End of Abyss Is Out at $29.99 From the Ex Little Nightmares Team

The quietest big release of this week is also one of the most interesting. End of Abyss, the first game from Section 9 Interactive, is out today, October 1, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC through the Epic Games Store, priced at $29.99. Section 9 is the Malmö studio founded by brothers Mattias and Marcus Ottval together with Gustaf Heinerwall, all three formerly of Tarsier Studios, the team behind the first two Little Nightmares games. Epic Games Publishing is handling the release.

That pedigree is the reason we have been watching this one since its reveal. Little Nightmares traded on dread and scale rather than jump scares, and the trailers for End of Abyss suggest the same instincts applied to a top down sci-fi horror game with guns. The PlayStation Store listing also shows a free Game Trial sitting next to the full purchase, which is a sensible way to launch a new studio's first title.

Video: End of Abyss (Section 9 Interactive) on YouTube

What End of Abyss actually is

You play Cel, a young combat technician in a round glass helmet, sent into a sprawling underground compound to investigate disturbances of unknown origin. The official description frames the mission as a descent through a broken and abandoned world, where, in the studio's own words, nothing you encounter is fully human. The camera sits above the action, and combat is twin stick shooting: Cel starts with a recharging pistol and picks up heavier tools like a shotgun, grenades and flares as she goes deeper.

The structure is closer to a Metroidvania than to a straight shooter. The facility branches, doors stay locked until you find the right key or tool, and a scanner updates your map and reveals hidden areas as you move. Paths open up as Cel gets stronger, and the studio makes a point of sending you back to earlier corridors once new routes unlock. Survival resources are deliberately tight. From what Xbox's hands on coverage described earlier this year, healing is limited to save pods, materials feed a small crafting economy, and upgrades are permanent, so each run deeper into the complex is a bet on how far you can push before retreating.

The tone is the part that stands out in every piece of footage. The art direction leans on slow reveals, humming machinery and creatures that emerge from the dark, with the studio openly citing the Alien films and The Thing as touchstones. It is a horror game that wants you tense rather than startled, which is exactly what Tarsier alumni are known for.

Price, platforms and the trial

End of Abyss costs $29.99 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it is a PC release through the Epic Games Store only, not Steam, which is normal for an Epic Games Publishing title. Both console stores list October 1, 2026 as the release date, and Section 9's own site now says the game is available now. The PlayStation Store listing includes a free Game Trial alongside the paid version. We have not seen the trial's exact length stated, so check the store page before assuming how much of the game it covers. The game runs on Unreal Engine and the studio received an Epic MegaGrant during development.

Our take: a $29.99 debut from a three person leadership team with Little Nightmares on their resumes, published by Epic, landing in the middle of a crowded October, is the kind of release that gets buried and then rediscovered months later. If you liked how Little Nightmares used silence and scale, this looks like the same craft turned toward a shooter, and the PlayStation trial makes it a cheap experiment. We will see how it holds up once we have spent proper time in the facility.