Clicks of a computer mouse echo in a bedroom. The only glowing light comes from a computer, changing scenes every few seconds. A boy sits in a wooden chair, taping away at the avatar on the screen – a person with a pale mask. He’s playing the game ‘Neon White’. The door to the room opens, and the boy’s mom calls “Henry, it’s time for dinner, turn off your computer.” The boy slides off his chair and leaves the room.
The game is about a deceased assassin, White, who has amnesia. He competes against other players to hunt demons to get out of the underworld. But the game isn’t actually focused on the competition – it’s about the relation between the player and the levels. The levels vary in length, some last less than 30 seconds, while others can last longer. The platformer game allows players to skip some parts of the game if they make the right choice or discovery – that’s how it was meant to be played.
‘Neon White’, a game that came out this year, is a video game that seems like all other adventure games developed so far – a mission or a quest to achieve something to earn a title or reward. For example, after you beat your first ‘level’, which is to kill demons, a gift may be presented to you, but there is a catch. The gift is hidden somewhere on the map, almost never in places with big secrets, but almost always in places that turn the player’s gears and make them strategize, instead of rushing with a ‘speed run’ goal.
One example is that you just defeated a monster/demon in the game. You begin to look for the gift dropped from the battle. You find it at the level’s highest point, causing you to think that if the gift is up there, then there must be a way for you to get to the gift as well. And if you could perform the action to leap, maybe if you held down the jump button, you could climb up to the gift. And if can do that, why not try to leap a few stories as well, and perhaps you could skip half the level.
The game makes you feel like an actual speedrunner, but part of it is also about beating your friend’s or your own time at a level. So rather than actual speedrunning, its learning how players can skip massive chunks of the game’s regular path with handy tricks and strategizing – without any fancy maneuvers or hacking. Once you get to skip part of the ‘quest’, it’s like you are smartest person on earth for gaining speed in the game. All you have to do is focus on your own time and strategy.
‘Neon White’ allows gamers/players to strategize and think – while having fun challenging the levels and the competition. With its new turns and bends, it’s sure to give players the full experience of going from awkwardly making your way through the level to blazing a flaming trail while almost ‘speed running’, yet thinking and strategizing that are sure to come with great rewards. Now all Henry needs to focus on is beating his own time.
The game is about a deceased assassin, White, who has amnesia. He competes against other players to hunt demons to get out of the underworld. But the game isn’t actually focused on the competition – it’s about the relation between the player and the levels. The levels vary in length, some last less than 30 seconds, while others can last longer. The platformer game allows players to skip some parts of the game if they make the right choice or discovery – that’s how it was meant to be played.
‘Neon White’, a game that came out this year, is a video game that seems like all other adventure games developed so far – a mission or a quest to achieve something to earn a title or reward. For example, after you beat your first ‘level’, which is to kill demons, a gift may be presented to you, but there is a catch. The gift is hidden somewhere on the map, almost never in places with big secrets, but almost always in places that turn the player’s gears and make them strategize, instead of rushing with a ‘speed run’ goal.
One example is that you just defeated a monster/demon in the game. You begin to look for the gift dropped from the battle. You find it at the level’s highest point, causing you to think that if the gift is up there, then there must be a way for you to get to the gift as well. And if you could perform the action to leap, maybe if you held down the jump button, you could climb up to the gift. And if can do that, why not try to leap a few stories as well, and perhaps you could skip half the level.
The game makes you feel like an actual speedrunner, but part of it is also about beating your friend’s or your own time at a level. So rather than actual speedrunning, its learning how players can skip massive chunks of the game’s regular path with handy tricks and strategizing – without any fancy maneuvers or hacking. Once you get to skip part of the ‘quest’, it’s like you are smartest person on earth for gaining speed in the game. All you have to do is focus on your own time and strategy.
‘Neon White’ allows gamers/players to strategize and think – while having fun challenging the levels and the competition. With its new turns and bends, it’s sure to give players the full experience of going from awkwardly making your way through the level to blazing a flaming trail while almost ‘speed running’, yet thinking and strategizing that are sure to come with great rewards. Now all Henry needs to focus on is beating his own time.
