The immediate objective of the game is to keep the character alive by finding food, clothing, and shelter, and caring for any illnesses that may befall him.

The developer had initially released a free browser-based demo, and tiered purchase options were available to access the beta and pre-order the final game.

[1] In the game, Philip Kindred awakes from a cryosleep pod in a cryogenics lab, wearing nothing but a surgical smock, and with a hungry creature hiding nearby.

[1] After leaving his job of seven years at BioWare, Daniel Fedor founded Blue Bottle Games and began working on his first independent project, NEO Scavenger.

"[1] PC Gamer's Tom Sykes compared the game to DayZ but without zombies and with a solitary player.

[5] The AI also received updates prior to a preview in July 2012: mutant creatures still act aggressively, but humans are less likely to risk themselves in a fight if the player character has nothing of value to take.

[1] The game was created using a number of different free programming libraries and tools: Flixel, FlashDevelop, TortoiseSVN, MySQL, Audacity, and Chevy Ray's AssetBatcher.

[12] PC Gamer's Tom Sykes said of the game, "Compared to other post-apocalyptic RPGs, NEO Scavenger feels like the real deal, with a central character who lives the harsh life of a wastelander rather than simply borrowing the aesthetic.