Info about Neon Abyss - Alter Ego:

Official game description:
Alter Ego DLC Pack  
Take on the New Gods with a series of Alter Egos for your Characters.  
Experiment with the Alter Egos of your favorite characters in Neon Abyss with the Alter Ego DLC. 10 new skins for your characters with new accompanying skills to master.
How to use the DLC: Press Q in the character selection screen to switch skins. \*You will need to own the Loveable Rogues DLC to access 2 of the characters in the Alter Ego Pack.
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Release date: Apr 1, 2021

Categories: Roguelike, Twin-stick Shooter, Platformer, Character Progression, Fishing Simulation, DLC, Arcade


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The reviews describe DLC content such as alternate characters, skins, and new skills, but none report gameplay completion time, story length, session duration, or endgame hours. The only numeric duration mentioned in the broader dataset refers to an unrelated personal activity, not playtime for Neon Abyss - Alter Ego. Therefore all playtime metrics are unsupported and set to null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Alters change abilities radically (weight 0.51): Alternate skins are not just cosmetic; they change character colors, sprites, and grant different abilities. Some alters even gain powerful passives like R-6's.
- Unique skills per character (weight 0.49): Each character has distinct skills and abilities, enhancing variety. New skills like Matt's neon shadow add invincibility but prevent shooting.
- Satisfying shooting and gameplay (weight 0.37): The shooting mechanics are satisfying, and the overall arcade-style gameplay is fun and relaxing. Exploring and finding items adds to the satisfaction.
- Good value for price (weight 0.3): The DLC offers good value for its price, especially when obtained for free during its first week. It is considered really good and acceptable even when free.
- DLC doubles character roster (weight 0.28): The DLC roughly doubles the total number of characters, including those from other DLC packs. This significantly expands the playable roster.
- James's combining guns fun (weight 0.25): James's alter features a risk/reward mechanic of combining guns, which is highly enjoyable. By floor 3, combining 8 guns creates crazy bullet awesomeness.
- New playstyles increase replayability (weight 0.24): New abilities and alters provide fresh playstyles for all characters, making the game more fun and adding replayability. Some previously useless characters become viable.
- Good single-player with easter eggs (weight 0.21): The game is a good single-player experience with easter eggs to discover. It remains enjoyable despite borrowed elements.
- Workaround unlocks all characters (weight 0.17): A described workaround allows all characters to be played, including DLC characters like Sha Ye and Amir. This provides full access despite potential restrictions.
- Toggle ego abilities with Q (weight 0.16): Players can toggle overpowered 'ego' abilities off by pressing Q. Pressing Q on the character selection screen also switches to the DLC skin.
- Fishing is biggest fun (weight 0.11): Fishing is highlighted as the most enjoyable activity in the game. It stands out as a major source of fun.
- Fair tradeoffs for characters (weight 0.09): Most characters have fair tradeoffs, balancing their abilities. This contributes to overall game balance.

Common complaints:
- DLC adds no new characters (weight 0.39): The DLC does not introduce new characters, only new skins and skills, and much of its content is seen as belonging in the base game.
- DLC auto-unlocks all characters (weight 0.34): The DLC grants immediate access to all characters, bypassing the medal investment required in the base game, which players feel is pay-to-win and undermines progression.
- Flame Squad DLC unusable (weight 0.34): Multiple reports state that the Flame Squad cannot be used after purchase, and Amir's Flame Squad form skill does nothing when activated.
- Purchased content inaccessible (weight 0.33): Players report that purchased characters or content appear grayed out or cannot be used, including skills not working and the DLC failing to load.
- Alts overpowered or underpowered (weight 0.32): Some alternate characters are considered too strong (e.g., R-6's skin grants extra shields, Wade's alt is a straight upgrade), while others like Anna and Matt feel like stat downgrades.
- Alts available without unlocks (weight 0.26): Alternate characters are available without unlocking the base versions, which confuses players and gives too much for free.
- Poor character balance (weight 0.26): Character balance is mediocre, with only one character feeling viable and others useless.
- Skills uninteresting and weak (weight 0.25): New skills are described as uninteresting, lacking novelty, and weak, with one reviewer barely using them.
- Skill stutter and invincibility bugs (weight 0.25): The last character's skill has a stutter or lag not present in the old version, and Saya has invincibility frames when killing enemies but not during normal slashes, making it inconsistent to block bullets.
- Character functions broken after DLC (weight 0.19): Installing the DLC caused character functions to break, and skills sometimes cannot be used.
- Skins are mere recolors (weight 0.19): Skins are criticized as recolors of the original outfit rather than new clothing designs, and some look almost identical to the default appearance.
- Talents gate character unlocks (weight 0.18): Talents require tokens to unlock characters, and character unlock in talents is a prerequisite.
- Moldy heart instant death (weight 0.11): After a version update, picking up a moldy heart item causes immediate death.
- Not worth the price (weight 0.11): The DLC is considered overpriced for the content offered.
- Promised update missing (weight 0.11): The promised major update has not been released yet.
- Zack's skill too hard (weight 0.1): Zack's skill release difficulty is too high.
- No red hearts for skill (weight 0.1): No red hearts are available to use the skill.
- Fused weapon single shot (weight 0.1): The fused weapon fires only one shot regardless of previous ammo.
- Q key switching broken (weight 0.1): The Q key switching does not work.
- Release window too short (weight 0.1): The time window to release after charging is too short.

Gameplay feedback:
- Alter skins grant new skills (weight 0.45): Each DLC skin comes with a new skill or ability that players must learn, changing how the character plays. This includes both active and passive abilities tied to the skin.
- Character-specific alter abilities (weight 0.44): Several characters have unique alter abilities: Amir's Flame Squad form fuses weapons, James's alter combines guns, Matt's neon shadow grants temporary invincibility, Anna's alter provides an extra item choice after boss kills, and Saya gains invincibility frames on kills.
- Character switching via Q key (weight 0.37): Players can switch between character forms or ego abilities by pressing the Q key, both in the character selection screen and during gameplay.
- Gameplay includes shooting, fishing, and gold (weight 0.33): The game features shooting as a core element, fishing as a prominent activity, and gold coins as currency. It is an arcade-style game with exploration and item discovery.
- Alter skins change abilities and stats (weight 0.26): The alternate skins modify character abilities and stats rather than being purely cosmetic. For example, some alters replace hearts with shields or change special abilities.
- Characters have distinct skills and tradeoffs (weight 0.25): Each character possesses unique skills and abilities, and there are tradeoffs between different forms. Character progression adds new playstyles for all characters.
- Character unlock system uses medals and tokens (weight 0.23): In the base game, characters are normally unlocked by spending medals, while talents have a token-based unlock system. Alternate characters can be used without unlocking the original.
- Character selection and confirmation process (weight 0.16): Selecting a character involves choosing a form and confirming, and entering a level changes the character to the selected one.
- R6 robot appears as combat form (weight 0.16): The R6 robot is described as a new form that appears in combat rooms, where three waves of enemies appear.
- Fused weapon ammo limited to one shot (weight 0.1): When weapons are fused, the ammo is set to one shot, which may affect gameplay balance. This is a specific mechanic related to fused weapons.
- Charged attacks have release window (weight 0.09): Charged attacks have a release window after charging, which players must time correctly.
- Zack's skill stacks damage (weight 0.09): Zack's skill includes a stacking damage mechanic, allowing damage to build up over time.
- DLC includes Sha Ye, Amir, Flame Squad (weight 0.09): The DLC content features characters such as Sha Ye and Amir, and includes the Flame Squad. These are specific additions to the roster.
- DLC skills affect character HP (weight 0.09): Some DLC skills impact character HP, altering survivability and gameplay dynamics.
- Anna's base form details (weight 0.09): Anna's base version has a melee attack special ability, 4 hearts, and 1 key.
- Alternate characters have different abilities (weight 0.09): Alternate characters possess different abilities from their base versions, offering new ways to play.
- Contains easter eggs (weight 0.08): The game contains easter eggs for players to discover.

Performance notes:
No performancepoints

Recommendations:
- Worth it for existing fans (weight 0.32): Several reviewers recommend the DLC if you have already played the other characters or are a fan of the game. It is seen as a worthwhile investment for those already invested in the base game.
- Price concerns (weight 0.19): One reviewer explicitly states it is not worth buying at that price. Another implies it is only worth it because it is free, highlighting value issues.
- Buy last or in bundle (weight 0.18): Some suggest getting this DLC after the others or waiting for a bundle if you missed the free offer. This indicates it is not a priority purchase on its own.
- Hold for Zack skill change (weight 0.1): A player will only buy once Zack's skill is changed, indicating dissatisfaction with the current skill design.

Other player notes:
- Free DLC for first week (weight 0.44): Several reviewers note the DLC was free during its first launch week, and some mention it was free to everyone during that period.
- DLC adds character alters (weight 0.19): The DLC provides alternate versions of regular characters that change up the gameplay.
- Game was obtained for free (weight 0.18): Reviewers mention the base game was free to obtain.
- Binding of Isaac comparison (weight 0.17): The alter ego unlock system is compared to tainted characters in The Binding of Isaac, and character designs show obvious borrowing from that game.
- Nearly doubles character count (weight 0.11): The DLC nearly doubles the character count, including DLC characters.
- DLC adds skills and skins (weight 0.11): The DLC adds a new skill and a new skin for each character but no new characters.
- DLC unlocks all characters (weight 0.1): The DLC unlocks all characters that would otherwise be unlocked with medals.
- Gungeon-like genre comparison (weight 0.09): The game is compared to the Gungeon-like genre.
- DLC costs 4 dollars (weight 0.09): The DLC is priced at 4 dollars.
- Form-switching explained in announcements (weight 0.09): The game's announcements and DLC content explain the character form-switching feature.
- Bundle includes game and DLC (weight 0.09): There is a bundle containing the main game and the DLC.
- DLC skins available (weight 0.09): DLC skins are available.
- Shareware comparison but full game (weight 0.08): Compared to shareware at first, but the reviewer notes it is a full game.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.3): Players are frustrated by technical issues where purchased DLC fails to load or unlock content properly, and by character abilities that break or become unusable after updates. They also feel misled by unfulfilled promises of major updates and perceive poor balance that makes other characters feel useless.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.17): Players are satisfied with the arcade-style gameplay and the value of getting a full set of alternate characters for a low price. They enjoy discovering hidden items and easter eggs, and appreciate that new skins and abilities add depth without feeling overpowered.
- Disappointment (weight 0.11): Players are disappointed that DLC content focuses on skins and skills without introducing new characters, and that many skins are merely recolors. They also feel the game company is stifling gameplay expansion and that several alters have downgraded stats.
- Confusion (weight 0.09): Players are confused about how certain mechanics work, such as being able to use alternate characters without unlocking the originals and skills that fail without explanation. They also find it unclear how to defeat the new R6 robot form without taking damage or how to use purchased content.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.06): Players are enthusiastic about cool new character skills like Matt's neon shadow, which add fun gameplay and replayability. They appreciate the new playstyles available for all characters.
- Dissatisfaction (weight 0.06): Players are dissatisfied with balance issues, feeling that R-6's shield passive is broken and pay-to-win, and that DLC skills are weak and reduce HP. They also find the new skills uninspired.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Players are excited about the powerful potential of combining 8 guns by floor 3 using James's alter, which they find thrilling.
- Fun (weight 0.02): Players find playing James's alter to be genuinely fun.
- Mild disappointment (weight 0.02): Players feel mild disappointment that alter egos are available without being unlocked, reducing the sense of progression.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Players enjoy that some characters become really fun to play after the update.
- Concern (weight 0.02): Players are concerned that the DLC basically unlocks all characters, which may undermine the game's progression system.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Players find joy in the fishing activity, which they consider the biggest fun in the game.
- Relaxation (weight 0.02): Players feel relaxed by the game's satisfying single-player experience.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Players are amused by a joke about someone paying for something that could be obtained for free and the resulting dinner expense.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players are surprised that the DLC adds new skills with each skin rather than only reskinning characters.
- Self-deprecating frustration (weight 0.02): Players express self-deprecating frustration, wondering if their own lack of skill prevents them from feeling the difference in gameplay.
- Impatience (weight 0.02): Players are impatient waiting for the promised major update to be released.
- Pleasant surprise (weight 0.02): Players are pleasantly surprised that characters have altered abilities rather than being simple reskins, adding unexpected depth.}