Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness Reviews
Riko and Reg's descent to the netherworld is a classic in existential dread and worldbuilding. Playing in this broken world imparts an even worse sense of dread.
I wouldn’t even tell fans of the show to play it.
Fans of the anime series or manga may eat it up with a spoon, but "Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness" is less an action-JRPG and more of a misery simulator which equates willingness to blindly accept the painful systems as "enjoyment." If you're not a fan of the series or a glutton for cruel and unusual punishment, pass this one by.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy my time and cannot recommend it as a must-play. I am unsure if anime fans might find more enjoyment in being able to interact with the world, but it is hard for me to see that as the saving grace for this game.
Ultimately, as a fan of Made in Abyss I’m disappointed more than anything given the potential of the source material. The game’s writing carries most of what’s good here and it’s a good introduction to the first part of the manga’s story.
Hit series anime but lackluster game with a new story locked behind the original anime story.
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness has all the potential makings of a great anime game adaptation, but it, unfortunately, ends up falling short. Its frustrating mechanics and lengthy mandatory tutorial mean that you’ll have to put up with a lot in order to get to the best part. If you’re a big fan of Made in Abyss, you may be able to look past these flaws, but otherwise, I’d wait for a polished sequel.
Mediocre Survival RPG gameplay and a poorly tutorialized mandatory prologue saps Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness of its merits
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness retains very little of the heart and soul that made the anime and manga it's based on so appealing and engaging. There's a promising survival RPG campaign in the Deep in Abyss mode, hampered by some annoying game design decisions, but the fact that you're forced to trudge through a barebones adaptation of the anime in order to unlock it just makes a bad experience even worse.
All in all, Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness sadly provides a more frustrating experience than enjoyable. Despite making a good effort to adapt the series' best attributes, its gameplay, short story, and poor performance greatly hinder the overall experience.
Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness is a game with good ideas, but poor execution and an awful adaptation of the source material. Both the gameplay and the story leave something to be desired and the only abyss that the game will inhabit being that of oblivion.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
This game should be tossed into the depths of the titular abyss.
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is a curious interpretation of the universe created by Akihito Tsukushi, but a variety of technical issues and lacking polishment end up weakening the experience considerably. Fans of the original work who want to feel the despair of diving into the abyss may find the game really interesting but the experience tends to be mediocre, especially for those who don't even know Made in Abyss well.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Strange choices hide what is a challenging but flawed survival RPG with Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness being the type of game only a fan would enjoy.
If you’re a fan of Made in Abyss, then Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness will certainly interest you; however, those unfamiliar with the story should wait for an update or two before taking the plunge. The premise is amazing, the story is intriguing, and the dark emotional depths it delves into genuinely shocked me on multiple occasions, but the going is slow and the execution is clunky. There’s a fantastic survival game here unlike any other that presents well on the surface, but dive deeper and you’ll find a whole slew of balancing issues that desperately need sorting. Keep an ear to the ground for a more balanced Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness — there’s something waiting for players at the bottom of all this, but the journey is far more excrutiating than it needs to be at the moment.
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness faithfully adapts the Made in Abyss series into a challenging survival RPG with an original story. However, some performance issues and uninspired game design hold back its potential to be a truly great title.
Although it has some interesting ideas as a survival action RPG, Binary Star Falling into Darkness will primarily appeal to hardcore Made in Abyss fans and offer very little to newcomers.
Made in Abyss is an odd game to recommend; the gameplay is great once you unlock the mode that actually features it, but until then you're stuck having to trudge through a stripped-down, too-long-for-what-it-is easy mode that isn't actually easy. If you aren't willing to do that, you won't get to play the actual game that makes the price tag worth it. For those who do make it past that hurdle, the survival mechanics are well-implemented, the character progression is satisfying, and this is overall a perfectly enjoyable release. We wouldn't necessarily recommend you pick up Made in Abyss, nor would we say you should pass on it outright; it's an interesting game with plenty of redeeming qualities, but it's gonna make you work to see them in ways that feel unnecessary.