Hero Games knows what makes action RPGs tick. After backing Black Myth: Wukong through its meteoric rise to 20 million sales and watching Wuthering Waves capture players’ imagination, they’re channeling that expertise into their own creation. Duet Night Abyss lands its first closed beta test on February 20th (UTC+8), and it’s bringing some absolutely smashing ideas to the table.
This reflects the company’s evolution from an investor to a developer, following its successful investments in Black Myth: Wukong and Wuthering Waves. In this CBT, Hero Games presents some truly unique features, including the unconventional combat system, an upgrade mechanism free from random attributes, and a dual-perspective narrative, all of which showcase its innovative spirit.
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Inside Duet Night Abyss
High-Freedom Combat
Since its global debut in October 2023, DNA has been turning heads with its approach to combat freedom. Through the recent Special Program, DNA showcased how far this system goes in this CBT. Characters can perform all actions without stamina restrictions, and combat skills have no cooldowns.
DNA’s core design philosophy centers around multiple weapon loadouts in full 3D combat environments. The game emphasizes high freedom and mobility in both combat and exploration, while its fixed attributes build system ensures consistent progression. All of this wraps into a dual narrative storyline that tells its tale from two distinct perspectives.
Each character can equip both a ranged and melee weapon simultaneously, allowing for diverse combat approaches. The arsenal runs pretty deep as well.
We’re talking rapid-fire dual pistols, room-clearing shotguns, sustained damage assault rifles, precision bows, and space-controlling grenade launchers to cover the ranged options. In close quarters, you’ve got traditional swords, unique whipswords for mid-range control, tactical polearms, heavy-hitting greatswords, and agile sabres.
This closed beta test showed how this freedom extends to movement. Characters can chain basic jumps into double jumps, weave through combat with forward dashes and dodges, and use wall jumps and specialized helix leaps to fight across every vertical space.
Commission Dungeons put these mobility options to the test, throwing waves of enemies designed to push players’ mastery of the system. The result feels more like a combat sandbox than a traditional action RPG, with players crafting their own approaches to each encounter.
Demon Wedge System & Weapon Forging
It’s also quite refreshing to see how this flexibility carries into character progression through the Demon Wedge system. These upgrades drop from commission dungeons in two varieties – character and weapons. Unlike typical RPG systems with random stat rolls, Demon Wedges provide guaranteed improvements.
Character Demon Wedges modify everything from combat attributes to battle abilities, while Weapon Demon Wedges can amp up the damage players inflict while letting them maintain a sustained recovery. Once a type of Demon Wedge is unlocked, it can be equipped on all characters or weapons of that type.
At the Lunosmith forge, players can craft a variety of equipment, including the prestigious five-star ranged weapon Arclight Apocalypses. Players can craft weapons up to five-star rarity using battle materials, with crafting times scaling by power level.
Common weapons get done in minutes, while four and five-star equipment typically requires hours unless accelerated through an optional speed-up system. This crafting path runs alongside traditional gacha mechanics, ensuring multiple routes to high-end equipment.
Dual Narrative And Character Roster
The beta roster showcases fifteen unique Daimon, who are awakened members of the persecuted Charon race. Each design tells a story through shared elements like demon horns and exposed mechanical spines, while incorporating distinct natural themes. One thing that I particularly got excited about was how the story unfolds through this ambitious dual narrative structure.
There are two ways in which you get to witness the action: Chapter Noctoyager and Chapter Twilight. Both these narratives give you parallel perspectives on shared events.
To nobody’s surprise, DNA backs this with some excellent production value, including full voice acting across four languages. Emma Ballantine leads the English cast as the female Phoxhunter, alongside Joshua Wichard as The Boy in the Dream.
The Japanese dub features industry veterans Akari Kitō and Natsuki Hanae in those roles, supported by powerhouses like Yui Ishikawa (Berenica), Satomi Arai (Tabethe), Hosoya Yoshimasa (Yuming), Yoshino Nanjō (Fushu), Aki Toyosaki (Truffle and Filbert), Makoto Furukawa (Outsider), Satomi Satō (Psyche), Naganawa Maria (Fina), and Tachibana Kyo (Snow). The Korean and Chinese versions feature equally prestigious talent, with acclaimed voice actors ensuring consistent quality across regions.
Players interested in following DNA’s development can find the latest news on the official website and social channels including X, YouTube, Facebook, and Discord. The game’s growing community also maintains active discussions on Reddit.
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