End of Abyss gets patched in a day, leaving its first review out of date

Studios rarely respond this fast. End of Abyss, the eerie metroidvania from Section 9 Interactive, received a patch just one day after its release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Epic Games Store. According to GameSpot, the update fixes many of the problems its own reviewer had pointed out, including the most serious of them all: a map that was, quite literally, lying.

Why does it matter? Because in a metroidvania the map isn't an accessory; it's the backbone of the experience. And because the case raises an uncomfortable question for the press and for content creators: if a game changes significantly within 24 hours of launch, what is the first published opinion worth? GameSpot's review went up two days before this news broke and, according to its author, much of it is already outdated.

What you need to know

• The patch arrived just one day after the game's launch.
• It fixes the main map bug, which showed doors as locked even when they were already open and didn't indicate when the matching key had been obtained.
• It also addresses other issues, although the source doesn't list them one by one.
• GameSpot's original review described the game as fun but uneven, held back by specific flaws.
• It's available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Epic Games Store).

A map that wasted your time

The genre thrives on exploration and backtracking: retracing your steps along winding routes because you now have the tool, ability or key you were missing before. Planning those trips depends entirely on the information the map gives you. In End of Abyss, that information was wrong. GameSpot's reviewer says they ended up planning long journeys based on bad data, only to discover too late that the route made no sense.

It's the kind of bug that doesn't break the game in a technical sense, but it does break trust. Once players stop trusting the map, every decision becomes a gamble, and frustration replaces curiosity, which is exactly the engine a metroidvania needs to keep running.

The dilemma of reviewing in the age of patches

GameSpot's author describes it as an unusual situation: the review went live before launch and, a day later, the product was no longer the same. In an era of live-service games and constant updates, it's normal for a title to evolve after release. What's less common is for that leap to happen so soon and to hit precisely what weighed most heavily in the verdict.

For anyone buying the game today, the experience is probably closer to what the studio intended. For anyone who read the review days ago, the picture has changed, even if the score or verdict hasn't necessarily moved.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom, we're clear on this: credit to Section 9 Interactive. Fixing the most criticized bug within 24 hours shows the team was listening and already had the fix in the works. But we're not going to applaud without reservations. If the patch was ready that quickly, the obvious question is why it wasn't in the launch version. A reliable map isn't an extra in a metroidvania; it's a bare minimum. Launching first and polishing later has become far too normal, and the people who pay the price are the ones who buy on day one.

For competitive players, and especially for the speedrunning community that tends to surround this genre, these early changes matter a lot. Routes, times and strategies can depend on how the map behaves or which bugs exist. A first-week patch can reshuffle everything, so it's worth waiting for the game to settle before taking any leaderboard seriously.

And for content creators, the lesson is a practical one: date your videos and reviews, state which version you played and, if the game changes in a meaningful way, update or post a follow-up. GameSpot's honesty in admitting its review is now out of date is exactly the kind of transparency your audience appreciates.

What do you think?

Would you rather a studio launch and fix things fast, or delay the game until it's polished? Do you trust reviews published before launch, knowing a patch could change everything the next day? Tell us where you stand in the team chat or on our Discord: is a day-one patch something to applaud, or proof that the game shipped too early?