I have an interesting history with the original Neon Abyss. I reviewed it upon release 5 years ago, and while I loved the art style, randomness and humour, the game had major problems with its pacing, replayability, and the grind … and oh god the mouldy hearts! I picked it up again in 2022, saw all the updates the developers applied to the base game, and was amazed! I scored it a 3/5 in 2020, and in 2022 and now, it would be a 5/5 for sure. Everything was improved, and the game became one of my favourites in the rogue-like genre.
Now, in 2025, Neon Abyss 2 is here in early access form, which is the style of the time. Can the developers strike gold twice? Will they stick to their guns and what they learned to make Neon Abyss 2 even better?
Read on.
Hello neon darkness my old girlfriend
Now, while I do see there are plenty of new features and additions to Neon Abyss 2, and this is a game still in early active development, with the early access being a month old, I have to say this …
If you’ve played the first game before, then you’ve already played the sequel.
The general framework and core gameplay for Neon Abyss 2 is like any solid rogue-like, you dive into a randomly generated maze like world, you kill enemies, pick up perks and abilities to become stronger, to defeat a array of bosses to make it to the end … but there never truly is an end with these games is there.
It’s all done in a cute pixel art fashion. You pick from an array of colourful killers who resemble John Wick, YouTubers, Mages, and so forth to do as much damage as possible, then start over and repeat for the goodies. Neon Abyss 2 doesn’t mess about in getting you right into the action, as you can hang in the main hub, a nightclub called Hades, and from there you jump into the abyss. The goal is to defeat the managers, otherworldly beings who represent the ills of corporate greed and the modern world. Players must deal with each boss to confront the big bad of the abyss, which is even more formidable than the Gods of hacking, AI, and much worse.
You pick a character, usually based on preferred stats such as their HP, ability, or whether they have keys or grenades to start with. You jump down into the abyss, collect new weapons, abilities (there are a lot of them), go as far as possible, die, upgrade the various elements of the abyss itself, and repeat.
Like I said, it’s the same, but with the quality-of-life choices the first game received after feedback and further development.
Pixel perfect
So right off the bat, the progression or “Evolution system”, which is where you gain tokens to upgrade/unlock new features in the abyss, from new rooms, perks, and bonuses, is balanced and not grindy.
This was the big problem for me in the original game, and thankfully, the sequel has decided to keep the pacing the same. So, when you level up, you get evolution tokens, and after 10 hours of play, I was on the third evolution tree, unlocking new bonuses and rooms quite fine. I hope more evolution trees are coming, as I can see just 5 for now, and there needs to be many more to keep long runs compelling. There isn’t much new on the trees themselves, and you’ll be unlocking 90% the same stuff from the original game.
That is a shame, but more can be introduced, of course, and I do hope that is the case. The fact that the grind is not here is amazing, so respect to the developers for keeping it this way. I also have to point out that the general pacing with resources is much improved in the sequel as well. Originally, getting coins, grenades, and hearts was a slow, painful grind back in 2020, which was tweaked but never fully refined. In Neon Abyss 2, there seems to be a lot more kindness with resources, or at least just a general bump to keep you going with coins being dropped after each room is cleared of enemies, new bonuses and arenas, and a new system where you gather a neon green essence that upgrades the weapon you’re holding. And each time that levels up, you get another bonus perk!
So the momentum of Neon Abyss 2 excels the original game, keeping the action going, keeping you invested and feeling like you have a chance, even when you may not. It is still heavily RNG, and you will have a bad run, but even these runs have a better chance to turn around and give you something that doesn’t feel like a waste of time.
I also have to say the core gameplay is still thoroughly engaging, and this is through the charming world-building and general weirdness. But also, all the modifiers that jump in, the vast array of weapons, and how the world feels quite different with each run. I love all the random modifiers from the bar of soap that gives me 50 grenades, to the creepy floating head/virtual assistant, which has saved my arse more times than I can recall. I always found a use for them, even when they didn’t produce the most interesting results. And I did see a lot of repeating modifiers in different items, so hopefully this can be tweaked.
Still, the humour is bang on, and I love seeing all the weird new items and creative outcomes when bungled together.
And the animation is beautiful, I must say. From the first cutscene, I was just stunned at some smooth and pretty animations that were, like, liquid pixelation in motion, just gorgeous! And the game world, characters and vibes are still excellent, just oozing charm and likability to the max.
While Neon Abyss 2 plays it quite safe, the developers did have the right mindset to keep in what worked, refine what didn’t, and add in small, but meaningful elements that enhance the progression and impact of each run. I never felt like any run was worthless, or that I spent 20 minutes of my life I was never going to get back. I kept playing, and I kept enjoying myself.
The game rooms are good fun, despite the difficulty and consequence factors being a little hard at times. Such as random doors being slot machines that can explode after taking coins from you. Or the time for response being very matter-of-fact, like you have to be stupidly quick to tap a button prompt that comes from nowhere, it can make your head spin at times. But with the ease of earning resources and the general generous nature of the game making up for it, there was never a major stump for me personally. I can see some people might not like the gentler tone, and I understand.
But you also get a much more interesting system of blessings and curses. This really elevated the gameplay for me and pushed me into areas I tend to avoid. You can pick blessings depending on what you’re allowed, but picking curses allows you to pick more blessings. I recall there was something similar to Neon Abyss, but I never felt it was explored to utilised enough to remember. Here, the system is much more front and centre, and it’s a great way to spice things up.
The rough pixel edges
I feel my biggest gripe with Neon Abyss 2 so far in early access is just how much is repeated from the first game. The good stuff is fine, and there are new features to expand upon the original formula. But using a lot of the same enemies and assets feels a bit cheap to me. It’s not a major gripe, to be honest, as there are new enemies and environments, but a lot of the repeated stuff, even the good stuff, just makes this, for the time being, feel like an add rather than a sequel.
I also will acknowledge, while again not a major gripe, I wish there were more factors to change for characters in each run. I like games such as Hades and Dead Cells, where you can pick weapons and perks at the very beginning of each run. There is a blessing system, and you can pick up new weapons quickly at the start of a run. But it would have been nice to include more melee options, or a different gun that’s not just a pee-shooter, even at a cost. The turnaround is quite quick for a run to get new abilities and weapons, even if a lot of weapons are again the same feeling from the original, or just appear repeatedly until you unlock new ones.
Being able to choose a new starting weapon, perk, or melee weapon would be quite cool and allow for player experimentation. To be honest, I mainly used one character whose stats are low to start with, but she has a cool samurai sword, and she’s powerful. I’d love to see more starting weapons to pick from for all characters, as it would mean I’d be happy to experiment more.
But Neon Abyss 2 has just arrived in early access, and I’m still playing it with more hours to add to my belt. There are clear signs of massive improvements and creativity. But plenty of repeated elements, which I hope will be overshadowed by new stuff.
I still appreciate the pacing refinements and even new additions like the safe house, where you can put spare resources for the next run if you feel like you might die soon. This is a nice touch.
Overall?
I see a lot of familiarity with Neon Abyss 2, but I already have a lot of fondness and see the massive potential for the endgame. While much is recycled in a meaningful way, there is no doubt that the charm, refinements, better pacing and a few new elements will captivate new and veteran players. I love the randomness, the tight action, and the sense of reward and progression the sequel has to offer. I hope more evolution trees are added, new weapons and characters, and maybe a wishful hope that a better start-up system is implemented for choosing how we begin each run, aside from the blessing system. Which is a great addition, by the way.
Neon Abyss 2 is out now in early access, and I highly recommend that fans check it out, as well as newcomers too.
The publisher kindly provided an early access code of Neon Abyss 2 for preview purposes.
