Neon White review: Creative shooter is a heavenly delight

digitaltrends.com:

At a first glance, Neon White sounds like the kind of game that would have your local priest performing exorcisms. The indie shooter paints a grim portrait of the afterlife, one where divine judgment is turned into a gun bloodsport. But look below the surface sacrilege and you’ll find a more nuanced meditation of spirituality and the real heretics that weaponize it against the vulnerable.

Developed by Angel Matrix, Neon White is a genre-bending action game about a group of deceased misfits who have to fight their way into Heaven (literally). The oddball game has players collecting guns in the form of cards that can shoot enemies or be discarded to perform platforming moves. It’s a fast-paced action game about killing enough demons to appease a bloodthirsty God as part of a holy war that doesn’t smell right.

Through its stylish art and devilishly creative card combat, Neon White is a sharp-witted game about the hypocrisy that can often go hand-in-hand with religious fanaticism. Though it has some harsh words for zealots, it comes from a place of sincere spirituality instead of cynicism.

When Neon White begins, the game’s protagonist is already dead. The amnesiac hero is in the afterlife awaiting entry into Heaven along with a host of mask-wearing humans who have all been renamed after colors (your given name? Neon White). The story’s left turn comes immediately: All the “Neons” are sinners who are being pitted against one another in a divine competition. Whoever can kill the most demons in God’s name will gain entry into the pearly gates.

Writer Ryann Shannon delivers a searing sermon about religious fear-mongering …

It’s an immediately gripping setup. Right from the jump, it’s clear that something’s off as self-indulgent