Neon White was much more fun than it had any right to be. It was developed by Angel Matrix, a collaborative group of independent developers, and published by Annapurna Interactive.
Annapurna has published some good stuff - they have an impressive catalog of games in their past; some that I recognize like What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, and Sayonara Wild Hearts. Annapurna also published a few titles in my own backlog, like The Artful Escape and Stray.
DIVING RIGHT IN
On the surface, it's hard to say exactly why I enjoyed Neon White. As a first-person shooter, most of the game's levels are incredibly short - the longest take perhaps 5 minutes to complete, but most of them will be closer to 45 seconds.
There are no real narrative choices to be made in the game; but almost every level has a hidden collectible, and finding those collectibles (gifts for NPCs) drives the story forward with a given NPC. Tying the character-focused plot advancement to in-game collectibles makes the overall game feel sort of like a visual novel, but it works.
The enemies aren't particularly imaginative - nearly all of them stand in a fixed location, firing at you when you come within range. They're not particularly complex either, most of them are just black silhouettes of demons and such.
THE STYLISH EXECUTION
The game is certainly stylish though; it opens with a slick anime sequence that explains the game's premise - that you're a sinner tasked to clear out demons who have invaded heaven. You've lost your memories from life - those gradually come back as you move through the game - and you're in competition with the other Neons (that's what they call sinners) to destroy the most demons.
That theme - fighting demons as a damned soul visiting heaven - is well represented throughout the every aspect of the game, be it through the level design (lots of clouds, golden arches, etc), weapons (more on that in a bit), art (Neons all wear white masks made of plot), and the NPCs.
In any shooter, the weapons your character wields are practically a character in their own right. Anyone who has played Halo would recognize the iconic pistol of the first game. The weapons in Neon White were clearly chosen deliberately. Each is a classic shooter archetype - a pistol, a sniper rifle, a submachine gun, a shotgun, an automatic rifle, and a rocket launcher - and is represented by a card. Fire ammunition, and your card will show a gradually reducing "meter" until you run out of ammo.
Alternately, you can "discard" a weapon to trigger a traversal skill instead. Discard your pistol for a mid-air jump, or discard your sniper rifle to lunge forward and cross a long gap - many of the level "shortcuts" rely on efficient use of your weapon discards in order to navigate the level as fast as possible.
The game's real appeal comes from the careful crafting of the various levels within it - it's a speedrunning game (the first I've played) where it's sort of a given that you will be able to complete all the levels. The trick is in completing them as fast as possible. Every level feels like a race forward - often against a "ghost" representing your previous "best time" - where you run/jump/
shoot/etc in a headlong sprint to the end of the level.
When you've completed the level quickly enough you'll rank on a global leaderboard, and can see how many other players have beaten your "best" time. When you complete a level in decent time, you feel like a badass.
After 40ish hours spread over a couple weeks, I did *not* 100% Neon White. I did manage to "Ace" each level, but skipped the "Level rush" modes you can unlock toward the end, and I missed a few of the more annoying achievements - for example defeating a few "boss fights" before the boss enters their final stage.
THE FRIENDS YOU MAKE ALONG THE WAY
Most of the game's story is told through conversations with the game's major NPCs - some of them are people your character knew in life, and others work in Heaven to help Neons with their tasks. They're all pretty compelling characters - the writers for this game had a lot of fun with their dialogue. Without going into too much detail, there are a lot of jokes in the game, and nearly all of them are at your main character's expense.
At the end of the day, what I really loved about Neon White was the originality of it. I've never played a "speedrunning" game, and it was a refreshing way for me to engage with a shooter. It's also incredibly clean and polished - one of the benefits of their "basic" design aesthetic is that everything (the level design, jumping/discard systems, weapon balance, etc) feels satisfying and tight. It gets nine heavenly delights out of ten; against my better judgement, I'm pretty sold on Neon White.