For the past few weeks, I’ve been battling for records in a game from 2022 and I’m really having a great time with the ambitious duels.
I’ve had my eye on the 3D platformer “Neon White” for months and finally decided to buy the indie game from 2022 in March after a long hesitation.
While Neon White isn’t a big name in the gaming industry, it was nominated for “Best Action Game”, “Best Indie Game”, and “Best Debut Indie Game” at the Game Awards in its release year. Ultimately, however, it had to concede defeat to Bayonetta 3 and Stray.
Neon White usually costs €22.99 on Steam, I got it on sale for half the price and I don’t regret it for a second. Alternatively, the game is also available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
A fast-paced platformer with shooter elements
Neon White is a mix of a platformer and a first-person shooter. You take on the role of the titular protagonist and complete a series of levels. Many different weapons are available to you, allowing you to perform various maneuvers. With one weapon, you can jump, with another, dash in the direction you’re looking, and a third lets you slam down powerfully onto the ground – you get the idea.
You obtain the individual weapons through cards that you collect during a level. However, the use of the cards is limited: if you empty the magazine of a weapon or use the special ability of the weapon, it is consumed and disappears from your repertoire. In total, you can only collect and actively hold 2 different weapon cards.
Additionally, each level has areas where you need to use your weapons’ abilities purposefully, for example, to overcome a chasm or break through a gate. You may also need to eliminate a set number of demons within the level. If you don’t, you can’t reach the goal and finish the level.
The levels are small courses that have a starting and an end point. Depending on how quickly you complete a level, you will receive different medals. Additionally, your times are recorded on a global leaderboard. Alternatively, you can also specifically compare yourself with your friends.
The entire game principle is geared towards speedrunning, so there are always shortcuts and opportunities to save time and reach the goal even faster, in addition to the obvious route.
The record hunt has caught me and won’t let go
The peculiarity of Neon White is that everyone becomes a speedrunner. I was never a fan of picking up any exploits and glitching through walls or floors to finish my favorite games faster. Sure, there are also glitchless speedruns, but they just couldn’t grip me so far, as the levels are mostly not complete racetracks designed for that purpose but are repurposed for speedrunning.
Neon White is different. Every level is a speedrun track. Every level has its own tricks and peculiarities. Every level gives me the chance to compete with other players, even if I’m not in the mood for PvP. And I’ve done that extensively.
Luckily, I already have a few people on my friends list who played Neon White. So my ambition kicked in right at level 1, and I ran it until I had the record. This continued, and I spent way too much time on some courses before I had seen and unlocked every level.
The ambition spreads like a spark to other players
My fire for the record hunt burned brightly when my ambition sparked like a spark to my friends, igniting their ambition as well. A buddy soon announced that he wanted to play Neon White again, now that the competitive situation had changed.
Another one bought Neon White saying, “I’m buying this just to beat you at it.” And he did – well, he bought Neon White, the beating still has to wait. Otherwise, we have a very healthy and not competitive friendship.
Since I bought Neon White, I want to continuously improve my times on each track. If one of my records is beaten, I try to get it back as quickly as possible. I’ve even thought about in which other game I might try my hand at speedrunning. Overall, Neon White awakened a desire in me that Pokémon protagonist Ash Ketchum knows: “I want to be the very best!”
I’m not only dueling with my friends in Neon White. We also try to outdo each other in the aim trainer Aimlabs: I played an aim trainer for 100 hours to get better in shooters – But did it really help?
