In a sea of gorgeous pixel-art action games, Zenovia Interactive’s Neon Inferno stood out like a shooting star. Boasting gorgeous pixel graphics and old-school sensibilities, Neon Inferno proved to be a player-favorite during Steam Next Fest. The fact that it’s published by Retroware, an indie publishing label with an excellent track record, is the cream of the crop. After playing through Neon Inferno over the past week, I say Retroware can rest easy knowing that they’ve got another golden feather in their crown.
Infernal Crime
As the title suggests, Neon Inferno takes place in a neon-soaked New York City in 2055. At a time when factions are waging open war to take control of the glitz and glamour, peace is temporary, and chaos is guaranteed. Players take control of Angelo Morano or Mariana Vitti (or both in co-op), allied with The Family, a powerful crime syndicate. Working as assassins for hire, Angelo and Mariana duke it out in the concrete jungle against rival factions and totalitarian authorities. All this is presented in gorgeous pixel art cutscenes and backed up by an OST that’s worthy of your purchase.
As one would expect, the story is not the main focus here. But that doesn’t stop Neon Inferno from treating your eyes with some gorgeous mission selection screens. Each mission has you take on a different crime boss, and the game lets you pick the order in which you want to tackle them. The missions themselves are divided into multiple sub-missions, each with its own enemy types and design. They culminate in multi-phase boss fights that will make you feel like a little kid glued to his CRT TV like the good ol’ days. The only bummer is that the game itself is quite short and can be completed in about 3 hours. If you ask me, it falls a bit short of the sweet spot for such a game. Besides the campaign, there is an Arcade Mode to test your skills on, but that’s about it.
Shootdodge
The gameplay is where Neon Inferno tries to spice things up a bit. From the outset, it’s your standard 2D run-and-gun action game. At its core, Neon Inferno is a run-and-gun game. However, the game also features a gallery-shooting component. Simply put, Neon Inferno lets you switch between the traditional side-scrolling shooting and switch to a background shooting mode. This is such a cool feature that should be in more games! One minute, you’re shooting at waves of bad guys coming at you from the sides, and the next, you’re raining heavy fire on robots and mechs approaching from above.
Moreover, you can also enter Bullet Time and counter projectiles; not just counter them, but you get to choose which direction to deflect them to! There is also a dodge mechanic, and you can also get up close and take on enemies with a knife. Additionally, there are defensive and offensive upgrades available for purchase between missions. Neon Inferno conceals so many cool things beneath its modest exterior, it’s incredible.
Even though the campaign is on the shorter side of things, what’s on offer easily warrants a purchase. Neon Inferno is fun, chaotic, and challenging. Emphasize challenging. There are very few checkpoints within the levels, and you’ll often find yourself sent back to the beginning of the levels. Thankfully, each level is quite brief, and it will take no time for you to catch up and provides ample opportunity to learn the mechanics and perform some sick moves.
Brick Walls
Neon Inferno does have a few rough edges. As mentioned earlier, the campaign is quite short (the devs are looking into adding extra modes and free DLC in the future). The visuals, while amazing to look at, can be a bit too much at times, and it can be hard to see projectiles among all the visual clutter. The lack of any sort of health pickups is also a baffling decision to have in this day and age. Look, I get the sensibility behind such a decision, but this, combined with the lack of mid-level checkpoints, can frustrate many players. I also did not dig how the game subtracted huge chunks of your score (which you need to buy upgrades) for taking hits. For some odd reason, the upgrades work like single-use items. They expire at the end of the level, whether you’ve used them all or not, and can only be purchased from the shop. Finally, the default control scheme is a bit odd and needs time to get used to (especially the background shooting). These gripes, while not big enough to ruin the overall experience, did manage to induce some frustration in poor old me. A balance patch should iron out some of these issues.
Real Talk
Neon Inferno is a drop-dead gorgeous shooter with an exhilarating OST backed up by frantic gunplay and fantastic animations. Extra gameplay modes, additional levels, and a balance patch would do wonders to uplift the game.
FINAL SCORE: 80/100