Neon Blood Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "The spark of something beautiful" 🧠⚡️ @ChaoBrainStudio #IndieGame #GameDev

Neon Blood was one of those games that struck me the moment I first watched the trailer, a beautiful blend of 3D environments with 2D characters, that supposedly melded that cyberpunk aesthetic with detective-based adventure, on paper – and on screen – it looked to be a winner. Sadly, as much as there was in Neon Blood that really drew me in, there was just as much working against my enjoyment.

Set in an alternate, distant future, the player is cast in the role of detective Axel McCoin, a burnt-out detective who regularly uses the fictional drug Spark to cope with extreme pain caused by his failing bio-implants. Mostly dismissed by his superiors, Axel (cool name ) gets embroiled in a series of murders that hint at a larger conspiracy…

Firstly, there’s a lot of good stuff here, the world-building hints at deeper lore and environments are absolutely stunning and call to mind the very best of the PS1/2 era, it really is a joy to simply traverse the streets, drinking in your surrounding and checking out each nook and cranny, which are full of little touches and flourishes – this is all accompanied by an incredible score, that would do well to see a vinyl release, as it’s so scene-setting and atmospheric. As mentioned above, I was also initially keen on the detective-based game mechanics, but it is one of the areas in which the game stumbles.

The first crime scene you arrive at is as typically wonderful to behold as the rest of the game, a scummy apartment with a balcony that gazes out to towering skyscrapers that fill the night, tie this up with the music, and it’s a really powerful experience, and I found myself hoping that the rest of the game could hold up this vibe – but then I tucked into the gameplay itself and found it wanting.

The investigative aspects end up essentially being trigger points that you just interact with, some of which you can’t even do out of order, making the investigations seem very ‘tick-box’. For instance, I initially walked over to the corpse, and several other interesting areas in the apartment, but couldn’t interact at all, until I’d spoken to my superior on the scene, then I could go back through the area and piece it all together, it made it feel a little overly linear and took a sense of control away from me that happens often in the game.

The key interactive spots aren’t highlighted until certain narrative events take place, which means that I pretty quickly lost any sense of agency and exploration – as there’s literally no point in doing anything or going somewhere until you are expressly told to, tie this in with turn-based combat that feels random and seems bizarrely out of place and I could feel my interest ebbing away.

There are also other minor niggles such as dialogue that occasionally feels slightly oddly delivered and some other finicky bits such as investigation sections that have you pressing a button every few steps to highlight footprints that you have to follow – instead of just needing to press it once so you can follow the trail in its entirety – and I realised that I was engaged in the story, visuals and music – but not the gameplay itself. This was a disconnect that sadly never resolved and I found myself excited to visit different places, drinking in the scenery and music…but then realising I had to put up with muddy gameplay as I did so.

SUMMARY

ChaoticBrain Studios very clearly have a lot of skill and talent when it comes to making games, and I was blown away by some of what they’ve achieved with Neon Blood, and if their next title has tighter gameplay that matches their abilities in other facets of game design, they could come up with some real magic.

I hope a lot of folks connect with Neon Blood in a way that I sadly couldn’t, as there really is a lot to enjoy here, but the choices in gameplay mechanics did wear me down in the end.

6.5/10

💧MELTING💧