Abyssal Terrors is a DLC package for the sensational auto-shooter Brotato, a game that we reviewed last year but have genuinely not stopped playing since. Originally released on Steam in 2022 (as part of the wave of auto-shooters that Vampire Survivors popularised), we spent over 230 hours fully completing the Switch version and then did all over again on the PS5. Every character beaten on Danger 5 difficulty.
It’s a tough task that takes forever to do but Brotato is so good that it never felt like a chore. And now here’s the DLC, adding 18 new characters, a heap of new items, a whole new arena and a new gameplay mechanic. It took a while to make it over to PSN but then it dropped in December and we SPENT ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY AND MOST OF JANUARY PLAYING IT. Man, Brotato is just so goddamn good.
The DLC costs just over three quid. You can play any character, from the original list of 44 or the new 18, on either map (the original Crash Zone or the new Abyss). We started by beating all of the new characters on the old map. Turning that selection screen deep yellow (by beating everyone on Danger 5) is a thing for Brotato fans and so we were quite happy doing that. But then we realised that you can do it all again with all 62 characters on the Abyss selection screen. Hundreds more hours of Brotato fun? Where do we sign up?!
But before we get into how the new stuff works, let’s have a quick recap. As we said, this is an auto-shooter. During combat you only use the left stick (although you can enable some manual aiming with the right stick if you need to concentrate damage in one direction) and your chosen potato will attack whatever enemy is nearest to them for as long as that wave lasts.
Between waves you will visit a shop. Here you can by weapons and items to help improve your attack and defence. Indeed, knowing how to shop effectively is more important than your dodging skills (although they definitely matter) and will be the difference between success and failure. So far, so Vampire Survivors.
Where Brotato shines, to the point where it might be our favourite game ever at this point, is in how each character plays so differently. It’s not just characters being better suited to ranged or melee combat. Each one has a specific set of strengths and weaknesses that make them unique. And learning them all is A JOY.
But, anyway, the DLC. Well, the 18 new characters are a good mix. Some definitely feel like re-works of existing characters while others are entirely different. You’ve got a potato that charms enemies to fight for it, one who needs enemies to be on fire to really hurt them, one who gets stronger the more they move and so on. A few of them are absolute pricks to play as. The Captain being one of the worst but none are bad. Just… different.
What we’re not sure about though is the new arena. The Abyss has an underwater theme (not that you can really tell) and is significantly harder than the original Crash Zone. At least on the face of it. You need to invest heavily in damage to even be able keep up with the wave clear which then makes you super vulnerable. Focusing on armour and dodge means that you’ll not be able to damage enemies fast enough, ensuring a peasant’s death.
To way through that is to embrace the game’s new ‘Curse’ mechanic. Curse is a stat that increases when you kill certain enemies or equip cursed weapons and items. The higher your Curse level is, the more likely enemies will be cursed which adds 25% Damage, 15% Speed and 150% HP to them. Not good. But what is good is that cursed loot is supremely powerful. Cursed weapons are vastly more powerful, while cursed items have significant stat boosts.
The downside to this is that you need to find the right items and then hope they are cursed. This is compounded by the fact that the new items in the game really pollute the item pool meaning you are far less likely to find items that would really benefit you. It’s evident when you realise that you hardly ever see great items like ‘Baby With a Beard’ anymore because it’s more likely to not show up.
This all makes Abyss feel a lot more RNG dependent and, for us, it does make it a more frustrating experience. We’re working through it one character at a time and it’s honestly taking us three times as long to get characters beaten just because of how easy it is for a build to not come together. But, that’s tempered by the fact that this is Brotato, just not as nicely balanced.
We still love it but, for us, the DLC isn’t quite as good as the original game. We gave the original a 9 (it should have been a 10 but we initially preferred it on Switch in handheld mode and it didn’t seem as well suited to a big television – we were wrong though) and so this DLC feels like a very strong 8. When (If?!) we do beat all 62 characters on Abyss (on Danger 5) we’ll probably kick ourselves for not giving this a 10 as well but either way, Brotato is GREAT.
+ Core gameplay is still superb
- New map requires a lot more luck to beat