Neon White (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.1 Update

Neon White is a first-person shooter and puzzle-platforming game developed by Angel Matrix and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and the Nintendo Switch on June 16, 2022. It was released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 13, 2022. It is also in development for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Designed around speedrunning, Neon White puts the player in the role of a Neon, tasked with clearing all the demons within a level in the fastest time possible. The game uses playing cards to represent weapons, which can be discarded to perform special moves like double-jumping and dashing. The game was written by Ryann Shannon, writer for OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes; and Aevee Bee, writer for We Know the Devil.

GAMEPLAY

Neon White features a group known as Neons, sinners taken from Hell in an annual competition to clean up demons in Heaven for a chance to stay there. Neons are required to wear masks that explode if they disobey orders or break the rules given to them. Each of the hundred Neons in the competition contends against each other for the position of top Neon.

The player takes the role of the titular Neon White, an assassin who is competing for the first time. White receives daily missions from the angel Mikey and meets up with old crewmates of his, all while dealing with amnesia that prevents him from recalling his past life. The game is composed of several missions, each made up of multiple levels. To complete a level, the player must defeat all the demons present and reach a goal, which additionally grants the player experience that can unlock the ability to see alternate routes and hidden items in levels.

The player traverses the level by running and jumping, collecting Soul Cards lying about in the open or obtained from defeating demons. Soul Cards can be used as weapons with each card having a standard firing mode and an alternate special ability that is activated by discarding it. As an example, the handgun card can be discarded to perform a double jump. The player can die if they take too much damage from demons or fall off the map, requiring them to restart the level. Once the player completes a level, they receive a medal based on their completion time, ranging from Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Ace. If the player reaches a certain preset time, they will earn a secret type of medal known in the community as a “red medal”. These are awarded for exceptionally fast times.

Between levels, players can interact with NPCs in the hub world of heaven. Alongside completing challenge missions by ranking up confidants, players can enter relationships with the NPCs during this section of the game. Progressing onto new missions may also require the player to have earned a specific neon rank, reflecting the number of levels the player has obtained a gold or better time medal on. Players can return to any previous level to try to earn better time scores.

PLOT

The amnesiac Neon White awakens in Heaven alongside other sinners who have been chosen from Hell. They are informed by the Believers, a group of beings who claim to speak for God, that they are “Neons” whom God has judged “most unfavorably”. Their only chance at salvation is through the Ten Days of Judgement competition, held annually to cull the demons infesting Heaven. The Neon who can kill the most demons by the competition’s end will receive a mechanical halo that will allow them to stay in Heaven for a year. White and the other Neons are given weapons and non-removable, explosive masks that the Believers can detonate to execute any Neon who steps out of line. As the competition begins, White meets fellow Neons Yellow, Violet, and Red, all of whom vaguely claim to have known him in his past life, and the angels Mikey and Gabby, who manage the Neons’ assignments.

During a daily sermon from the Believers, White meets Neon Green, the current bearer of the mechanical halo, who is feared for killing other Neons. Later, Violet tells White about the Old City, an abandoned area of Heaven rumored to have powerful weapons. Red warns White against going there since Green uses it as his hunting grounds, but White ignores this and proceeds to the Old City with Yellow. The pair encounter Green, and Yellow is killed when he blocks an attack meant for White. As Green makes his escape after being defeated by White, he explains that the Believers crafted his halo using a page from the Book of Death, and promises that he has plans for White. Following the confrontation, White learns of the counterpart Book of Life and decides to seek it out as his suspicions about the competition and the Believers mount.

White catches up with Green, who tells him the Book of Life is at Heaven’s Edge. Red intervenes to prevent a second fight and reveals their shared past: White, Red, Yellow, and Violet had worked together as a crew of assassins under the leadership of Green, and their last operation had been to assassinate Blue, who was Green’s old boss. They all died during the mission, although Green successfully killed Blue. The next day, Mikey refuses White’s request to be assigned to Heaven’s Edge, explaining that he knows the competition is a sham and that he would rather see White for ten days every year than risk being unable to return to Heaven ever again. White and Red venture into Heaven’s Edge anyway, but Mikey catches up to them and divulges the truth. Heaven was originally Sheol, but Sheol did not live up to the Believers’ expectations of the afterlife and they eventually overthrew God to seize his books and remake the realm into their ideal version of paradise. The Believers also killed most of the angels during the war and only spared those angels who swore loyalty and service to them. The Believers defeated God and acquired the Book of Death, but God closed his hands around the Book of Life and the Inkhorn used to write into both divine books, preventing the Believers from gaining total power over Heaven and leaving it vulnerable to demonic invasion. As Mikey concludes his story, a stray page from the Book of Life appears, giving White a way to seek out the location of the full book.

White arrives at the Third Temple, where he finds one of God’s hands clenched around the Book of Life. The hand opens at White’s approach, but Violet, who was slighted by White earlier, swoops in and snatches the book, only for Green to fatally wound her. As White and Green clash, Green’s mechanical halo is broken, freeing him from the Believers’ control. The vengeful Green declares he will use the books to destroy Heaven, but Violet stymies his plan by blowing herself up and scattering the Book of Life’s pages. Green returns to Outer Heaven and steals the Book of Death from the Believers, preventing them from detonating the Neons’ masks. All of the remaining Neons begin to riot throughout Heaven, and Green kills off the Believers. Meanwhile, White uses the remaining page of the Book of Life to recover its pages and reassemble it.

Once the Book of Life is whole, White turns his attention to the Inkhorn, the last item needed to bring back God. In the course of the search, Mikey reveals to White that the sinners who float up to Heaven are free of guilt, which makes them the best Neons as they are unquestioning; White had been weighed down by guilt, but he ascended to Heaven anyway because Red pulled him up, and this unusual method of entry caused his amnesia. God’s other hand is found, but it lies outside Heaven and a soul is needed to trigger the process to push it into Heaven so it can reopen. Red sacrifices herself by detonating her mask, and Green and White have a final duel over the Books and the Inkhorn. White is once again victorious, and the angels undertake the ritual to restore God. However, Green reappears and charges at White, intent on writing everyone’s names into the Book of Death.

If White fails to collect enough gifts to unlock all of his memories, White’s only option is to write Green’s name into the Book of Death, wherein Green is transformed into a demon and sent to Hell. God then writes Yellow, Violet, and Red’s names into the Book of Life, but excludes White because he failed to earn salvation. If all memories have been unlocked, White is given a second option to write Green’s name into the Book of Life, forgiving Green for his actions and showing that White can let go of his past issues. After this, God writes White’s name into the book with the rest of his crew.