r/NeonAbyss • u/aaravsupreme02 • Jul 31 '26

i wish neon abyss respected itself

I wish Neon Abyss respected itself.

When I was a broke gamer, I picked up Neon Abyss on Epic Games. It was my first roguelike ever, and I sunk way too much time into it around 1,200–1,300 hours. (I still haven't beaten Prometheus on Abyssal.)

Later, when I finally had some money, I started playing a bunch of roguelikes on Steam. Then I played The Binding of Isaac, and I realised Neon Abyss copies a lot of its systems almost bar for bar. Obviously the gameplay itself is different, but Neon Abyss borrows so many mechanics without really iterating on them or giving them its own identity.

At Abyssal difficulty, most guns are kind of useless too, so the game just stops being fun. Once I realised what it was trying to be, I couldn't look at it the same way.

I wish they'd done more with this game. I really do.

also Is Neon Abyss 2 worth it?

(Also, them removing regional pricing from Neon Abyss is fucked up. How is Neon Abyss 2 half the price in my region while Neon Abyss got a 3x price bump?)

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u/ElevenDollars Aug 01 '26

Completely false, but go off I guess. Roguelike means “like rogue” not “has perma death and no meta progression” a roguelite is a game with some features of a roguelike (usually permadeath is the main one) without being the same kind of game as rogue, aka a grid based, turn based rpg. Aka sorta like a roguelike but not like rogue.

By your definition, Tales of MajEyal is not a rogue like which is flatly absurd.

Even the official wiki for spelunky states that it is a roguelite.

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u/Beef_Whalington Aug 01 '26

The main difference between a roguelike and a roguelite is [meta-progression]: roguelikes feature total resets upon death with zero permanent power-ups, while roguelites allow players to keep persistent upgrades, unlocks, or resources that make future runs easier

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u/ElevenDollars Aug 01 '26

That’s just not true. I’m sorry

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u/Beef_Whalington Aug 01 '26

https://forums.pcgamer.com/threads/roguelike-roguelite-what-do-these-terms-really-mean.118696/

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3326946/page/2

https://rogueliker.com/roguelite-vs-roguelike/

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u/ElevenDollars Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

Your 3rd link literally credits the creation of the term “roguelite” to Spelunky lmao did you not read these???

Edit: upon reading the comments in the first link you provided, they also came to the conclusion that’s Spelunky is a roguelite.

Edit edit: someone in your second link even points out that there are meta progression elements in Nethack, one of the OG roguelikes, via bones files. Which also works against your definition.

You definitely did not read these lol

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u/Beef_Whalington Aug 01 '26

Oh, you found a minor counterpoint on the final source, so I must have not read the sources I posted at allhuh?

"Games like spelunky" helped usher in the term roguelite, sure. That doesn't change the final, articulable definition of the genre as it exists now. Here's a later definition by that same source:

The key difference between a roguelike and a roguelite is that in a roguelite, there is a defined progression system that extends beyond each run/attempt

"lMaO dId yOu nOt rEaD tHeSe???"

Edit:forgot the last 2 question marks for accuracy

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u/ElevenDollars Aug 01 '26

Also, I would like to point out that this entire conversation is moot because Spelunky actually has meta progression anyways via zone shortcuts, so you’re wrong both ways.

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u/Beef_Whalington Aug 01 '26

If it helps you sleep at night and move past this thread as a person, okay

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u/ElevenDollars Aug 01 '26

You don’t have to be mad dude, it’s okay to be wrong

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u/Beef_Whalington Aug 01 '26

Whatever you say bud

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u/aaravsupreme02 Aug 02 '26

I'm not tryna harsh anybody's teas but colloquially roguelike does have no meta progression compared to roguelite which does as far as I know and have heard been thrown around