Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10 [skill and luck depedent, like all roguelites] [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 17 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 4-6+ hours [skill and luck dependent] [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 3 technically, but plan on 15-20+ depending on skill and luck
- Missable achievements: None [rogue-ish gameplay]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None

Introduction:
Welcome to Tesla Force, a top-down shmup with a heavy dose of roguelite. You can play as the titular Tesla, Mary Shelley, and a couple other famous names. The story here is pretty thin, but if you're playing a shmup and roguelite, you're here for the gameplay. Compared to other roguelite games, you actually don't really need to do much, if any, real grinding in this game to build up your stats to have a chance of completing the game. That will, of course, also depend on your skill with shump gameplay and your luck with the RNG nature of rogue-ish games, in terms of what perks you get and how levels play out. The achievements are pretty simple and straightforward to do for the most part: beat all three chapters of the game, and then take care of miscellaneous achievements that you'll want to focus on during specific runs to make them easier. Let's get started.

Gameplay Mechanics Review:
The game gives you a very brief tutorial, and there are some things it doesn't really do a good job of explaining, so here's a quick review of various mechanics in the game:
 

• You start each level inside your mech. While inside the mech, you are effectively invincible. The mech has its own health, but that drains over time anyway. Obviously taking damage makes it drain faster, but your character can't lose any health while you're in the mech. For this reason, using the mech is extremely powerful
• After the mech timer runs out, you can collect four mech pieces around the level to make it available for use again. These will be marked, one at a time, on your HUD with a yellow circle showing where to find them. Once you collect all four, you'll be able to press  to get back in your mech again. If you're having a hard time with enemies, or you're fighting a strong Elite or boss, prioritize the mech pieces so you can fire away without worrying about dying.
• The little batteries you can pick up are called Energy Cells, and they are one form of currency in the game. Take note that they reset to zero after each run. You cannot save them up from one run to the next. You start each run at zero and have to collect them.
• Crystals, on the other hand, are your most valuable currency. These drop only from enemies, at random, but can also be dropped in much higher quantities from Elite Monsters and from bosses. You will also get guaranteed crystals from destroying statues in the 'Destroy the Statues' levels.
• Within levels, you can pick up skills which are temporary boosts, such as Fire Rate, Fire Bullets, Multi Barrel, etc. These are all extremely powerful, and so should always be grabbed when you see them.
• Perks, on the other hand, are 'permanent' boosts that last across an entire run. These are extremely beneficial as well, since you can improve damage by 20%, slow enemies by 15%, etc., and they all stack, meaning you can get the same perk multiple times for stacked increases. There are four ways to get perks:
  • In the hub, you can use the machine on the right side, and on the bottom you can buy perk slots with crystals. Each perk slot you buy can be filled in with a perk that you've unlocked, and once equipped, you will start each run with that perk already active. This can give you a huge leg up on runs
  • During runs, look for levels with a star symbol on them, as they reward you with a new perk.
  • During runs, look for levels with the hammer and anvil symbol, as this is a shop. At these shops, you can spend your Energy Cells to buy up to three more perks. This is the only place I'm aware of to spend Energy Cells, but buying up to three perks can be huge.
  • Within a level, you will sometimes find interactible objects, such as wells, chests, etc., that require either crystals or health or something else to open, and they'll reward you with a random perk. It can be tough to have time to read what you need to spend and what the reward is while you're fighting off enemies, but it can be a nice way to grab an extra perk in the middle of the level if you can spare whatever is required
• Abilities can also be picked up, and used with  until you run out of charges. These are like secondary attacks that can vary depending on what you pick up
• You can hold two weapons at a time, and swap between them with . Picking up a new weapon will replace whatever weapon is currently equipped.
• Teleporting with  makes you invincible, but it has a cooldown, so use it wisely. Note that you can also use  in the mech to dash, and this also damages enemies that you dash over.

General Gameplay Tips:
 

• Spend your crystals on Research (permanent stat increases) wisely. Crystals will be your rate limiting currency for most of the completion, so don't spend them on useless things. Save them up, if need be, for something worth it. I recommend getting the map-related ones right away (the first two options, which show level rewards and show all available levels). They're all really cheap, relatively, and it's very handy to be able to see the entire level map, and plan out your route for the best rewards you want and for the level types you prefer to play. After that, I spent my crystals only on weapon damage and mech health. I also got a single upgrade to teleporting. Those are the only upgrades I ever invested in, but do whatever suits your playstyle, and try to focus on a few rather than spending your crystals out across all things
• Like all similar shmups, you'll want to kite enemies around in circles/loops around the map. This is relatively easy to do on the first two chapters, but the third chapter makes this almost impossible, unfortunately. Still, kite enemies behind you, firing backwards at them, and if enemies approach from the front, either gun them down or veer to one side so they end up behind you
• Constantly be on the lookout for better guns. Whether that be different gun types, or guns of a higher level, always check what dropped so that you stay updated on your weapons and therefore most effective against enemies. Guns all start by default at level one, but I've seen up to level VIII in the third chapter, so keep an eye out for stuff that's a higher level than yours.
• Also on guns, be aware of the benefits and disadvantages of standard weapons versus energy weapons. Some Tesla weapons that shoot energy are good for mobs, especially the Jacobs Stick, which is amazing for groups of enemies, but they're absolutely terrible for Elites, bosses, and especially for destroying statues in the 'Destroy the Statues' levels. If you're using one, you'll definitely want to keep a second weapon that's regular ammo type, such as a Tommy Gun or Shotgun.
• Be aware of the set in-level rewards of completing each level type. I'm not referring to the perks or upgrades you get from finishing a level, but the reward you get within the level as soon as you complete the objective. These are set, and you can choose which level type to place next based on which reward you're after. Here is what they give:
  • In the 'Fix the Inhibitor' levels, when you complete the objective and press  on the Inhibitor to fix it, it also spits out 5+ Energy Cells that you can pick up right around it.
  • In the 'Survey the Hive' levels, when time runs out and you press  on the hive to extract the data, it always drops three health packs right around it.
  • Whenever you destroy a statue in the 'Destroy the Statues' levels, they also drop a few crystals, meaning these levels are great to boost crystal count
  • Elites are tough, but they drop a ton of crystals when you kill them as well.
  • Unfortunately, Aether Rifts don't give you any in-level reward for closing them all
• Use the above to plan out what you want/need during a run. For example, if you finish a level and you're pretty low on health, choose a 'Survey the Hive' level next, if you can, since you're guaranteed health packs when you finish.

Achievement Progression and Completion:
After starting the game up, run through the tutorial to unlock the related achievement. You'll likely also get a multikill and unlock Chain Reaction (20G) since there is a large set of enemies to gun down, but no worries if you don't yet.

Unlock other similar games, you actually don't play through all three chapters sequentially. You have to tackle them one at a time, and you need to complete the current one to unlock the ability to play the next one. So, all you can do to start is do runs of the first chapter, completing as many levels as you can and trying to beat the whole chapter. Rely heavily on your mech, if need be. You can simply ignore the objective and instead focus on the mech parts, and then once you have the mech again, work on the objective. If you do this in each level, you'll unlock Mechanical (40G) very early on. Prioritize crystal drops that you see, since they'll be a hot commodity in the early game. After each run, spend your crystals wisely on Research to make each subsequenct run easier. The first time you get an upgrade in the Reearch machine, you'll unlock Eureka! (20G). I recommend the two map-related ones (first two), gun damage, and mech health. Those are the only ones I really invested into, and I finished the game quite quickly, but do whatever suits your playstyle. After a few runs and a couple upgrades, you should finally be able to make it through the first chapter and beat the boss. You should ignore the boss unless you're in the mech, which is the strategy for every boss fight (unload on the boss while in the mech, then retreat and collect mech parts, then repeat). Once you manage to beat the first boss, you'll unlock Monster Hunter (20G) and access to the second chapter.

The second chapter, as noted before, is started independently from the first chapter, but the same level types and rewards are there. It's only the enemies and level layouts that change. You'll notice a marked increase to the amount of crystal drops you get in chapter two levels versus the first chapter. As a result, even if you're struggling in the second chapter, I recommend sticking with it to get more crystals. I also recommend using 40 crystals to buy the first perk slot in the hub, if you haven't already, and equip the perk for +20% gun damage. This starts every run with that perk, and gives you a huge leg up for the second chapter's levels. You should also have the map-related Research done by now so you can see the full chapter layout and plan your route accordingly. Now is a good time to start saving up crystals for investing in the gun damage Research, which is the most expensive of the bunch but will help take down mobs easier. Progression through the second chapter works the same as the first. When you get to the boss though, there are two miscellaneous achievements you can pick up here quite easily:
 

• The first is for beating the boss without taking damage. This is much easier than it sounds, because you can't take damage in the mech. Helping matters is that the boss's only attack is to drop purple stuff in easily telegraphed locations, making them very easy to avoid. It also helps that the only regular enemies are small and not in large numbers, making it easy to move around them without taking damage. Untouchable (100G) has more information, but it is completely realistic to do this on your first time fighting this boss, as I did, so make it a point to go for it, because if you do it, you don't have to play the second chapter ever again (assuming you get the below achievement as well).
• The second is for after you beat the boss, but before pressing  to complete the mission. Lucky Number (100G) requires you to complete a chapter (not a level) with the Doom Clock on the right at level 13. This can be idled after beating the second boss only, so refer to that achievemt for more information on very easily getting that achievement.

You'll also, of course, unlock What is that thing? (40G) for beating the second boss, and you'll unlock the third chapter.

The final chapter is quite a bit more difficult than the first two, because the levels in the second half of the chapter are not open levels that you can circle around. Instead, most are "linear" meaning that, if you get to one end, you will need to go back through all the enemies that were following you to get to the next objective. There are also many dead ends. This all combines to make for many situations where you can very easily get cornered by a huge mob of enemies, and have virtually no chance of escaping. Unfortuantely, there's not a whole lot you can do about it aside from investing in the Research to give you more teleport charges. You're going to need a bit of luck to not get screwed in the second half of the third chapter's levels, but with some practice and more Research, you should be able to make it to the boss. This boss is much more involved than the previous two. Refer to You Yellow! (100G) for tips on what to do to make it through this fight. Beating him beats the game, and now all that's left is mop up.

You will likely still need to do runs for three Elite Monsters, 12 statues, and 15 perks. Those are all readily done in the third chapter with proper planning. Refer to the relevant achievement solutions for tips on how to get them. Likewise for any other miscellaneous achievements you're still missing - refer to the guide for how to get them, which will wrap up this completion.

Conclusion:
I found this game to be quite fun and addicting, despite its relatively repetitive nature. However, that's pretty much what you'd expect from a roguelite, and this game delivers. It's also short enough to not wear out its welcome with repetitive levels and gameplay, making it a fun little romp and a shmup/roguelite that is much more accessible to the general public than others. Hopefully you didn't need to do much grinding, but even if you did, you should make it through this completion without much hassle. Congrats!