- Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10 [highly skill and somewhat luck dependent] [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 36 [1000

- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000

- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: Technically around 10-15 full playthroughs plus grinding out cumulative achievements, but expect somewhere around 15-20 full playthroughs plus grinding
- Missable achievements: None [roguelite gameplay]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes - must play on Hard for The Real Game (50G) and on Abyssal for Ultimate Challenge (60G). Every other achievement can be unlocked on Easy
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
Introduction:
Welcome to Neon Abyss, a fast-paced 2D run-and-gun roguelite where you descend into a randomly generated abyss, descending floor by floor through randomized rooms, fighting enemies and beating bosses, all to eventually take revenge on the gods at the end of each run. There is quite a bit of depth and variety to this game, as you'll continually find new unlocks, rules, weapons, items, etc., even after many hours of playing. The completion can be quite challenging due to the bullet hell nature of some levels/enemies/bosses, but thanks to some good strategies and especially a handy save exploit, it's much more manageable than it otherwise would be. Just be aware that even with a save exploit and some RNG you're at the mercy of, you will still need to "get good" at the game to an extent, to have any chance of finishing up this completion. Let's get started!
Save Reload Exploit:
First off, it's important to be aware of a save exploit that exists with this game. While playing a run, the game makes a save at the start of every floor, and only at the start of every floor. This can be exploited in the following manner: if, at any point while progressing through rooms on a floor, you do poorly, take too much damage, make a bad choice, miss out on something, or are at risk of dying and therefore needing to start over, pause the game. Tab left once, and choose "Main Menu." From the main menu, choose "Continue" to be put back at the start of the floor you were just on, allowing you to try to again. Note that the layout of the floor is exactly the same every time you do this, in terms of enemy placement. This is great for learning what enemies are going to be where and improving your fights against them. The good/bad part about this is that items and weapons are typically the same too. So, if you get good items/weapons on a floor and retry it in this manner, they'll likely be there again. However, if you get bad weapons and useless items, you're stuck with them. The only real variability comes from chest contents and hidden rooms when using this reload exploit. It's still a very simple and handy exploit to use, and I'll be referring to it as the 'Save Reload Exploit' throughout the guide continually.
Step 0: Preparation
Right off the bat, when you start the game I highly recommend remapping the controls immediately, before you even start the tutorial. You need to be able to move, jump, and shoot all at the same time, and the default controls don't allow you to do this. You'll be using both thumbsticks like a twinstick shooter, meaning both thumbs will be busy at all times. You therefore want one of the triggers or bumpers to jump, not a face button. Set it to your personal preference. Likewise, all of the buttons you may use in combat should be up on top of the controller: gun ability, grenade, and active ability. Map those three and the jump button to the two bumpers and two triggers however you prefer. This allows you maximum flexibility while fighting.
Step 1: Progress The "Story" and Beat All Final Bosses
Being that this is a roguelite and nothing is missable, jump right in. Do the tutorial and play through on Easy to get the feel for how the game plays and how the controls work. The goal of this step is to beat your first run, which ends with Argus on the fifth floor, then beat a second run, which ends with Hal on the sixth floor, and then a third run with Zeus on the seventh floor. On Easy, this shouldn't prove too difficult at all. Learn enemy attack patterns and boss patterns, experiment with different weapons, and Google items you find if you want to see what they do. You'll likely get through those three bosses without any real issues on Easy, aside from maybe some bad RNG where you don't get a good weapon or whatever.
As you're beating bosses and completing those first three runs, you'll be earning a good amount of gems to spend on upgrades. Prioritize things that give you more consumables, such as secret rooms being marked, blocks marked with orange paint, switches to take you to secret rooms, more items in the shop, etc. These all help future runs significantly. Don't waste gems on stuff you won't used or don't have any achievements tied to them, such as many of the game rooms. Spend just enough gems to unlock the next tree, then move on to it to unlock the character there and any good skills.
After beating Zeus, the next order of business is to beat the other two bosses: Athena and Ares. These require a little more work to even reach them. Refer to Seek the Truth (50G) for reaching each of these two bosses. With them beaten, you've beaten all the main bosses in the game.
Step 2: Unlock and Complete Abyssal Difficulty
Now it's time to kick it up a couple notches. The next task is to bump it up to Hard difficulty to unlock the hardest difficulty, Abyssal, and then beat Athena on that difficulty. This is by far the hardest part of this completion. If you don't feel like you're ready for this yet, feel free to do Steps 3 and/or 4 below first, to get more practice and experience with enemies, bosses, etc.
Once you're ready to work on these two very difficult achievements, I highly recommend reading through The Real Game (50G). There are a few really key tips there that will make this far more manageable. I also highly recommend reading through Ultimate Challenge (60G) too before you get started, as there are a few really important things to be aware of that can make your Hard and Abyssal playthroughs much harder than they need to be if you're not aware of them.
Despite this being a straightforward section of the roadmap, this will not be easy. You will likely get frustrated, potentially have some heartbreak, and possibly even want to quit. Persevere though, because eventually RNG will be on your side and you'll get good weapons and items to make these runs possible. Make heavy use of the Save Reload Exploit to really optimize each floor, maximizing your chances of success on the next floor. Practice, practice, practice. You'll need to actually get good at reading boss attacks and dodging them to survive these difficulties, but it's so satisfying once you succeed. Especially knowing the rest is much easier.
Step 3: New Save File Runs
There are a few achievements that are much easier to unlock on a new save file. On the heels of your (hopefully) successful Abyssal run, now is a good time to do the No Hit run for Safety First (80G). Considering you'll be playing on the easiest difficulty after playing on the hardest, it will likely feel like an absolute joke. There's still some effort required, but it'll be so much easier to manage now. Refer to that achievement solution to knock out two of the rarest achievements for this game.
With that done, the achievement Shopping Maniac (30G) is actually much easier to do on a new save file too, or at least if you want to guarantee it and not have to worry about RNG. Refer to that achievement solution for the (only mildly tedious) setup to get that achievement on a new save file.
Step 4: Miscellaneous Runs for Mop Up
You likely still have a few achievements left that require full runs, such as Action Supremacist (80G) and Sovereign of Eggs (30G). First and foremost, you'll want to use these runs to also take care of any of the cumulative achievements that take place within runs, if you haven't unlocked them yet. Specifically:
- Find 99 secret rooms
- Finish the Piano game 10 times
- Fish 10 times
- Trade with Smirk Co. 99 times
- Open 999 locked chests
- Played Roulette 99 times
Mop up any remaining run-related achievements now, and you should be able to knock out all of the above cumulative stuff in these runs too.
Step 5: Cumulative Grinding
Now, all that should be left are deaths (environment and 99 total), entering the abyss 999 times, and maybe one or two others. Take care of everything left in this step, referring to the guide for some ways to make each achievement easier and/or quicker. That last bit of grinding will finally wrap up this completion!
Conclusion:
Neon Abyss is, in my opinion, a very underrated game. It's a ton of fun to play, very addictive, tons of stuff to make each run unique and add to the variability and replayability, and lots of stuff to work towards and unlock, even beyond the achievements. Most of the achievements are relatively easy to do, but a few will take some real effort. If you managed the completion, congrats on a seriously well earned one!