When I started Neon Blood I was immediately impressed. The Pixel graphics on crisp cyberpunk backgrounds, the music, the predictable but solid story promised a great adventure ahead. Ultimately, this short adventure had some bright spots, but its simplicity and odd twists and turns resulted in an overall average experience.
An imperfect detective
The story centers on Axel McCoin, a Blind City detective. Axel has memory loss (of course) and when the game begins he is struggling to escape his addiction to the drug Spark, which has not only made him a disgrace within the police force, but has also wreaks havoc with his cybernetics.
Tasked with a case searching for the notorious murderer, Robin Slash McCoin must search for clues, put his cybernetics to work, and solve the mystery of why Slash targets so many random people. Of course, the story delves into film noir tropes with twists and turns and a larger plot uncovered over time.
A predictable story
The story is, well, good. It's incredibly predictable and, although the game is billed as a Cyberpunk RPG, there's very little real choice. Nothing branches, other than the conflict quicker than later, the story progresses the same despite the dialogue choices made.
I also found that there were some pretty big jumps and gaps in the story that left me perplexed. Some plot points revealed later counteract previous story beats, and sometimes there were almost miraculous teleportations between areas to advance the story.
Impressive environments
The game's presentation is a mix of 2D pixel art for all the characters and stunning 3D backgrounds for the environments. This is the part of the game that really impressed me. The backgrounds look amazing and the characters look great and detailed despite the pixel design.
I really enjoyed walking around and interacting with all the people wandering the dark landscapes of Blind City and beyond. Promoter Chaoticbrain Studio also added a ton of cameos that fit into this Cyberpunk world. Of note is Jonny Silverhand of Cyberpunk 2077 and the cat Wander.
Game atmosphere
Music is another strong point of Neon Blood. Each area and scenario in the prologue and three acts had different music and themes. I actually really liked the music design and felt it enhanced the already great visuals and ambiance of the game.
As for the game, the game is also very good. There really isn't much depth to the game. Again, it's an RPG, but any upgrades to McCoin happen automatically and the game has limited loops.
Basically talk to people, find items or people using the McCoins scanner, occasionally fight people in turn-based combat. The combat itself is incredibly limited and frankly WAY too easy. You choose an action, wait for it to happen, then choose it again.
The experience
I never had to defend, I rarely had to heal, and by the end I had a skill that allowed me to win fights almost automatically. There are also some surprising and strangely amusing QTE sequences.
When the game ended, I was disappointed, but happy to have had the experience. Neon Blood mainly for the music, art, style and atmosphere. Gameplay loops and choppy story held the game back despite its impressive look and feel.
We were provided with a Steam code of Neon Blood for review purposes. Neon Blood is available now for PC via Steam, Xbox, PlayStation 4|5 And Nintendo Switch.
