neon white is a game that did the seemingly impossible - it made me feel like i'm actually good at video games. it's such a cool fuckin' game man, i don't think any other game out there blends so many different genres and ideas together as well as this one does. buttery smooth, aesthetic as hell, makes you feel like a god, and it's one of the only high score/time trial-based games that's actually compelling.
the way neon white is able to embody the thrill of speedrunning and optimizing routes without turning into some bullshit pixel-perfect platformer (or even that difficult of one) is so nice. overall movement and the amount of tools/gimmicks at your disposal in each level is immaculate, and almost every mission has something cool up its sleeve. zipping through the later levels with the rocket launcher, launching yourself through barriers with the shotgun while being careful not to hit mimics, it's just so fucking cool. never once did it feel frustrating to the point where i wanted to slow down - even you're several attempts into a level, it's still a blast finding ways to optimize your existing progress or trying out new routes. not every level is a winner (some of the later ones were so lengthy that they did start to wear on me a little), but a vast majority of them were perfect beyond words.
like i said at the start, games like this that are based around getting the fastest times/the highest score usually don't resonate with me because i have no reason to give a shit. not only is this game's movement perfect for that kind of thing, but plastering your steam friends' times at the end of each level is honestly genius. i'm sure a lot of games do this, but seeing that your time was total ass in comparison (or one motherfucker beating a level in 8 seconds) is a great motivator to replay levels in search of perfection. after all, i can't have my friends thinking i'm dogshit :(
the weirdo ass breakcore y2k aesthetic this game has is incredible too, and definitely helps ease the pain of having to replay a mission dozens of times. sliding down glassy aqueducts, grappling between modern skyscrapers, all while machine girl is hitting you with the most beautiful songs you're ever gonna hear... it's really something else. while this game's aesthetic inspirations and the feelings it's trying to invoke through its presentation are pretty clear, it stands out from the crowd extremely well.
gameplay and presentation-wise, neon white is almost unrivaled. however, pretty much all the negativity for this games comes from its story. which, yeah, it's pretty bad and drags the game down quite a bit. it's basically this weirdo jumble of excuses for you to get dragged from one level to the next while every single character is either absurd levels of comic relief or your generic milf mommy uwu. there wasn't a single moment i actually liked, but it wasn't enough to put me off from the game. i also didn't feel compelled to find any of the hidden gifts in each level for this reason - while i think that's a cool idea, it's not worth it when the "reward" is having to spend more time with violet. i'm not gonna say that this game would have been better if it had no story at all, but it'd probably have a lot fewer negative reviews. even if they leaned into some weirdo shit where the only stuff you learned about white or heaven came from getting enough medals/secrets and just kept it as a time trial platformer would be pretty cool.
if you haven't played this game yet you're dumb as shit!! just kidding, that's a mean thing to say. don't let the negative reviews taint your impression of this one. just mash skip through every cutscene and you'll get one of the best platforming experiences you've ever had. not bad for a dead guy at all.
the way neon white is able to embody the thrill of speedrunning and optimizing routes without turning into some bullshit pixel-perfect platformer (or even that difficult of one) is so nice. overall movement and the amount of tools/gimmicks at your disposal in each level is immaculate, and almost every mission has something cool up its sleeve. zipping through the later levels with the rocket launcher, launching yourself through barriers with the shotgun while being careful not to hit mimics, it's just so fucking cool. never once did it feel frustrating to the point where i wanted to slow down - even you're several attempts into a level, it's still a blast finding ways to optimize your existing progress or trying out new routes. not every level is a winner (some of the later ones were so lengthy that they did start to wear on me a little), but a vast majority of them were perfect beyond words.
like i said at the start, games like this that are based around getting the fastest times/the highest score usually don't resonate with me because i have no reason to give a shit. not only is this game's movement perfect for that kind of thing, but plastering your steam friends' times at the end of each level is honestly genius. i'm sure a lot of games do this, but seeing that your time was total ass in comparison (or one motherfucker beating a level in 8 seconds) is a great motivator to replay levels in search of perfection. after all, i can't have my friends thinking i'm dogshit :(
the weirdo ass breakcore y2k aesthetic this game has is incredible too, and definitely helps ease the pain of having to replay a mission dozens of times. sliding down glassy aqueducts, grappling between modern skyscrapers, all while machine girl is hitting you with the most beautiful songs you're ever gonna hear... it's really something else. while this game's aesthetic inspirations and the feelings it's trying to invoke through its presentation are pretty clear, it stands out from the crowd extremely well.
gameplay and presentation-wise, neon white is almost unrivaled. however, pretty much all the negativity for this games comes from its story. which, yeah, it's pretty bad and drags the game down quite a bit. it's basically this weirdo jumble of excuses for you to get dragged from one level to the next while every single character is either absurd levels of comic relief or your generic milf mommy uwu. there wasn't a single moment i actually liked, but it wasn't enough to put me off from the game. i also didn't feel compelled to find any of the hidden gifts in each level for this reason - while i think that's a cool idea, it's not worth it when the "reward" is having to spend more time with violet. i'm not gonna say that this game would have been better if it had no story at all, but it'd probably have a lot fewer negative reviews. even if they leaned into some weirdo shit where the only stuff you learned about white or heaven came from getting enough medals/secrets and just kept it as a time trial platformer would be pretty cool.
if you haven't played this game yet you're dumb as shit!! just kidding, that's a mean thing to say. don't let the negative reviews taint your impression of this one. just mash skip through every cutscene and you'll get one of the best platforming experiences you've ever had. not bad for a dead guy at all.