Neon White Review
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need to know
what is it? A stylish quick shooter immersed in an early 2000s atmosphere.
Expected payment: $24.99/£19.99
release date: June 16
Developer: Angel Matrix
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Comment on: Nvidia RTX 2070, 16GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 3600
multiplayer game? Online leaderboard
Association: Official website(opens in a new tab)
At the moment, neon white is happy. Heavenly dance, Sega blue sky rains bubbling summer sun on your pristine battlefield as you cross the Paradise Pier to separate the demons. Not only do you shave limbs off of demons as you traverse each stage as a first-person platformer, you also reduce your time, repeating each level until perfect — or at least, until you can knock on doors (the occasional PC Gamer Contributor) Fūnk-é Joseph drops down the leaderboard.
But then the mission ends and a bunch of horny anime goth kids remind you that this isn’t heaven. It’s hell. But depending on your taste, Eternal Curse might not even be that bad.
You’re white, you’re dead, you’re doomed straight to hell. Luckily, Heaven has given you a second chance as Neon, sinners freed from their curse, to do God’s dirty work – clearing Heaven’s white streets of pesky demonic infestations. After 10 days, the most effective demon slayer will get a second chance to save.
During Orientation Day, you’ll learn the basics of being a neon. Each day (or mission) is divided into stages – extremely short FPS platforming puzzles where you’re tasked not only with clearing out their diabolical baddies, but as quickly as possible. In short, it’s Quake with Mirror’s Edge and Trackmania.
(Image credit: Angel Matrix)
time killer
The trick for Neon White is that instead of rocking his arsenal to the gates of heaven, he framed his weapons as colorful cards that dot the levels. Everyone has a certain number of shots that can be fired before being discarded, and any new cards you pick up immediately go to the top of your deck.
Crucially, in addition to acting as a weapon, each can also be used to activate mobility tools. Pistols give you a second jump; SMGs keep you grounded; shotguns give you bursts of speed in any direction, and marksman rifles allow you to sprint further horizontally.
It’s not just cards – the environment and its diabolical inhabitants play a role in building and mastering speed. Many of the demons themselves are color-coded, which means you’ll get a card for killing them, allowing you to chain combos. Balloon demons can be popped by jumping on them for extra bounce, while doors force you to spend an ability to break them (unless, of course, you find a cheeky way to get around them).
(Image credit: Angel Matrix)
So mastering a stage means figuring out the most efficient path through the level, juggling cards to kill demons and traversing the map as quickly as possible. There’s usually an obvious path to clear it quickly for at least a gold medal, but if you want to ace the stage, you’re going to have to get creative and use your assault rifle’s grenade-assisted rockets to jump all over the building.
Neon White is a game that wants you to indulge your eras at each stage and find ways to bring them closer. Cleverly, you don’t see leaderboards when you enter a level – these are unlocked by earning medals, alongside ghosts and quick tips to help you optimize your route.You can and may spend up to an hour leaning against a stage just to teach IGN’s Mat Jones(Opens in a new tab) a lesson.
When I started playing with Neon White, I was a bit against its simplicity. After all, I’m someone who loves Mirror’s Edge and Apex – games where good action takes time to learn, with countless tiny mechanics covered in friction points that take real time and effort to master. Neon White, by contrast, is simple and ethereal, and I’m worried that a simple routing card won’t be enough to keep me around.
But watching the community get Neon White via Ringtones(Opens in a new tab) completely changed my mind about it. The cards are so versatile that players can traverse entire stages in one go, avoiding routes you think they have to, and taking precise shots at demons from half a mile away. The only thing missing is a nice replay feature – when someone posts a full 30 seconds shorter than my PB, I want to see how they manage it.
death ship
However, I haven’t been able to make it in the neon white vibe yet. Before starting this review, however, I do want to point out that the game’s UI and environment are the pinnacle of aesthetics.
The whole look of Neon White can be described as Dreamcast-as-fuck. Sega blue skies sparkle over a crystalline ocean, and vaporwave marble towers, courtyards, and fountains serve as your battlefield. The HUD is full of flavorful text and tiny decorative details, and the intermission menu is packed with rounded square buttons and a delightfully illustrated backdrop. Combined with Machine Girl’s Y2K trance soundtrack, Neon White is what kids call a complete vibe.
(Image credit: Angel Matrix)
Just, man. I can’t stand listening to anyone in this world. Your first day introduces you to your fellow Neons, who all fit your standard anime archetype. Yellow is your good brother; violet is innocent flirtation; red is tall, bossy, “step on my mommy” femme fatale. The player character White is basically a gothic parker, voiced by cowboy-pop actor Steve Bloom.
Neon White is a game for anyone who likes the core bullshit of early 2000s Toonami. This is a game for those who haven’t checked out Death Note and shopped exclusively at Hot Topic after two episodes. Everyone wears too many belts and tight leather corsets (even the handsome ones – heck, especially Guys), your heavenly contact takes the form of a very cute chibi cat.
Every once in a while, a stage is interrupted by a short visual novel segment between you and another neon. But most of the story takes place between missions, where you can explore your little slice of paradise – White’s room, the local bar, your boss’s office. Gifts found in stages can be given to NPCs, while consistently earning high medals allows you to unlock short-lived Heavenly Delight scenarios that might allow you to eat ice cream with another Neon, or watch The Matrix with a Flying Cat .
not quite.
(Image credit: Angel Matrix)
Look right. I don’t judge people who like these things. Neon White is serious, shameless cringe, and if brooding anime boys are your jam, I think Neon White could very well be your next favorite game.This post is full of references and nods to era-appropriate anime, you either get or miss it completely. I’m just not a viewer of these things, even if the game goes beyond the thirsty spirit to start unraveling a story of a theological conspiracy (why can’t God use all his power to drive these demons away?).
When my character starts arguing that his sweaty dick is just as troublesome as another character’s boobs, I’m done. Since then, the fast-forward button has remained on.
run fast
But if you can ignore (or better accept) the cringe, Neon White is still a very stylish speedrun platformer. It’s the kind of game I can easily imagine just trying to get myself into the top 10 of singles, although from the looks of the charts I think I still have a long way to go.Has over 100 stages At leastthere is enough food to keep hungry speed runners satisfied for months, if not years.
(Image credit: Angel Matrix)
In this kind of game, I would very much like the developers to add a level editor somewhere. With a fairly standardized set of structures, demons, map elements, and weapon placement, Neon White’s potential is potentially limitless. What will Kaizo look like in this heavenly speed challenge? I must be wondering!
Neon White is undoubtedly a video game ass video game. It’s a game that lets you @’ing your friends on Twitter to let them know you’re one second off their time, a game that asks you to speed up the soundtrack and make the final stage go one more time Get that trump card.
Don’t feel bad if you need to mute the conversation. Hell, I’m right by your side.
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