Hell with a home village that actually matters, statue decisions mid-run, and an ultimate that clears
Roguelike Bullet Hell fatigue on Steam is real, but I am a sucker for good visuals, so I tried another one.
Relic Abyss is a solid Roguelike Bullet Hell from Reverse Loop and Mameshiba Games. You pick a character, do a bit of story with NPCs in a home village, then head into levels where you survive waves, level up, and pick abilities from random cards. The demo I played had two starting classes, a melee warrior and a ranged archer. My verdict is Play.
Relic Abyss is a competent roguelike Bullet Hell in a genre Steam demos have absolutely flooded. It does not rewrite the formula, but the home village, equippable gear, and statue decisions give it more shape than another anonymous wave survivor. The slow opening and readability issues kept it from being an instant favourite, but the ultimate payoff and between-run progression sold me on another run. Play, especially if the art hooks you and you are not already genre-exhausted.
Pros
- Between-run village progression (merchant, blacksmith, quest board, equippable gear) gives runs a reason beyond one-off score chasing
- Statues add mid-level decisions that break up the standard wave-and-level loop
- Solid skill and enemy variety in the demo slice, with an ultimate that delivers the full-map clear fantasy
- Art and performance hold up well enough that the demo feels like a real slice, not a vertical cut of menus
- Mechanics and depth are there even when the pitch is familiar
Cons
- Early combat is painfully slow before skills unlock; chaotic music and incoming waves do not match how little you can do at first
- Cozy art tone clashes with hectic gameplay, so the vibe reads softer than the moment-to-moment pressure
- Character silhouettes and edges can be hard to read in tight spaces, which hurts in a bullet-dense lane
- If you are already burnt out on roguelike Bullet Hell on Steam, the polish here may not rekindle the genre for you
A crowded genre, a familiar loop
The challenge Relic Abyss faces has nothing to do with the game itself. Steam demos are flooded with this genre right now, and standing out is hard even when you are doing a lot right. If you cannot bring something new and flashy, you need polish, depth, or a hook that makes someone stop scrolling.
Relic Abyss leans on the second path. Good art, handles well, real depth even in the demo slice. It is not reinventing the Bullet Hell Roguelike loop, but the mechanics are solid and the between-run structure gives it more to chew on than a bare wave-survival pitch.
Home village and between-run progression
The home village is more than a menu screen. There is a merchant, a blacksmith, a quest board, and gear you collect each run that can be equipped there for better starting stats next time. That gives you something to build towards between runs instead of treating every attempt as a standalone score chase.
That structure is where the RPG layer shows up. Relic Abyss plays like an Action Roguelike in the moment, with auto attacks, specials, gold, loot, and XP on the floor. Between runs it behaves more like a light RPG hub, nudging you towards better openings rather than only better in-run card picks.
Mid-run decisions and readability
Scattered around the map are statues that add decision making mid-level. Some give random positive or negative effects. One upgrades any skill. Others boost XP gain for a short period. A small touch, but it breaks up the loop nicely when you are otherwise doing the familiar survive-and-level rhythm.
Those statues are the kind of mid-run fork that keeps a genre this crowded from feeling entirely autopilot. You are still picking cards on level up. You are also choosing whether to detour for a statue effect that might help now or sting you later.
The start is painfully slow. Your auto attack early only swings every few seconds. The music is chaotic, enemies are coming, and you are standing there waiting. It gets more involved as you unlock skills, but that opening stretch does drag. The art looks good, but feels slightly out of sync with the tone. It reads cozy when the gameplay is not. Character edges are also sometimes hard to read, which matters when you are trying to squeeze through tight spaces in a Bullet Hell lane.
Verdict
The most memorable moment for me was the first time I unlocked my ultimate and watched it clear the entire map in one go. That is the moment the genre promises, and this one delivers it.
Nothing here you probably have not seen before in a Roguelike survivor-style demo. If the art style speaks to you, though, it is worth a run. At the time I played, the Steam demo had about fifty-five reviews sitting at very positive. If you love the genre, you should definitely try it. If you are burnt out on bullet heaven games, this probably will not fix that.
Developer: Reverse Loop
View on Steam
Watch the video review: YouTube
Tags: Roguelike, Bullet Hell, Action, RPG, Indie, Action RPG, Casual, Score Attack
Appears in
- Steam Summer Sale 2026: Steam Summer Sale 2026 is here, and this collection has one filter: demos I already reviewed that have now launched as full games and are on sale. Every pick earned a Play verdict from me at the demo stage, so I have already put real time into the slice and know it works. Starting with REPLACED, Outbound, and Dead as Disco, more games will be added as I find them across the sale window. Full Demo reviews are on the site if you want the session detail before you spend money.
- Steam Bullet Fest 2026: Steam Bullet Fest spotlights bullet hells, horde survivors, and shooters built around density on screen. These are Steam demos I have reviewed on TodayWeGame and that are part of the fest lineup. All five below are Play calls: Ignitement, Relic Abyss, NO ENTRY: OUR BURROW, Oh! Robot: Legendary Mechanic, and Wanderburg. Each link is a full write-up with a Play, Maybe, or Skip verdict after real playtime.
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