Neon White shows us what a perfect difficulty curve looks like

polygon.com:

If restarting a level in Neon White necessitated a loading screen, the game would be near-unplayable.

Toward the game’s end, I probably restarted individual levels two dozen times in a row. Sometimes, I restarted because I missed a jump or got killed by an enemy. Much more often, though, my restarts were because I decided I was slightly less than perfect. Sure, I made the jump — but I could have done it faster. Sure, I killed every demon in a level — but I could have done it more efficiently. “Next time, I’ll get it,” I told myself. “Next time, I’ll do it perfectly.” Starting a level over in Neon White isn’t a sign of giving up; it’s a promise that next time will be the time. I restarted over and over again, not because the game was impossibly difficult, but because improvement was so close I could taste it. Neon White doesn’t demand perfection, but it makes the concept so irresistible that I demanded it from myself. Restart, restart, restart.

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Describing Neon White’s genre might be more difficult than actually playing it. A “speedrunning FPS-parkour-deck-builder” sounds incredibly esoteric. But that description belies a fairly simple core loop. Each level is basically an obstacle course, with both enemies and bottomless pits to overcome. Scattered throughout are “cards” that double as weapon pickups and navigational abilities. Grab a pistol card, shoot a few enemies,