I was planning on completing everything to try and get the true ending but honestly I think that's better saved for another time. While I find the “normal” ending of Neon White to be pretty abrupt and disappointing in the sense it’s the game bluntly telling the player they should’ve done all the side content, I don’t think it can quite extinguish just how much of a slam dunk this game is.
The speedrunning gameplay is absolutely top notch. There was clearly an immense amount of special craft that came into the level design when it comes to precision based platforming. Rather than just being a linear pathway from point A to point B to speedrun through, they’re more like clever puzzles to solve as quickly as possible. Every single enemy and card placement is intentional by the devs to use in whatever high adrenaline fast-and-loose strategy you make up on the spot to clear it easier. It makes the moment-to-moment gameplay feel very addicting and thoroughly engaging because you’re almost always trying to outdo the game and especially yourself in how skilled you are in completing the missions in the shortest amount of time possible. I have to imagine this game is best played on the Switch given the experience lends itself perfectly for short bursts of gaming in your handheld couch-sitting spare time.
The writing is about what you’d expect from seeing glimpses of the game. It’s very frontloaded in being early 2000s Toonami anime inspired cheesy nonsense which can make the dialogue really cringe inducing sometimes if you’re not quite fond of that era. To put it another way -- it’s RebelTaxi core. And I don’t think casting Steve Blum, such a definitive voice for that nerdy zeitgeist, was anything short of intentional by the developers in catering to that crowd. The social sim elements don’t really help sell this case for the more /normal/ minded who are already skeptical, I’m sure. But regardless, it’s very easy to just accept even if it's nothing of a real high caliber in terms of storytelling and even ignore it (the devs added that skip button for cutscenes for a reason i’m betting) to really sink deep into the experience the game offers to more than make up for it.
From the said uniquely addicting gameplay, the flashy character designs, the pretty absurd yet fun take on the afterlife, and best of all what I consider the most elaborate excuse I've seen a video game try to push an artist to put out a new album to include their game and it just works. Machine Girl’s work here is pretty fucking fire and gives a massive boost to the speedrunning adrenaline this game will inject straight into your veins. If the worst thing I can really give Neon White is that the story/writing can be very dumb if maybe weak then I think it speaks highly for how well it nails just about everything else. Enough so to honestly certify it to me as genuine GOTY material so far, and maybe upon further replaying rise to being one of my more personal close favorites.
The speedrunning gameplay is absolutely top notch. There was clearly an immense amount of special craft that came into the level design when it comes to precision based platforming. Rather than just being a linear pathway from point A to point B to speedrun through, they’re more like clever puzzles to solve as quickly as possible. Every single enemy and card placement is intentional by the devs to use in whatever high adrenaline fast-and-loose strategy you make up on the spot to clear it easier. It makes the moment-to-moment gameplay feel very addicting and thoroughly engaging because you’re almost always trying to outdo the game and especially yourself in how skilled you are in completing the missions in the shortest amount of time possible. I have to imagine this game is best played on the Switch given the experience lends itself perfectly for short bursts of gaming in your handheld couch-sitting spare time.
The writing is about what you’d expect from seeing glimpses of the game. It’s very frontloaded in being early 2000s Toonami anime inspired cheesy nonsense which can make the dialogue really cringe inducing sometimes if you’re not quite fond of that era. To put it another way -- it’s RebelTaxi core. And I don’t think casting Steve Blum, such a definitive voice for that nerdy zeitgeist, was anything short of intentional by the developers in catering to that crowd. The social sim elements don’t really help sell this case for the more /normal/ minded who are already skeptical, I’m sure. But regardless, it’s very easy to just accept even if it's nothing of a real high caliber in terms of storytelling and even ignore it (the devs added that skip button for cutscenes for a reason i’m betting) to really sink deep into the experience the game offers to more than make up for it.
From the said uniquely addicting gameplay, the flashy character designs, the pretty absurd yet fun take on the afterlife, and best of all what I consider the most elaborate excuse I've seen a video game try to push an artist to put out a new album to include their game and it just works. Machine Girl’s work here is pretty fucking fire and gives a massive boost to the speedrunning adrenaline this game will inject straight into your veins. If the worst thing I can really give Neon White is that the story/writing can be very dumb if maybe weak then I think it speaks highly for how well it nails just about everything else. Enough so to honestly certify it to me as genuine GOTY material so far, and maybe upon further replaying rise to being one of my more personal close favorites.