Phantom Abyss

Team WIBY · Devolver Digital

Released: Jan 25, 2024
Platforms: Windows
Last updated: 05 Sep 2026, 06:07 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

28 Nov 2024Developer post
Connection fix
Hi everyone. We're incredibily sorry that the game has been failing to connect for many of you. This latest patch should fix all connection issues! Thank you all for playing Phantom Abyss. We hope this patch allows you to dive back into the game enjoy it. Team WIBY
02 Feb 2024Developer post
Hotfix is now live!
Hi everyone, Thank you for all your feedback and support during the launch of Phantom Abyss! With the help of the community we've been able to address and fix the various issues listed below: - Fixed an issue where players would find a lot of empty temples - Fixed some temples th
28 Jan 2024PC Gamer
Trap-dodging first person runner Phantom Abyss has escaped early access
First person whip-based treasure-looting platformer Phantom Abyss has released from early access, bringing its fusion of roguelike and runner to a complete version 1.0 with three separate game modes to play. In Phantom Abyss players are a tomb-delving adventurer challenged to rea
25 Jan 2024Developer post
Phantom Abyss 1.0 is Available Now!
Phantom Abyss exited early access TODAY! And here is everything you need to know about it! Adventure mode has been completely overhauled Players now have a choice of a series of different temples to play. Each adventure mode temple has a specific whip, relic, and series of challe
Phantom Abyss exited early access TODAY! And here is everything you need to know about it!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/989440/Phantom_Abyss/ [previewyoutube=uWIFnIbNdpk;full][/previewyoutube]
Adventure mode has been completely overhauled

Players now have a choice of a series of different temples to play.
Each adventure mode temple has a specific whip, relic, and series of challenges attached to it.
Players can increase the challenge of an adventure mode temple to increase the rewards you unlock.

Classic mode is now called Abyss Mode

Abyss mode is the true Phantom Abyss experience.
Progress through all 4 areas of the game. (Ruins, Caverns, Inferno, Rift)
An extra challenge is added each floor.
1 Relic, located at the end of the Rift.
Only 1 person will ever beat a specific temple.
Many relics to find - each hidden in increasingly difficult Abyss Mode Temples.

Curses have been removed from whips.
Whips are unlocked by playing adventure mode.
Whip skins are unlocked via opt-in challenges

Torn-apart landscape The Rift is an area slowly being torn apart by the abyss. It features large areas filled with floating debris, whirlpools, and corruption spreading through the walls.

New rift traps:

Lasers: Moving, rotating and cycling deadly lasers.
Grapple nodes: Floating nodes that you can grapple-whip continuously without needing to land.
Many new rooms

An upgrade well that provides permanent upgrades can be found in the HUB and in the first floor of temples.
Upgrades are purchased with keys. Rarer keys = better upgrades.

Dash forwards in the direction you’re facing, including up or down!

Players are able to add extra challenges to their temple.
Doing so will make rarer keys more likely to find, and unlock additional whip skins.

The HUB has been dramatically condensed.

The portal is much faster to get to, and the HUB now focuses around 4 pillars.
Each pillar represents one of the 4 zones in the game (ruins, caverns, inferno, and rift.)

The Crowbar

Power: Shockwave
Wherever you whip creates a shockwave, interacting (and disabling) anything it touches.

The Snake

Power: Time Slow
Bound to a button - activate to slow time for several seconds.

Lunar Whip

Power: Super Dash
Dash is upgraded to be…super.

A lot of whip powers have been swapped around or added.

Powers available at end-of-floor shrines are now always other whip powers.
Heals have been moved to blessing shrines - which are only found in hidden nooks and crannies.

Well, we just removed it...

No more loading the HUB to replay the game. Hit retry directly after you die!

But that's not all!
The transition of Phantom Abyss from Early Access is followed by the launch of the Official Soundtrack. Get it at 10% off, with additional 10% added through the Phantom Abyss Deluxe Bundle. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/38166/Phantom_Abyss_Deluxe/
Original post
05 Jan 2024PCGamesN
Ghostrunner meets Indiana Jones as 9/10 roguelike gets 1.0 Steam date
Phantom Abyss , a Ghostrunner-like indie where players channel their inner Indiana Jones and sprint through procedurally-generated temples with booby traps, is finally launching out of early access. It's been over two years since the game went live in early access, seeing various
04 Jan 2024Developer post
Version 1.0 arrives on January 25
Hello adventurers! It's time for Phantom Abyss to transition out of Early Access and into 1.0 later this month, on January 25. The past couple of years have been a great experience for us, and we are very grateful for all the love and support you have shown us during EA. We could
11 Apr 2023Developer post
UPDATE: Upcoming new content and changes
Hi everyone. We’d like to give you an update on what we’re working on for version 1.0 of Phantom Abyss. In our last update we had said our plans are to release the next area the Rift, as well as an ending to the game. These plans haven’t changed - however we’ve also decided to ad
22 Nov 2022Developer post
Various small fixes
Patch notes for Version 0.8.1.x Hello Adventurers! We have a bunch of fixes and quality of life improvements incoming in this patch. Accessibility features Added the option to customise looking up and down and turning, including speed and sensitivity customization Add mouse and k
20 Oct 2022Developer post
The Phantom Abyss Adventure Update is Live!
Hello adventurers! The latest update has landed for your favorite Temple plundering game, complete with a treasure trove of new content. The update introduces new game modes, such as Classic Mode and Adventure Mode, as well as a new Explorer Rank feature allowing you to earn repu
Hello adventurers! The latest update has landed for your favorite Temple plundering game, complete with a treasure trove of new content. The update introduces new game modes, such as Classic Mode and Adventure Mode, as well as a new Explorer Rank feature allowing you to earn reputation from completing temples or lose it if you die. Another new addition is the Daily Temple, allowing you unlimited tries for that day's temple. The Daily Temple run unlocks upon reaching the Adventurer level 1. Check out the full changelog below.
Adventure Update Changelog

Classic Mode - The mode players are used to. Unlocks when the player reaches the rank “Adventurer 1”
Adventure Mode - Get a temple based on your “rank”
Wide variety of temple types. Temples range from short & easy to long & near-impossible. Temples matched to players based on their “explorer rank”
Explorer rank - Earn reputation from completing temples. Lose rep by dying. Earn reputation to increase your rank. Higher rank = harder temple pool.
Progress story - Story progresses as players find relics and complete temples in Adventure mode.
Daily Temple - Unlimited tries. New temple every 24 hours. Leaderboards for overall best performance. Unlocks when the player reaches Adventurer 1
New Content

New Rooms
New Trap layouts
New temple visuals
New pots
Story Progression

Collecting relics will break the chains of “Altec”, a giant statue in the HUB.
There are 3 chains total to be broken. The requirements for each chain are as follows:
Chain 1: 1st Ruins relic, 3rd ruins relic, 5th ruins relic
Chain 2: 1st Caverns relic, 3rd caverns relic, 5th caverns relic
Chain 3: 1st Inferno relic, 3rd Inferno relic, 5th Inferno relic
Power Shrines & unlocking whips

New Power Shrines and whip unlocks
Claiming a relic unlocks a new whip that players can use.
Additionally, each whip has a unique power than also then becomes available at a “power shrine”
Powers from a power shrine cost keys
For example, if you own the lightning and Ice whip, you can attain their powers mid-run from a power shrine
Updated tutorials

Updated level
Improved to be closer to a real temple
The old tutorial has been removed.
Codex

Tutorial popups used in relevant places to better explain something the first time the player encounters it.
After you read a popup, it can then be found in the “codex”.
Original post
10 Aug 2022Developer post
BETA TEST - Adventure Update (August 2022)
The next big update for Phantom Abyss features the new Adventure Mode! This update is based on your feedback so far, and addresses many of your concerns you have voiced about the game. The skill curve is easier to learn and harder to master, and much new content has been added. P
24 Jun 2022Developer post
Phantom Abyss Revised Roadmap for 2022
Thank you for playing and supporting Phantom Abyss in Early Access! We have taken community feedback into account and are working on more features for the game, and we hope you will enjoy them. Phantom Abyss is also part of the Steam Summer Sale, happening now! Here is a look at
04 Apr 2022Developer post
Power system has been changed (again)
After talking amongst ourselves and talking to the community, we've made the following changes: The following blessings have had power costs removed: - Double Jump - Wings - HoverSlide - Whip again The ONLY blessings that cost power are now: - Soul Armor (costs 1 power) - Banishi
31 Mar 2022Developer post
Power Patch - and a bigger discussion on the status of the game
Hi everyone. I’m Ben Marrinan, the lead designer of Phantom Abyss. There’s been many thoughts and opinions thrown our way on the “power” update. At the end of the day, we’re making this game for all of you, and it’s clear to us that many are upset about several changes in this up
28 Mar 2022Developer post
The Phantom Abyss Power Update is Live!
Hi adventurers. We've got a new Phantom Abyss update landing on your gaming rigs fresh off the press. This one, dubbed the Power Update, delivers on many new features including the double whip, gloom, hidden paths, new switches, and the ability to fight back against the guardians
Hi adventurers. We've got a new Phantom Abyss update landing on your gaming rigs fresh off the press. This one, dubbed the Power Update, delivers on many new features including the double whip, gloom, hidden paths, new switches, and the ability to fight back against the guardians. Check out the full changelog below, before jumping back in for your next adventure.
Phantom Abyss Power Update Changelog
GENERAL CHANGES

You will now start your runs with 1 hit point. Extra hit points can be obtained by collecting phantom essence.
When you die, the trap that killed you will become a "phantom" and will no longer be harmful to future players. For example, if you die of spikes, those spikes will appear to be transparent for all future players that encounter them.
Find your way around new "dark rooms" which are very difficult to see in. Grab a crystal to illuminate the area around you, but beware, phantoms can also grab these crystals, too.
Challenge yourself in a new room type with a bunch of "invisible floors". The floors are revealed when anything comes into close proximity, including the player and other phantoms.
The Power Update introduces rooms with "switches" either in the form of a pad on the ground or a whippable crystal.
Sometimes, a timer will appear on the screen if a switch is timed. Multiple switches can all contribute to this timer in a single room.
18 (hidden) Achievements have been added to the game.
Many traps and rooms have had rebalancing and improvements
Looting chests (and interacting in general) has been made easier to do
The Devouring Rage now deals 1 damage rather than instantly killing the player.
Many more bug fixes
POWER SYSTEM A new "power bar" has been added to the game. The power bar will only appear if the player unlocks an ability that uses "power". All power abilities are unlocked at shrines, located at the end of each floor. Each ability that consumes power has a cost associated with it. Some powers consume a single segment such as "double jump" which consumes 2 segments. Other powers consume segments for as long as they are held, such as "wings". Players have 4 power segments by default. The power bar refills in the following ways:

A player buys a new blessing (ability) from a shrine. (full refill)
A player starts a new floor (full refill)
A player finds an "essence" (left on the corpse of a dead player) (refills 1 segment)
NEW BLESSINGS

The following blessings are new abilities available to purchase from shrines:
Banishing Whip - Players can temporarily banish Guardians by whipping them. (Devouring Rage, Masked Defiler and Eye of Agony. Only 1 appears per temple)
Soul Armor - Become invulnerable for a few seconds
Whip Again - Whip again in the air
NEW WHIP POWERS The following whips have had their powers changed. (New power in brackets)

Crikey (+1 power container)
Cable (+1 heart container)
Obsidian (Essence does not give power)
Bamboo (Double essence dropped, blessings deal half a heart of damage)
Abstract (-1 power container)
Feathers (+1 power container, +1 heart container)
Hobbiest (-2 power containers)
Wooden (+2 power containers)
Fire (blessings hurt half a heart)
Void (Max 1 health)
Original post
21 Dec 2021Developer post
Minor update: UI and other small fixes
We'd like to give a massive apology to everyone for the state of our servers for the past week. It's been very painful for everyone including us, and is the first time we've experienced these issues since we first launched in Early Access 6 months ago. The good news: is that serv
We'd like to give a massive apology to everyone for the state of our servers for the past week. It's been very painful for everyone including us, and is the first time we've experienced these issues since we first launched in Early Access 6 months ago. The good news: is that servers are stable once again! Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding! On top of the servers working properly, we've patched a few minor issues detailed below. Thank you to everyone for playing. We hope you're enjoying the game, and we can't wait to share with you what we've got in store for the new year! Latest changes

Fixed issues where the "phantom released screen" didn't want to go away.
Fixed an issue where the game could "black out" if players entered the HUB frequently
The masked Defiler will give you a bit more time to breathe before attacking again.
Added some more pillars to several rooms with floating platforms
Players must now be standing to "interact" with something
Updated the phantom counter in loading screen
Phantom counter should be more accurate now
Updated relic sounds
Original post
13 Dec 2021Developer post
The Phantom Essence Update!
Hi Adventurers. Another update is in the books, and this is an interesting one. Make sure to check out the full changelog below, then hop in and make your inner Indy proud. Phantom Abyss Essence Update Changelog Essence level up system Collect essence from dead players to level u
Hi Adventurers. Another update is in the books, and this is an interesting one. Make sure to check out the full changelog below, then hop in and make your inner Indy proud.
Phantom Abyss Essence Update Changelog
Essence level up system

Collect essence from dead players to level up!
Unlock whips and whip skins via leveling.
Phantoms remaining

Improved feedback for phantoms remaining
Loading screen updated to display where phantoms died
Unlockable whips and whip skins

Note to existing players: Whips are now unlocked via leveling rather than purchasing with keys. If you already own whips via the old system you won’t unlock anything for the first several levels. Skins start unlocking at level 22.
Steam friends

Easily browse all temples attempted by your Steam friends
Steam friends appear as different colours
Add other people to this handy list via user codes
New Rooms

A wide range of new rooms have been added.
Lots of moving platforms, rolling logs and open spaces
Quality of life improvements

See how many relics have been claimed at each stage of a temple before committing to a certain path.
See what relics are duplicates before claiming one
Game will now correctly tell you when your phantom has been freed and your whip gets returned
Original post
25 Oct 2021Developer post
Phantom Abyss Halloween Update is Live!
Halloween is almost here, and Phantom Abyss is ready for the spook season with this brand new Halloween Update. This update delivers on some spooky visual changes to the temples, as well as a brand new Haunted Whip skin for the Adventurer Whip. Check it out below. The Phantom Aby
Halloween is almost here, and Phantom Abyss is ready for the spook season with this brand new Halloween Update. This update delivers on some spooky visual changes to the temples, as well as a brand new Haunted Whip skin for the Adventurer Whip. Check it out below. The Phantom Abyss Halloween Update also delivers some QOL fixes and tweaks listed below.

Make use of the new Haunted Whip, replacing the regular Adventurer Whip on your hip.
All vines have been replaced with spider webs, and the colours are spookier. SPOOKY!
The Updated Hub provides more things to explore, and Secret Hub Shrines for the first time grant Blessings in the Hub, New Ancient Language Story Panels for the Deepest Lore.
You can now configure any blessed whip to be blessed, unblessed, cursed or empty(no blessing or curses).
New Gamma options allow you to better balance the brightness for different monitors/eyes.
The gameplay difficulty has been adjusted across the board.
Original post
23 Sep 2021Developer post
Phantom Abyss - Brace for the Invasion Update!
Hello adventurers! Today, we’re delivering another update designed to make your exploration runs cooler and more challenging. We’re calling this one The Invasion Update, and it includes new enemies, new relics, more phantoms, and even more traps! Based on community feedback we ha
Hello adventurers! Today, we’re delivering another update designed to make your exploration runs cooler and more challenging. We’re calling this one The Invasion Update, and it includes new enemies, new relics, more phantoms, and even more traps! [previewyoutube=ErYRx0FaG5w;full][/previewyoutube] Based on community feedback we have restructured temples and made them all single-path. Rather than using a bunch of branching paths leading into the inferno, you will now start alongside all other players on Floor 1. We have also recreated Relic rooms in Ruins and Caverns. Relic Rooms can now contain multiple relics, but you may find yourself confronted with nothing more than a bag of sand if luckier looters beat you to the prize. The Inferno still has a single relic, and picking it up is the only way to free the phantoms and seal the temple forever. The Invasion Update also includes new Homing Bomb enemies who will chase you down and explode on impact, and Defenders who will be the end of everyone who comes too close. New Floating Mines and Dart mines will provide yet another explosive moment to your grand adventure. As an added bonus, Phantom Abyss is available at 25% off until September 27th. https://store.steampowered.com/app/989440/Phantom_Abyss/ We are dedicated to expanding Phantom Abyss even further throughout Early Access, so make sure to share your thoughts, feelings, and wishes with us in the comments and on the forums. P.S. In case you missed it, check out episodes 1-3 of Ask the Abyss, our weekly community Q&A. If you have questions you'd like answered on the stream, don't hesitate to reach out via the official Phantom Abyss Discord server: https://discord.gg/phantomabyss [previewyoutube=FENFapaR-4E;full][/previewyoutube]
Full changelog
Temple restructure

Temples no longer converge in inferno. Everyone starts with you on floor 1.
Ruins and caverns relic rooms contain multiple relics.
A player claiming a relic will leave behind a sandbag.
Only claiming an inferno relic will now seal a temple.
Loading screen has been updated to reflect the restructure
New traps and enemies

New variations of spinning blades
Homing bombs
A new enemy type that will chase you down.
Defenders
A new enemy type that will lunge at you. Tethered by a short leash.
Floating mines
Tricky patterns to dodge and avoid.
Dart mines
Will explode when it senses someone or something into a barrage of darts
New sliding and bouncing sections
Misc

Improved performance with various traps and rooms. Further phantom improvements to come!
Some particularly difficult rooms will no longer spawn in the Ruins.
Updated the colours of some relics
Updated audio in rotating rooms
Fixed various issues in certain rooms
Fixed players sometimes getting stuck in pits
Original post
23 Aug 2021Developer post
The Overturned Update is Here
Hi all! We've been working around the clock to deliver a brand new Overturned Update to Phantom Abyss. It delivers a bunch of new content, features, and fixes, as we prepare to further expand the game throughout Early Access. Key new additions consist of 28 new trap-laden chamber
Hi all! We've been working around the clock to deliver a brand new Overturned Update to Phantom Abyss. It delivers a bunch of new content, features, and fixes, as we prepare to further expand the game throughout Early Access. Key new additions consist of 28 new trap-laden chambers, including treacherous rotating rooms that will turn your adventure upside down. [previewyoutube=tyUfl9Olrb8;full][/previewyoutube] Other updates include fixes to network connection issues, back-end stability fixes, as well as new visual cues and upgrades to Trap doors, the Portal Screen, foliage, Relic Room doors, and much more. To round everything up, Phantom Abyss is available at 25% off from today at 10 AM Pacific, until Monday, August 30th at 10 AM Pacific. Tell your friends. Thank you to everyone for your love and support. Things have been a bit hectic here as we've been focusing hard on fixing disconnection issues. Moving on we're looking forward to talking to the community more on actual features and changes that you want to see! We've got a lot of exciting ideas to share, and we'd love to hear your ideas too. https://store.steampowered.com/app/989440/Phantom_Abyss/
Changelog
What's new:

Adventurers can now explore 28 new rooms, including 7 new corridors and 21 new main rooms.
Turn your adventure upside down in brand new treacherous rotating rooms scattered throughout perilous Ruins, precarious Caverns, and petrifying Inferno.
Your Basic Whip received a Blessing, allowing you to keep the trusty tool by your side at the expense of others. Fear not, it will never be lost.
Brand new connection retry prompts will now come up if your network connection fails, so you can restore it and retry without losing your (surely) impeccable run.
Small trap doors now have a visual variation to show whether they are going to trigger on a timer or by proximity.
You can now use your user sharing IDs in the portal menu. This will allow you to retrieve all active dungeons from your friends, so you can enjoy them without having to use individual codes.
The Portal UI has been re-worked to be clearer and easier to use.
What's fixed:

Various back-end stability fixes
Caverns and Inferno had their post-processing updated. They look so good now!
Foliage for all packs was improved and occurs more frequently.
Orb-key doors and relic room door symbols look so much better now it's not even funny.
You know that issue where the dead-end doors would have remained in the Ruins skin in Caverns or Inferno? Well, they don't anymore. Instead, they look like big skull murals. You can't miss them.
Original post
07 Jul 2021Developer post
Join us for the Legends of the Phantom Abyss Stream Event
Join us for a special Legends of the Phantom Abyss stream event in which our guest contestants will race to retrieve the Relic from Altec's Abyss and raise money for charity in the process. The event is scheduled to begin on July 7, at 10:30 AM Pacific, and you can watch it via t

Updates & announcements

Phantom Abyss exited early access TODAY! And here is everything you need to know about it!

Adventure mode has been completely overhauled

Players now have a choice of a series of different temples to play. Each adventure mode temple has a specific whip, relic, and series of challenges attached to it. Players can increase the challenge of an adventure mode temple to increase the rewards you unlock.

Classic mode is now called Abyss Mode

Curses have been removed from whips. Whips are unlocked by playing adventure mode. Whip skins are unlocked via opt-in challenges

Torn-apart landscape The Rift is an area slowly being torn apart by the abyss. It features large areas filled with floating debris, whirlpools, and corruption spreading through the walls.

New rift traps:

Lasers: Moving, rotating and cycling deadly lasers. Grapple nodes: Floating nodes that you can grapple-whip continuously without needing to land. Many new rooms

An upgrade well that provides permanent upgrades can be found in the HUB and in the first floor of temples. Upgrades are purchased with keys. Rarer keys = better upgrades.

Dash forwards in the direction you’re facing, including up or down!

Players are able to add extra challenges to their temple. Doing so will make rarer keys more likely to find, and unlock additional whip skins.

The HUB has been dramatically condensed.

The portal is much faster to get to, and the HUB now focuses around 4 pillars. Each pillar represents one of the 4 zones in the game (ruins, caverns, inferno, and rift.)

The Crowbar

Power: Shockwave Wherever you whip creates a shockwave, interacting (and disabling) anything it touches.

The Snake

Power: Time Slow Bound to a button - activate to slow time for several seconds.

Lunar Whip

Power: Super Dash Dash is upgraded to be…super.

A lot of whip powers have been swapped around or added.

Powers available at end-of-floor shrines are now always other whip powers. Heals have been moved to blessing shrines - which are only found in hidden nooks and crannies.

Well, we just removed it...

No more loading the HUB to replay the game. Hit retry directly after you die!

But that's not all!

Adventure Update Changelog

Phantom Abyss Power Update Changelog

Phantom Abyss Essence Update Changelog

Full changelog

Changelog

Players now have a choice of a series of different temples to play.
Each adventure mode temple has a specific whip, relic, and series of challenges attached to it.
Players can increase the challenge of an adventure mode temple to increase the rewards you unlock.

Curses have been removed from whips.
Whips are unlocked by playing adventure mode.
Whip skins are unlocked via opt-in challenges

Lasers: Moving, rotating and cycling deadly lasers.
Grapple nodes: Floating nodes that you can grapple-whip continuously without needing to land.
Many new rooms

An upgrade well that provides permanent upgrades can be found in the HUB and in the first floor of temples.
Upgrades are purchased with keys. Rarer keys = better upgrades.

Players are able to add extra challenges to their temple.
Doing so will make rarer keys more likely to find, and unlock additional whip skins.

The portal is much faster to get to, and the HUB now focuses around 4 pillars.
Each pillar represents one of the 4 zones in the game (ruins, caverns, inferno, and rift.)

Power: Shockwave
Wherever you whip creates a shockwave, interacting (and disabling) anything it touches.

Power: Time Slow
Bound to a button - activate to slow time for several seconds.

Power: Super Dash
Dash is upgraded to be…super.

Powers available at end-of-floor shrines are now always other whip powers.
Heals have been moved to blessing shrines - which are only found in hidden nooks and crannies.