The year is 2053 and Alex McCoin is our protagonist: a tough cop who was once the best in all of Viridis, but is now a shadow of what he once was. His implants are destroyed by drugs, his migraines give him no peace, and the police who once admired him now only see him as the scum that he is. But when a series of murders within the cyber technology company NilCorp turns everything upside down, Alex gets caught up in a chain of events that will change his future, but also that of the rest of his citizens. We will meet all kinds of characters, from super hackers and cybercops to mutants and rat people, all in a story influenced by works like Blade Runner or Cyberpunk 2077, but which seems to move forward with leaden feet and has no clear goal.
When I watched the trailer for Neon Blood, it immediately caught my attention. It seemed attractive, dynamic and exciting. I think we were all hoping to get an action game with certain detective features, set in a cyberpunk-style dystopian future. But what we got was something completely different, with only half of what we imagined. It's an action title that has some impeccable moments, but it's not as dynamic or exciting as many of us believed. However, it is set in a dystopian future with elements reminiscent of the everyday life of a detective. In the trailer we saw frenetic battles with cool effects, which are actually turn-based battles with quick clicking moments. Still, it's not at all what we would expect, but rather flat and simple. So the question is: is what has come to us good?
Actually it's a kind of medley. Sometimes we can really enjoy this title, especially when we run through the streets of Viridis or when we stop to admire how impressive the world full of neon lights, sunk in dirt and decay, that Chaotic Brain has created. His style is unique as he managed to combine pixelated 2D characters with a 3D world as a background. Sometimes, especially when moving, we see that the graphics are very careful and the lighting reaches its maximum potential. I think many of us would have liked this environment to be exploited more, instead of the majority of the action taking place in alleys with no big secrets, seedy bars, sewers and desert places. Most of the time it is anything but visually appealing and is really a shame. Additionally, if we zoom in on the characters too much, we have virtually no way of seeing what they represent, as they are reduced to a few ill-defined pixels. In some moments of the game we are shown incredibly well-drawn animations, but they are too short and are over before we even notice.
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At first, we may occasionally laugh when we see our protagonist's proportions. His arms are very short and he looks more like a T-Rex than a battle-hardened police officer. It's a matter of getting used to it over the course of the game, although the developers could have recognized it and solved it. Like this failure there are many others, although Chaotic Brain most likely had big plans for this title, just because it was a small studio it couldn't implement them. As already mentioned, we will be assigned missions in which we will have to use our police skills to find certain clues. We can do this by scanning the environment with our cybernetic eye implants, so that the elements that interest us stand out in a bright blue glow. However, I lost track of how many times I had to solve the exact same puzzle. From start to finish, all we as cops do is scan our surroundings, follow the bright blue details, and press a few buttons to move on. It's not too complicated, doesn't have any big tricks and doesn't require us to rack our brains while playing. At times it gets a little convoluted and confusing, but without adding more tension to the puzzles this can become something that throws us off. And not only that, there is a puzzle that we have to solve twice in exactly the same way, which makes us think that the necessary time was not invested in the development of the project.
In addition, turn-based combat is very present in the three to four hours that we spend with Neon Blood. Many of us aren't big fans of this type of combat and this work certainly won't change our perspective. The system is quite simple, as the damage dealt depends on a dice roll and we can choose between attacking and healing. Shortly after starting our game, we acquire the “Headshot” skill, which is all we need to win the entire game. The fights become a bit monotonous, lacking emotion and any difficulty. The protagonist's stats are constantly improving, so none of his opponents are really a problem, not even the final boss. The game is over in no time and we can finish the game without dying even once. By removing such an essential part of an action game as dynamic combat, it has to offer a lot more depth, and this title failed to do that.
On the other hand, there is the story itself, which did not live up to our expectations. It might seem like it doesn't follow any set direction or style. From one moment to the next the story transforms from a rough, dark and dirty tale into one full of antics. And not only that, the 8-bit music, which gives a pretty good sci-fi touch, becomes a theme that we would also find in a classic Disney Channel sci-fi series. Of course, both elements could fit well into the story, but they are not implemented well enough. The story moves too quickly and the playing time is very limited, meaning we reach the end before we can even enjoy it or feel the excitement of reaching the top. Not going any further is what defines both the narrative technique used and the story itself. Apart from that, it is full of clichés, characters that we have seen hundreds of times and events that repeat themselves in countless works, especially in Cyberpunk 2077.
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Even taking all of this into account, we can't say that this title is bad as such. It may be a bit superficial and weak, but its world is so extraordinary and has so many “Easter eggs” and homages to other cyberpunk classics that it continues to offer us an experience to have fun with. The short duration of “Neon Blood” works to its advantage in a way, as the hours of entertainment it offers us cover all the content and ideas that wanted to be conveyed. Still, I think we all would have liked it if Chaotic Brain had chosen to give the story more power and a darker tone. They didn't manage to fully convince us and it seems that they didn't quite know how they wanted to run this adventure.
