Neon White’s creative director on making the ‘most video games game possible’

I have never played something like Neon White. You play as a demon hunter who destroys baddies in heaven by using cards that serve as guns or special movement abilities, and the goal is to get through each level as fast as you can. Part first-person shooter, part first-person platformer, part puzzler, part card game, and even part visual novel.

I have been trying to come up with a better description, but Neon White creative director Ben Esposito finally gave me one.

He said that it was a really unusual game. There are a lot of gamey things. The combination of elements is something nobody asked for. The idea of a game that combines first-person action with a race against the clock that is backed by a charming story sounds crazy to me.

I asked him what he meant when he said that Neon White was a game for freaks. He said that they wanted to make something that was unique and felt fresh but still felt like it was using the history of video games from the late '90s and early-2000s. It's for freaks because you have to be open minded and you have to be into weird, mid- to-low budget cliches. It may not be as dignified as other games.

Neon White is a simple game where you play as a hole. Donut County is very easy to get to. Donut County was designed to be played by four year olds. He changed his direction with Neon White. I wanted to challenge myself to make a game that was more about systems and fun than anything else. He said he would try to serve himself instead of trying to serve everyone.

In middle school, Neon White would have helped me a lot. When I was a kid, I played Star Fox 64 many times to try and get a better high score, and Neon White lets me chase the top of the charts and feel really cool doing it.

There were many little discoveries in Neon White that kept me playing. It is easy to practice them over and over again since most take less than a minute. You might find a new way to save fractions of a second when going around a corner or using a significant shortcut when running multiple times. There is a bonus gift item hidden in each level that can be given to characters in order to get more dialogue and missions.

It is easy to get into a flow state when you play the game. The goal was for the levels and the game to be clear. Everything had to be easy to understand. The game could be pulled into the speed zone more easily. Speed runners were brought in to test levels, but the team decided to use average skill level players rather than speed runners. Runners will figure it out one day. He said that they loved pain. People need to get pulled along.

One of my favorites in the game is the "mission complete" sequence, and I had to ask about it. After you beat a set of levels, a short cutscene plays where the main character flips in front of the camera, saying the same silly one-liners, and the words "mission complete" fade across the screen. It feels like a relic from my childhood, but it is in a game released in 2022. "That kind of victory dance animation, with a sound cue and that repeated sound bite, that's so video games."

It seems that everything in Neon White is a result of that philosophy. The idea of being the most video games game possible is what the game is all about. Some people don't appreciate the decisions we made when we're playing a game. They were done on purpose. The game is supposed to be new. It is an original idea, but it is also meant to celebrate the weird and messed up parts of video games that made them fun.

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