A far cry from the stark impression my recent replay of Dark Souls left on me, the third entry in this series promises to bring the themes of its predecessors to a close but fails to deliver on so many of these setups that I am honestly left wondering whether or not this is possibly the worst game in the entire soulsborne series. Additionally, input-reading bosses, combo heavy enemy attacks, and lightning-fast enemy stamina recovery are not inherently bad additions, but this combat system is essentially the same as the very first game in the series, which knew to pull itself back from all the "epic" action-y stuff in service of a more laidback and immersive experiential design.


Also, very disappointed in learning that Anri of Astora’s gender is programmed to be the opposite of the player’s :(

I like cringe. I like shitty puns and awkward characters and corny dialogue. I believe we are all a little cringe inside. I hardly ever use the word cringe to describe something in a negative light. That's why (unlike apparently many others) I initially went unphased when first playing Neon White.

The edgelord dubstep music that plays when Neon Green is present at any moment is extremely funny to me, and in general, I was pretty enamoured with the story at first, then Violet and Red appeared. Even just ignoring the over-sexualization inherent to their character's physical designs (which we shouldn't ignore) everything about how the way they are written to be the male fantasy counterpart to the straight main character (who, on at least two occasions makes a "no homo" joke to Yellow) is extremely infuriating. I must admit though, nothing prepared me for the optional beach scene with White, Violet, and Red. I mean christ the moment I heard the word “beach” I was already groaning and praying it wouldn’t happen, praying the developers might bear even an ounce of empathy in their hearts to decide not to carry out this extremely uncomfortable misogynistic sequence home to creepy sex jokes and genuinely cringe inducing character interactions.


As for the actual gameplay…

It’s fine. It’s a little floaty, but whatever. The guns feel great and the movement is pretty smooth and satisfying to master. It’s a little bit too repetitive for my taste, and truthfully I’ve never been a huge fan of those “get good and try again” games where you have to perfectly master a level to pass, but Neon White is pretty short and tight enough for me to give it a pass on that front.

Perhaps the single greatest praise I can give this game is its absolute relentless dedication to providing the player complete control over the movement of their playable character. When there’s an enemy you haven’t seen before, you might start walking slowly to take in your surroundings and strategize your next move, but all of this is done with the explicit directions of the player, who then in essence becomes the perfect analog for the in-game character.

Taking movement away from the player does not exclusively mean the player will feel like they are more connected to the world and/or story. If I’m playing as Cloud in FF7 Rebirth and I see a dead body in front of me, I might want to start slowly walking or maybe even stop completely before proceeding, but the instant the game makes that decision for me and forces Cloud into a slow walk, that is a direct message from the game telling me to feel or react the way it wants me to. While this can certainly be beneficial in certain instances (the Metal Gear Solid series generally has a good grasp on this type of removal of control) for me, this generally has the opposite effect, where instead of feeling the specific emotion the designers want me to feel, I’ll feel patronized, and in the worst moments I might leave the encounter with a feeling of dissatisfaction, upon realizing said encounter was entirely scripted and not an organic discovery I made of my own free will.

The thing Dark Souls gets right isn’t even just relegated to freedom of movement, but also to the way it uses this freedom in other areas, most noticeably the story. Stumbling across some random item/NPC and making the connection that what you’ve stumbled upon is hugely important to the overarching narrative is special because it is uniquely YOUR experience. Provided the player only has the game to rely on for story explanations, Dark Souls becomes a game with a narrative that sprawls over an incomparable amount of different combinations.