Sometimes you really are 'better off dead'.
So recently Steam had it's latest round of demos that you can play early for those not-so-big titles that are coming up, a time for the independents to shine their talents down upon us; and to be honest I totally missed the Steam Next Fest. I was busy, caught up in myself, every excuse under the sun; I just couldn't really carve out the time to learn and quickly play through a dozen different styles of games like I did last year. However, I could hardly call myself sane if I skipped out on Neon White, which also had a demo during that period and which I had eyed during it's reveal trailer last year. I remember it being striking, fast paced, a silly premise, and a whole lot of promise. And who doesn't love a little bit of promise sprinkled in with their upcoming indie games, right? That is to say, even when I had not a second of free time on my plate whatsoever, I'll find time for games like these.
And I've made it abundantly clear by now how much I simply adore puzzle games that don't feel like puzzle games. The types of games that play in the vein of a genre that's exciting and freeform like a stealth game or an action adventure, but within the open grandeur of freedom hide the threads of interweaved conundrums and preciously placed problems that I get to identify and then puzzle my way through. Basically I'm talking about your Hitman's of the world, Dishonored, titles in that vein. And when is saw the basic premise of Neon White, coupled with that first trailer, I though that was exactly what I was looking at. Speedy shooting gallery with almost schump-style combat blasting across blinding but pretty levels, with extra tell of power-ups tied to weapons pick-ups to create puzzle-esque problem-solving- my head canon painted an absolute treat for me to play through. Which is a positives-first way of setting up that I was wrong.
What we have hear with Neon White is more of a straight puzzle game, with any faffing around at any other style of game being largely perfunctory. You're set free on obstacle-course style levels filled with platforming challenges and a number of demons you have to kill in order to be let into the exit token on the other end of each level. Most enemies you kill drop special power-up cards that grant you a new weapon with a limited amount of ammunition but also allows you to expend that ammunition in favour for a special action that typically is used for movement purposes. That might be a double jump, a dash, a repulsor shot, a ground pound or a zipline, depending on the type of weapon card you're using. Most every level is designed with exactly the right enemies who drop the right kinds of cards in order to get you to the end, and the gameplay loop mostly ends there.
You have your leaderboards just in case you want to try shaving off a few seconds my optimising a route, but given that every demon in each level needs to be slain there's only so many shortcuts one can take. Mostly you're forced to stick to the tried and true path planned out and paved by the developers. Sure you're given weapons, but everything from when you acquire them to how many bullets you are supposed to use before burning the card is pre-ordained by the god-like designers who want you playing to their exact beat. None of which is inherently bad, I hasten to say, but it's just not what I was expecting, so if you go in expecting that yourself (as if, perhaps, my previous impression had imbued that expectation) then be sure to update your perception; because this is conceptually as classic as puzzle games can get.
Which is to say that I had a lot of fun with the demo. For what it is, Neon White offers some decently fun puzzle platforming challenges with fairly straightforward solutions. No matter what you have in front of you, even if the entire route falls off into a death pit with no clear path forward, the last card you picked up with always be necessary to the next step of the route because every level in this game is built around forward momentum. Speed is the metric for success, and coming to learn what each powerup does so that you can anticipate the next step is engaging, as is coming across the odd complicated level which requires you to learn and memorise the sections in order, like verses on a music sheet. But in the demo I played I have to admit that there were no levels that had me even verging on seriously stumped, and I wonder how truly wild this formula can get when every problem comes prepacked with the solution readily provided. It's as though speed is the only metric for success, which slightly invalidates the puzzle aspect that it seems the game still wants to feed into.
Visually I quite like what the game has going for it, with the Neon in the title not just there for show but informing the luminosity of most every surface you hop and glide on. The Grecian sea-side resort vibe of the beginning area did feel a bit sparse, what with the predominate colour for it being white, but the actual construction and layout of the levels all resembled sculptured art pieces, which made fighting all the way up and done them a little visual treat. Later levels appear to get more interesting with their thematic themes and colours, but I'm yet to see anything truly breath-taking yet. I know this game has that sort of potential in it, the talent behind the world building team is evident enough with what's there already, it's just holding back right now with this public stage of marketing. Which I respect.
Of course there is a narrative to follow too, with this one involving a slight mystery in discovering the truth behind the identity of the deceased sinner the player is controlling. Much of the story appears to be told in largely static VN-style cutscenes between gameplay sections, and thus narrative and gameplay seem largely, if not entirely, disconnected; but I'm a sucker for a mystery and so I'm curious enough to want to detangle the web. The only caveat here is the rather... expressive characters that feature in the story, that being those of your former gang, who are all... kind of annoying. You've got the loud one, the dumb one and the aloof one, and none really jump off the screen too much. Nor does the worldbuilding, which if I squint my eyes I can pretend it's loosely tied to Hazbin Hotel and that makes things more interesting, but on it's own I'm a little wanting right now. But then I recognised the main Voice Actor right away as Steve Blum, and I love Steve Blum, so can look past most of that other stuff. (I'm biased okay, let me be me!)
Neon White is feeling like a curious game right now with a lot of strong ideas behind it, but I'm not quite sure if they're coming together in a satisfying package yet. I think the gameplay, though, is very good and it's probably worth a single playthrough for that aspect alone; but would I bother to play it again, or even stick around long enough to replay levels and earn the special presents? Well, that I'm not so sure about. Of course these are just my demo impressions and perhaps the really engaging and head-scratcher puzzle levels are hiding near the latter half of the game, I certainly can imagine how these design tools could construct a real brain teaser. But for what I've seen of Neon White during this Steam Next Fest, I'd advise the cautious to wait and see where this one lands once the fall thing comes out.
