Neon White Review – Holy Hell

While interviewing Ben Esposito in 2021 about the upcoming Neon White game, he explained that he didn’t want to make it appealing to all people. Neon White was to be “really targeted people”

In other words, Esposito stated in one trailer that the game was made for freaks.

This makes me seem a bit of a freak. Because Neon White is my favorite game I’ve played all year – by a large margin.

As Neon White, a deceased assassin taken from Hell to compete in a divine contest, you will assume this role. The powers that are assign White, along with a group of other damned, the task to clean up Heaven after the demons have overrun it. The banished soul with the best – and fastest – score wins the opportunity to spend eternity in Heaven. This is achieved by sprinting through the Pearly Gates as fast possible, blowing out demons using a variety of heavenly guns. 

Except in rare instances, the time it takes to complete any level of Neon White is less than 1 minute. It encourages you to play at your best speed. The emphasis is on replaying levels to improve your performance. Running and jumping are great. They feel fluid, fast, and almost seem like they have float through the level. 

Neon White is most visible in guns. There are two main functions to picking up guns via the cards found within each level. First, you can shoot. White gains a short platforming edge by choosing to discard pistols. The double jump is achieved by throwing away pistols, while shotguns will blast you in your direction, rifles straight forward and SMGs can send you hurtling towards the ground. Rocket launchers also give you a grapple shot. 

Levels are a challenge because you have to master all of these skills. My favorite part of leveling up was trying out different combinations until I got it right. I also loved the challenge of trying to reduce my score to “Ace.” When I got to the end, my heart was firmly in my throat. Few things are more rewarding than beating my own times by literally tenths.

Neon White was designed with speedrunning in mind. The design of Neon White is based more on YouTube videos that show speedrunners completing games and flying through the levels with pinpoint accuracy much like a trained ballerina. It will make you feel just as cool, especially in the back. 

Shooting as you fly above enemies and sending yourself plunging to earth, sliding across narrow ledges and then using explosives to blast around until the end. Doing it all in literally seconds with no mistakes, feeling effortless as if you’ve practiced for years, not just 15 to 20 minutes; that’s the base of Neon White, not solely the high-level play. NeonWhite pulls off such complex and exact gameplay with ease. It is one of the best games I have ever played. 

It’s a game I just can’t put down. I am almost 30 hours into it and I do not plan on stopping until I achieve an Ace rank in each level. I have found the level design to be excellent, and a couple of exceptions are rare. I’m still flying through the game, beating all my previous times and loving nearly every second. As a result, I pay attention to the world leaderboards. This is something new for me. 

I even love Neon White’s stupid-but-charming story – that of White trying to figure out why he and his team of fellow assassins are dead. The story was more effective than I anticipated. The story was told visually, so I felt the need to learn every character’s story and to give them tools to open new dialogues or sidequests. Even in moments of weakness I laughed at the obnoxious dialogue, such as Neon Violet’s statement that Neon White was “the kind that will catch girls’ spit with its mouth!”

Additionally, it helps that visually Neon White can scratch specific or neglected itches. It’s reminiscent of Japanese action games that don’t really exist anymore, like Killer7 and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. It reminds us of anime. TrigunAnd Cowboy BebopYou can also find music by now-defunct artists like Drop Dead and Gorgeous. This album’s striking, striking, and attitude-filled aesthetic is both heavenly-yet violent. It’s like the Hot Topic t-shirt aisle and Suncoast Video’s anime aisle colliding into one another. Imagine 480p AMVs with Neon White playing through to “The Show Must Go On”, or “Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck”. It’s easy to imagine children in Neon White brightly-colored shirts on Taste of Chaos tour dates. Hell, Steven Blum even voices White! 

If you find any of this meaningful, Esposito created the game for you. Neon White is a great game for those who speak a different language. 

Neon White succeeds in everything that it sets out with incredible success. This is not only one of the best entertainment experiences I have ever had, it appeals to a very specific audience. This game is for misfits and weirdos. Neon White is one the most enjoyable games this year. It’d be an utter mistake to not check it out.