Cyberpunk games are becoming far more common these days. Apart from Cyberpunk 2077, Indie games such as Ghostrunner, Katana Zero and Ruiner have managed to make good impressions and the genre does create a great setting for video games due to the themes and dark futuristic elements that are usually present within the cyberpunk genre.
Neon Blood from Chaotic Brain studios is the latest indie cyberpunk title. A turn based RPG that sees you play as Axel McCoin, an amnesiac detective who was once the best cop in Blind City, reduced to becoming a drug addict as a result of constant headaches he experiences. While investigating a murder, Axel is thrust into a massive conspiracy linked to his lost past.
With impressive visuals, unique character designs, a great soundtrack and an interesting premise, Neon Blood could’ve perhaps made a great visual novel or adventure game. As an RPG however, it misses quite a few marks.
Pros
Neon Blood’s visuals stick out as soon as you start the game. The game features well done Pixel art characters within 3D backdrops. From Axel himself who looks like a cross between something out of Blade Runner and Disco Elysium to the somewhat grotesque looking Ripper, one of his allies the characters are all well done.
On top of the characters, Blind City is ironically a visual treat itself. Neon Blood isn’t a large game being only about 4 hours long but, what you are given to explore looks great as the city is dark yet colorful at the same time.
There are a few different locales you explore outside the city such as a desert outskirt town and the sewers. Each setting does well to reflect the dystopian future the game is set in, although in a different way. While the City itself reeks of corruption and poverty, the sewers are riddled with drug addicts who have begun to mutate, while the desert town represents abandonment.
Accompanying the visuals is a great, atmospheric retro wave soundtrack. I enjoyed the games music quite a bit and did find myself pausing the game a couple times just to hear the songs play out for a bit.
While short, I did enjoy the game’s story overall. Axel is a solid protagonist who’s amnesia and constant pain has made him world weary. the game does take a few solid turns told through a few QuickTime events that show off Axel pulling off some pretty badass moves as he begins to remember who he truly is.
Along with Axel there are a few solid supporting characters such as Joe, the Chief of police who wants to help Axel remember the cop he once was and Basilio, a hacker who’s a friend of Axel that assists him throughout the game.
Cons
So unfortunately, Neon Blood doesn’t hit the marks in its gameplay. It’s not broken or glitchy by any means but, it’s just boring. The game features turn based RPG combat but it’s quite bare bones and none of the enemies actually require any kind of strategy or put up much of a challenge ever. Every enemy I fought could be put down by the head shot ability which always guarantees a critical hit.
Although Axel has other abilities there was virtually no reason to use them save for maybe the final boss, who was still far too easy otherwise. Even the bosses went down within 3-4 turns. Enemies also don’t do too much damage to you outside occasionally landing a critical hit so you’re pretty much never in danger of dying.
The game does feature a detective mode as well but it feels severely underutilized as you don’t really use it for anything outside occasionally scanning something or following a trail of some kind. There’s not really any puzzle solving involved with it which feels like a missed opportunity for a game where you play as a detective.
Lastly, while I did like the story, it’s very short length means some of the characters did not get enough time to really develop such as Varya, the leader of the desert outskirt and Ruby, the games primary antagonist.
Final thoughts
Although graphically impressive and it does manage to tell a decent story, Neon Blood’s gameplay may prove to be too lacking for any RPG fan. The game has the makings for a great adventure game if it were a couple hours longer perhaps but, it’s bare bones and unchallenging gameplay left quite a lot to be desired.
Reviewed on Xbox Series S
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