A unique game concept that embodies the "easy to pick up, hard to master" way of thinking. This is probably the most fun I'll get out of the FPS genre, simply because the game buries that aspect of itself in high-speed time attack platforming. This has been the perfect game for me to boot up and grind through while listening to other things and I'll definitely miss always having another Secret Red Ace Mikey Dev Time Medal to beat. There's always fun new twists on existing mechanics to looks forward to in each level, with some of my favorites being the boss fights and the movement-heavy tutorial levels.
The scenery and general aesthetic of the game is top-notch. The white marble buildings and clear blue water of the early game is perfect for both readability and making an impact. The only environment I found to become stale for a moment was the hanging gardens levels, but that feeling was very brief compared to the variety of beautifully simplistic obstacle courses Neon White has to offer. The UI and menus are also stylish, giving off a grim Y2K aesthetic. The music enhances each of these qualities in the best way possible, being frantic and confusing within the levels while adding more mysterious otherworldy elements for the character themes.
The character designs and voice acting for me are a mixed bag, but this view of mine is likely tainted by the characters and story themselves. The plot of this game is, for lack of a better word, cringe. Character moments are always interrupted by lackluster humor and the cast themselves are as cookie cutter as they get. The devs seem to follow the philosophy of "throw in everything we think is cool", which works out great for the gameplay but terribly for the story. Luckily the dialogue of this game can actually act as a nice breather from the fast movement necessary within the levels, even if the contents of the dialogue itself is more junk food than quality.
I really hope more games try to capture the action-packed aesthetically-pleasing aura of Neon White in the future, whether that be within the same genre or not. This game cuts down on the bland fat that causes me to drop games and instead focuses on offering memorable gameplay moments at every turn. The pacing of this game strangely reminds me of some Sonic titles in the way that the initial playthrough is short but keeps people coming back to beat their times and take in the scenery.

This was a fun revisit. It's just as fun as I remembered, with stellar pacing and great dungeons with unique ideas. It looks great, feels great, all in all fantastic.

This play through was done in hero mode, which was dramatically harder than I expected. I died quite a lot, which gave much more value to the rental system than in normal mode, where you'd basically never die. Sometimes the difficulty is obnoxious, getting two shot by random bats that can fly in from offscreen and instantly take you out, or bosses with tricky patterns that really feel like they shouldn't take away 10 hearts. For the most part though, the higher difficulty feels very well thought out and fun.

Yea it's still the best 2d zelda game, although link's awakening remake is pretty sick too