Is Neon Abyss a good game to play on Windows? Well.. Not really. 😢
This article is in English.
TL;DR
IMO, Neon Abyss is a "hard" game to play in Windows, if you are using keyboard and mouse. It seems fun to play, but controlling makes it hard to continue playing.
Notice
- This article aimed to review and spread the information about this game.
- There is no copyright infringement intended.
- Copyright toward images or videos or any kind of media used in this article goes to the owner, such as the developer or publisher. A watermark (which is not shown on every media here), means for tracing back to the original source, which is to this domain.
Introduction
I knew the game from a promotion held by Epic Games entitled "Christmas Giveaway, 15 Free Games". This was given away on 17 Dec 2021 for a full day. After the day, the price goes back to the normal one again. Prior to read the review below, you could watch the trailer to the game here:
Game Details
Specification
This information is acquired/cited from it's official website1, it's page on Epic Games2, it's page on Steam3, and from my own understanding4.
| Developer | Veewo Games |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Team17 Digital Ltd.2, and Yooreka Studio (China)3. |
| Released On | 29 July 20202. |
| Platform | Windows1, Nintendo Switch1, PS41, XBOX11. |
| Genre | Shooter2, Platformer2, Action3, Adventure3, Indie3, RPG3, Pixel Games4. |
| Required Specifications |
|
| Game Size | 457 MB4. |
| Available Language on Game |
|
| Price | Normal price: IDR 115,0002 to 159,0003. Or around USD 19.99, EUR 19.99 from a quick browse in Google. Christmas giveaway price on 17 Dec: 0 (free)4. |
| Player | Single player. |
| Connection | I don't think this game needs an internet connection to play4. Internet connection is probably used to save your data through Steam app or Epic Games app (based on my understanding, played on Windows). |
Game Modes and Areas
Modes
The only mode available here is just the main story itself. Aside, there are three difficulties available: Easy, Normal, and Hard.
Areas
There are various areas or "floors" in this game. You could move from floor to floor by using an elevator. More explanation listed below:
- Office. I still have no idea on what purpose this floor is for...
- The Bar. Here you could:
- Change game mode, whether to Easy or Normal or Hard.
- Trade your game for an upgrade.
- Change your character.
- Dance 🤷🏻♂️
- Start playing the game again.
- Basement. Here you could change items that you currently use with other items in your repository.
- Lab. I also have no idea on what aim floor is for, but seeing all of these monsters here, probably this is to "keep a copy or freeze" of all monsters available on the game.
My Review
Game Play
Honestly the gameplay is not that complicated. It's simple and the tasks are easy to understand. You only need to kill some monsters, collect some coins and items, and that's it. No difficult tasks, frankly. As a player, you will play as this shooter. If you don't like "a male" to represent you as the shooter, you could change this character later in the bar.
But where do I feel that it's a hard game? The answer is in control. To play the game, you need to actively use the keyboard (to move your character), and click left on your mouse to shoot and aim your bullet. You could change some keyboard settings in the options, but to shoot? No. No way to change, and it seems locked with that setting. This makes it hard to continue playing.
I have recorded myself playing this game in the early stages, for around 19 minutes. Here you can see:
- Settings available to change on this game.
- I am trying the introductory stage, level 01, and level 02.
- Me exploring available floors on the game.
- How I keep going back to try to change the setting in options, in case I could change any that could possibly ease the gameplay.
As for now, I have uninstalled this game, as it's hard for me to keep up. I assume that this is probably due to me using keyboard and mouse as the controller. Probably it's gonna feel different if I have a joystick. So I am probably gonna try it again later on if I have one.
Pros
Small size.
The game size is less than 500 MB which is good as it doesn't require a lot of spaces.
Low-End Requirements.
Based on the minimum requirements, it seems like this game could run well on low-end devices which is good too.
Everything is clear, and well-designed.
Music? Good and clear. Graphic? Good. Nothing is bad IMO.
Cons
Control is super hard......
Yeap. This is my only concern I think. As I have described above, it's hard to use keyboard and mouse actively together. It's probably gonna be different if:
- Our gun could shoot by itself automatically. So the player only needs to move it's character, rather than move and aim your gun to shoot.
- Or the ability to change how players shoot could be good too. At least there are two other scenarios in my mind:
- Use mouse only, means players only need to move their mouse to anywhere, and shoot with left-click right now. Or...
- Use keyboard only, means the player moves with the keyboard, and shoots with a designated button on the keyboard.
Closing
To conclude, I think...
Reading reviews from various media, it looks like people actually enjoyed playing this game. But not for me... And I am gonna assume that this is due to the controller. I hope it's gonna run well if I have a joystick and try it again later on. So unfortunate...
So, my rating for this game is...
Everything is good enough aside from the controller. I also didn't feel bored when I played the game before. It's probably a good game for other platforms, but not Windows.
P.S: An updated short review (played with a joystick controller) is available here.
Thank you for reading this post, and see you on another one :)