Neon White Preview: Hands-On With a High-Speed FPS

ign.com:

At a glance, Neon White might look like a first-person shooter, but it’s not really — or not entirely. It plays like a shooter, but the focus is more on speedrunning through levels. It also pulls elements from the visual novel genre to tell a rather in-depth story. During a recent demo, director Ben Esposito explained how these pieces fit together. I have to say, I’m intrigued.

Neon White does have you running, jumping, and shooting from a first-person perspective, but the levels are short. Most can be completed in under a minute. The idea is to play and replay each level, earning rewards as you chart an optimal path to the end, trimming your completion time as you go.

Between levels, the story plays out like a visual novel as you learn what’s going on along with White, your amnesiac character. It turns out that Heaven, the eternal paradise, has become infested with demons. To exterminate them, God has enlisted a group of assassins from Hell. You play as one of the assassins, all of whom wear masks and have nicknames based on colors. You can chat up the other characters in a hub area called Central Heaven.

One unique aspect of Neon White is the weapon and ability system. In each level, you’ll pick up various cards that represent weapons you can use to blast enemies. But each card also has an ability you can use by discarding it. These abilities are crucial to completing the levels as fast as possible.

For instance, the Elevate card lets you fire a pistol, but discarding it lets you use a double-jump. The Godspeed card is a precision rifle, but if you scrap it, you get a mid-air horizontal dash. Or, if you’re in the mood for something more explosive, the Dominion card works as a rocket launcher. Discard it, and you can