Neon Blight (PC)

OGUKJay | July 26, 2022 | Review | No Comments

Neon Blight, a top-down shooter with rouge lite elements from developer Bleeding Tapes, made its way to our review list last week and instantly made me think of Moonlighter, with a cyberpunk aesthetic and a little bullet hell sprinkled over for good measure. So, is this a title for fans of Moonlighter?

No, no it is not, at least not at the time of writing. The game sees you take on the role of a police officer who, after a particular case, decides to leave the force and run their uncle’s gun shop with the loot of fallen monsters on the outskirts of the city.

The opening story initially had some intrigue and mystery to it and the gameplay was equal parts challenging and rewarding with fast-paced combat and a variety of enemy encounters. However, the fun I had was short-lived.

It quickly became apparent I would not be recommending this title in its current state. What initially started out as small frame rate drops and stuttering escalated as I continued to attempt playing the title. Before long, the game would freeze up completely or just outright close altogether.

Queue the arrival of a patch and my hopes that I could actually enjoy and review this title, but alas, things only got worse. From that point, on top of the freezes and crashes, we now had the addition of immortal enemies, being unable to move to new areas and thus being locked into a map, enemies seemingly under the environment, randomly spawning guns, and at times a total frame rate of about 2. At this point, I tried the game about a dozen times more but it’s simply DOA.

As you may have guessed, this made reviewing the actual gameplay all but impossible. While I liked the aesthetic and the idea of cyberpunk Moonlighter, and even enjoyed the challenge of combat from the little unhindered I experienced, I’d have to advise everyone to steer clear of the title until it is somewhat salvaged via further patches.