These glow sticks look fancy underground. Neon abyss Review.

Whoa Dejavu,

Waking up at this bar in a loud nightclub seems oddly familiar. Did I not see this bar tender before somewhere. So groggy. I dance off this funk for a bit before I leave through the backdoor and decide unprompted to just jump into a large hole in the ground. Headfirst into the abyss.

Down here I battle through the underworld of neon and bullets. On my way I look for ways to crush the new gods of bitcoin and nightclubs. The loot I find is plentiful, some of it is better then others but I can use anything I find in my advantage. Through it all I hope that I fill find a cure for this affliction of rinse and repeat and finally get some rest.

GAMEPLAY

Weevo games' Neon abyss is the latest in a line of many roguelike action plaformers to release to your favorite console and PC. The genre has seen a large growth in popularity in the last few years and so it falls on each game to bring either something unique or execute a great gameplay loop, preferably both. 

In Neon Abyss, you play as one of eight member of the "Grim Squad" a task force set up by Hades to infiltrate the world of the Abyss and destroy the new gods.  In your quest you will experience the agony of death over and over again but each demise makes you smarter, stronger and wiser. Each time bringing you close to your goal of finding an artifact that can fulfill your wishes.

Don't want to dive right back in? Why not see if you can upgrade your skills, have a little dance of say a little prayer before you get back into the action.

The controls for Neon Abyss are straight forward. We were playing on PC and could smoothly switch on the fly between controller and mouse+KB. I found both worked well though at first I was not happy with the controller layout until I found I could pretty much reconfigure the layout to my preferences. 

Much like a twin stick shooter, aim and shoot is done with right stick while moving around is done with the left stick. Because this is a platformer the jump button is the next important button. In this case it is assigned to the trigger, but you can put it wherever you like.  With mouse an keyboard it is much easier to aim using the mouse cursor. 

Dungeons will change each time you start over. There are five levels for each dungeon. Every level has a mini-boss with a large boss at the end of the 5th level. Each dungeon is unique in its configuration though you will see some enemies and layouts that might be slightly familiar. The RNG( Random Generator) makes some playthroughs harder then others as you at times get better pickups or a more generous layout than other times. The layout is however not linear, you explore multiple rooms, some are locked by a key , other need a certain number of gems or they are freely accessible. If a room has enemies they will close the doors preventing escape and you will have to eliminate them all in order to move on. 

Each iteration of a dungeon comes with a seed code that you can see in the pause screen. 

Every time you start a new run you can take this seed code with all its layout and loot and input it in a monolith outside the bar.  This way you can retry a level or you can share this code with your friends and see how they fare playing the same adventure. If you use the seed code however, achievements and Faith gems will be disabled.

There are a large variety of upgrades in the game, some you buy at the bar with gems you have collected by beating bosses. These will give you permanents skills/options that can help you in your future runs and they stray with you. Other items are unique and temporary to your active dungeon run. There are various weapons, armor and trinkets that can aid you in surviving the increasingly difficult levels. Passive effect times actual stack and you see them applied on your character sometimes making for some wild and silly builds.

 

There are over 400 items,in the game. If that is not enough for you, there is the pets hatching and evolving for good measure. Throughout the game you can find eggs, they travel with you and they can hatch into a random pet with various abilities such as shooting bullets, healing , blocking enemy attacks etc. Use their abilities enough and they will evolve, though after some rough battles they can also disappear  they do not last forever. So do not bother naming them.

 

Throughout the different games you will find different rooms , there are mini-games such as Piano Performances, Dance Competitions, Fight Clubs,etc. You will find stores to spend the coin your find and holy site where you can find some great upgrades. It pays to explore and not always run straight to the next boss fight.

With a thumping nightclub Soundtrack from award-winning composer Min He, and fitting neon lighting throughout the game the visuals of Neon Abyss defines its own style and brings a fitting personality to the game. The gun sounds are a bit timid and samey sounding and I would have loved more impacting and unique sounds to go with the various options and combos to really have the combat feel like it packs a bigger punch.

To be honest, initially Neon Abyss did not impress me much but as I kept trying to get a little further and learn the game mechanic better each time I found myself over and over again. And I am enjoying the different runs as I get further each time. The discovery of unique item combos and weapons each time keeps the itch to play again over and over. 

Keep in mind though that the roguelike aspect of starting over and over again,  might not be for everyone. This is something to think about before you dive in. For the fans of the genre this is a solid entry with a lot of discoveries. It does what it sets out to be well, Neon Abyss works hard to keep you entertained and offers a lot of value for money.If you are curious and want to try the game yourself, a demo is available to give it a try first. Below you also find the launch trailer and a gameplay montage we put together to get a feel of what the game is all about.

Neon Abyss is out on all platforms today.

Game information:
Title: Neon Abyss
Developer:  Veewo Games
Publisher: Team 17
Release date: 28 July 2020
Platforms: Xbox One,PlayStation® 4, Nintendo Switch™, and PC(steam).
Review platform: PC