NeonLore

Video games have experimented with numerous models of intertwining gameplay and narrative over the years, though none I’ve played (and I use the word play lightly) have been so blunt in their execution as NeonLore. It’s not a walking simulator, nor is it a full adventure game. NeonLore is a bold, albeit simple, experiment in digital storytelling, and it’s hard not to commend Playstige Interactive’s bravery in putting something truly different out there, even if the lack of polish somewhat stifles the intended immersion.

NeonLore is a first-person roaming experience that adheres to a standard dual analog control setup, with one button dedicated to interaction and one to pause the game. There is only one walking speed, and you won’t need to jump or crawl your way through any of the environments. In fact, despite the emphasized head-bobbing walking effect, it’s almost a dissociative experience, like you’re a ghost rather than a character with a life inside of the game world. Your avatar has no identity or personality, and the controlled walking speed makes it so that you pretty much have to stop and smell the roses – or holograms and trash heaps, as it were.

The metropolis you explore is divided into four quarters (North, South, East, and West). You are free to wander at your leisure, “speaking” with over forty NPCs that populate them. Approaching an NPC will spawn a 3-4 paragraph (text) speech from them. They may explain their life story, telegraph some sort of trauma, or simply offer a somber warning about surviving in the city. Their name and varied labels are displayed at the top of the text box (like OCD Patient: Roy Mallock), giving you some insight into the person you’re listening to. You can’t respond to these characters, nor can you play “fixer” and hook different NPCs together to help one another, even if a link seems apparent. Instead, you’re stuck in a seemingly frozen moment, just listening.

There are also news and meme terminals scattered throughout the city. The meme terminals have rolling playback of text message conversations, while the news terminals give some insight into the greater happenings around the city. They’re admirable bits of world building, and help thicken the mood, though it would have been nice if some of these feeds changed over time. Instead, like the NPCs, they stay stagnant.

The other side of the storytelling takes place slightly outside the scope of the city and its inhabitants, coming in the form of unlockable audio books. Within each quarter, you will find a terminal marked “HACK ME”. When you approach these terminals, you are given the choice to solve a short puzzle or skip right to the audio book.

The puzzles are different for each of the four terminals. They ask the player to complete simple tasks, such as aligning blocks of code to match a certain pattern like a combination lock; or using knobs to untangle a line of energy and form it into a circle. These puzzles are the only bit of actual gameplay in NeonLore, and while a fun distraction, they do not add to the narrative experience in a meaningful way. If you opt to skip them, there’s nothing you’re really missing out on. 

There is no option to save or load your game. Instead, you simply start anew in the North Quarter each time, though any puzzles you’ve solved (or skipped) are recorded, meaning you can jump right into the audio books you’ve unlocked.

The audio books each run about an hour long, meaning they’re really more novellas and short stories, though that’s just a nitpick in terminology. The books all link thematically into the area/room in which they’re found. Each book touches on a trope commonly associated with the cyberpunk genre, and while none are groundbreaking works of literature, most are nonetheless well-written.

Unfortunately, they aren’t very well-orated. Masculine and feminine speak-and-spell voices narrate the books, and while they do a serviceable job most of the time, there are numerous points of misplaced inflection or inappropriate speed. On that note, there are numerous typos, with Binary Breach being the most egregious example of the bunch. It’s also common to find words smushed together in NPCs’ monologues, which again detracts from the immersion. 

I had the playback glitch out on one occasion, starting to play a new chapter before the previous one had finished, resulting in the voices overlapping. It eventually untangled itself, but was still irritating.

While listening to an audio book, you are free to wander around the quarter, though leaving it will stop the book’s playback. The books can be paused and played via left and right on the D-pad, though there is no progress bar to show you how long you’ve been listening or how much is left in the story. Furthermore, you cannot fast-forward or rewind, meaning if you have to leave a session in the middle of a book, you’ll need to start at the beginning again if you want to hear it through. This is a very frustrating omission, but one that could hopefully be patched in at a later date.

NeonLore sports some impressive visuals considering its independent roots, though because so much of the game is spent standing around doing nothing in particular, you’ll notice the game’s unrefined aspects quite quickly. Reflective surfaces, glowing holograms, and sparking fuse boxes do a great job of immersing you in the dark cyberpunk world, as does a nice collection of synth and techno tunes playing in the background. The environments are quite small, and you can pass through any given quarter in only a couple of minutes. That said, they are packed with detail, and each area has its own distinctive atmosphere. The North Quarter is something of a dump, with litter scattered everywhere and fires burning in the middle of the road. The South Quarter is a seedy back alley populated by people looking to keep low profiles. The West Quarter is illuminated in a ghostly blue and has hover cars zooming overhead, while the East Quarter is a red-light district in the ruins of an old neighbourhood, with remnants of art deco architecture peeking through the abandoned scaffolding.

However, there are plenty of oddities floating about the quarters which highlight the game’s lack of polish. Items floating in mid-air and characters' hands twisting in strange tangents, clipping through their own bodies, are commonplace. The most glaring curiosity are the hover cars in the West Quarter, which spawn out of and clip through the buildings overhead. Characters too will sometimes stop moving unless you are close to them, making the whole thing feel a bit more robotic than perhaps the developers intended.

In spite of these blemishes, I liked NeonLore’s little experiment. The graphics need some polish and the text some proofreading, plus a progress bar and bookmark for the audio books and some actual human narrators; but as for the concept itself, I think there’s potential. Playstige Interactive Creative Director Baris Tarimcioglu stated that NeonLore could be the testing ground for a new genre, and he may be right. It would be nice to have some interactions with NPCs, perhaps tying them into the narrative of the books, or have some sort of audible and visual cues in the environments that link into the stories. That said, even just parking myself against a railing and looking down the street below while I listened to an audio book was a pleasant experience (though slightly stressful, not knowing how long I would be stuck there until the book ended or I had to leave to get on with my day). 

NeonLore is a janky little experience – not quite a game, but not just an audio book app, either. If you absolutely love cyberpunk, there’s enough to justify the meager price tag and a few hours of your time in exploring the techno-apocalypse of tomorrow. Whether or not it kick-starts a new genre, however, only time will tell.

The Good

• Establishes a wonderfully “thick” atmosphere with high-fidelity visuals and a great soundtrack
• Audio books are enjoyable pieces of short fiction, sure to appeal to genre enthusiasts

The Bad

• No progress bar or fast-forward/rewind feature for audio book playback
• Numerous graphical irregularities and overlooked details
• Issues with playback reliability
• Some sort of link between the audio books and game world, whether via audible and visual cues, puzzle integration, or character interaction, would have been appealing
• Numerous typos and poor-quality oration of the audio books.

Our Verdict

Uneven

A near-equal balance of good and bad that can make a game either fall disappointingly short of its evident potential or be mildly entertaining despite its many failings.

NeonLore’s overall quality is inconsistent, and for every beautiful vista there’s an equally awkward graphical anomaly. Yet, for all it lacks, the game’s thesis does come through, and it will undoubtedly appeal to cyberpunk fans interested in exploring a frozen moment in the terrifying world of tomorrow.