I don’t think I’ve ever played something that mixes genres like Neon White. I try to summarize the game: you play as a demon hunter who destroys bad guys in heaven using cards that act as guns or special movement skills, and the goal is to get through each level as fast as possible. It’s part first person shooter, part first person platformer, part puzzle, part card game, part time attack, and even part visual novel.
I struggled to find a better description, but in an interview, Neon White creative director Ben Esposito finally gave me one: “a really playful game”.
“It’s a very unlikely game,” he said. “It’s a really playful game, full of playful things. But the combination of elements is something no one has asked for ”. I think he’s right: the idea of a game that combines first-person action with a race against time supported by a fascinating story seems ridiculous even in my wildest dreams.
In a video released last year, Esposito talked about Neon White as a “fanatic” game and I asked him what he meant by that. “We wanted to create something that was unique and fresh, but still felt like it was using video game history, especially Japanese games from the late 90s / early 2000s, as a great inspiration,” he said. “Let’s talk it’s for the fanatics because you have to be open-minded and you have to be in weird tropes and clichés, on a low to medium budget. It might not be as decent as another game. “
Neon White is the sequel to Esposito in Donut County, a delightful but much simpler game where you play as a hole. Donut County is purposely very accessible. “Part of the Donut County design was that someone four years old could play it,” Esposito told me. So, with Neon White, it went in a different direction. “I wanted to challenge myself to do something really different, which is to create a game that was much more about systems, gameplay and pure fun.” Instead of trying to create another game that tries to serve everyone, “I’ll try to serve myself when I was in junior high,” he said.
Neon White sure would have served me in junior high. As a kid, I played Star Fox 64 countless times to try and get a better score, and Neon White allowed me to chase the top of the charts and feel extremely cool doing it.
But beyond the gameplay and aesthetics, what really got me playing Neon White were the multiple little breakthroughs in each level. Most take less than a minute to beat, so it’s easy to practice them over and over again without feeling like you’re wasting your time. With each repeat run, you may find a new way to save fractions of a second when turning a corner or even a significant shortcut that cuts your time in seconds. There is also a bonus gift item – a literal gift pack – hidden in each level, and they can be given to characters to unlock new dialogue and quests.
It’s easy to get into a flow state while playing, and that’s by design. “Our goal with the levels and gameplay in general was to make it really clear,” Esposito said. “Everything had to be very, very clear and direct.” This way the game could more easily attract players to what Esposito called the “speed zone”. The team brought in a few speedrunners to test levels, but found it more useful to test with mid-level players instead. “The Speedrunners will find out sooner or later. They love pain, “he said.” But the average person needs to be carried along. “
Neon White also exudes style and I had to ask about one of my favorite little details in the game: the “mission complete” sequence. After passing a series of levels, a short cutscene plays in which the main character turns in front of the camera, says the same silly line, and the words “MISSION COMPLETE” vanish on the screen. It looks like a relic from my childhood that I would look back fondly on, but it’s right here in a game released in 2022. “That kind of victory dance animation, with a beep and that repeating sound that says every single time, for me , so are video games, “Esposito said.
Everything in Neon White seems to stem from that philosophy. “The thing that is the core of the game for me is this idea of being as much video game as possible,” said Esposito. “Not everyone appreciates the fact that we have made decisions that you would normally consider bad decisions when you are playing a game. We made them on purpose. This game should be cool. It’s an original idea and it’s a new kind of gameplay, but it’s also meant to celebrate the weird, messy, and nonsensical parts of video games that made them so fun. “
