Neon White
Release Date Developer Publisher 16 Jun 2022 (PC) Angel Matrix Annapurna Interactive
Overview
While the baseline routes through each of Neon White’s ninety-seven levels are challenging and zippy, they are designed to be both carefully explored and naturally discovered, with multiple speedrunning optimizations baked into every level.
Let’s dive into one of them to highlight the choreographed nature of the game’s design. We’ll be looking at Covenant: Hanging Gardens, the first level of the sixth mission. But first, here’s a quick explanation of the game for the uninitiated:
Neon White Brief
As a demon slayer in Heaven, you must complete each level by killing every demon and making it to the Finish. The player can pick up weapon cards to shoot at demons, though they can also discard those weapons for powerful movement abilities.
The movement abilities — which are also used to vanquish enemies — lead to an exciting, fluid, parkour-like experience. This is further demonstrated by the fact that some of them are deliberately designed to be jumped on, such as the Balloon Demon.
While there are, sadly, no balloon demons in this level, it does contain the following cards, for reference:
| Card | Weapon | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Elevate | Pistol | Double jump |
Purify | Machine Gun | Launch an explosive bomb |
Godspeed | Rifle | Dash forward, destroying enemies |
Slam | Uzi | Slam down, releasing a shockwave |
In addition, many of the demons are “infused” with a particular card, so they’ll always drop them when slain. Demons have characteristics based on their card, but for the purposes of this walkthrough, we need only understand which card they drop.
An Extra Dimension of Speed
It’s important to call out that while the levels are each designed for speed, with players finding the fastest combination of firing and discarding their weapon cards, there’s no maximum time for any level. It’s possible to complete most levels at your own pace (including this one).
There’s not a ton to explore with this dimension of playing through the game, but it makes the game much more approachable, regardless of whether someone is a speedrunner. And while we will see how different routes are baked into each level, we can also appreciate that max times were not set.
Now we can jump into how someone would naturally progress through the level, if they were tackling the intended route:
The First Pass
Although each level has shortcuts hiding in many places, there is also an intentional route that, while slower, is still quite snappy once understanding when to use the movement abilities. This gives players a chance to learn new mechanics and the level’s themes but still practice more advanced skills or look for shorter paths.
This will be the default route for the level, which — along with shortcut revealed by the game’s mystic Hand, (discussed later) — is enough to pull the coveted Platinum time for the level.
Introducing the Laser Traps
Immediately out of the gate, first-time players at Covenant: Hanging Gardens are informed of a new mechanic — Laser Traps — that they will be learning about over the course of the level. Fresh eyes will use their Katana on it, quickly learning that the Laser Traps have 1HP and can destroy breakable objects, like the door you need to move through.
The starting room, which requires the player to trigger a Laser Trap with their Katana in order to move forward.
Next, the player turns the corner, picking up a Godspeed card and encountering a new problem: Laser Traps pointing at them! The model design and placement of the lasers prompts the player to jump the beams, shooting the two traps on the way over. With the traps taken care of, the player can then continue into the next room, discarding Godspeed to break through a door and continue to the next section.
In the hallway with the lasers, the player learns another dimension of the new Laser Traps: it can also instantly kill them! Players can test it out by walking into the demonic beams instead of hopping over them — though their appearance (and that the beam in the first room counts as a demon) — already invites players to avoid and destroy them.
The following leisurely walk around to the door after destroying the traps gives new players a chance to breathe, processing the mechanic a bit more, while more experienced speed-runners might already be thinking about how to optimize away the slow walk.
The first real enemy encountered within the level.
After dashing through the wall with Godspeed, we are met with a familiar idea: a Laser Trap pointing at a destructible object. By striking it with Katana, the player confirms what they may have already inferred, that the traps can also kill enemies.
They’ll then move onto some waterfall paths (which speed up player movement) and repeat the process on the Godspeed demon. This teaches them another important concept, since it takes two Laser Traps to kill the heftier Godspeed demon.
The second enemy, which requires both Laser Traps to kill.
Moving forward, the player can collect the Godspeed card from the now-fallen demon and use it to dash through a door into a room. There, aligned in a series, is a Rube Goldberg machine of Laser Traps, ending in the door you need to move through.
Since the door is on a high platform, you’ll need to grab and discard Elevate to reach the top, making sure to shoot the start of the Laser Trap chain.
The framing of the first Laser Trap in this room, similar to the spawn point, draws the player’s eye, which they then follow like a path of dominoes. Despite it being the first level with a Laser Trap, players can piece together a variety of mechanics using the building blocks established earlier.
The room with Elevate and a chain of Laser Traps.
These ideas are then expanded further in later levels. For example, in Covenant: Race, the player must run faster than a huge string of Laser Traps to reach the end before being cut-off by the traps. Or how some of Neon Yellow’s signature levels — where the player is unable to use the cards’ movement abilities — use the Laser Traps as gates to different sections.
Giving the Player a View
Following the Elevate room is a straightforward waterfall path with two enemies, pointed at again by the Laser Traps. Weaponless, the player must use their Katana to destroy the traps and slay the two demons, with the second one providing a Slam card.
The Slam is then immediately discarded, killing another Slam demon below and continuing on a waterfall path, picking up two Purify cards along the way. Here is where the player arrives at a vista with the final section of the level before them — a perfect place to contemplate route improvements.
The edge of a waterfall path, right before the doorway to the remainder of the level.
After receiving a Gold Medal on a level in Neon White, the game will reward you with a hint shaped like a hand, hidden somewhere in the level. Once touching the Hand 🪬, it will trace a path showing you a faster way to travel. The difficulty, though, can often be figuring out how to move that way while still taking care of the other demons.
We can see that this hint is placed where the player has full vision of the rest of the level. It prompts the player to jump down directly to the goal, skipping the next section, but doesn’t explain how they can skip it. The player must think — from their well-placed vantage point — about their next move.
The Hand 🪬 inspires players to start thinking intricately about what parts of the level they can zoom through by providing guidance, but not completely demonstrating how they can skip the last section. But to round things out, let’s walkthrough the final, skippable section, for completion’s sake.
Finishing out the Level
As seen from the vista, the first Purify is used to break down the door. The player must avoid some lasers on their way into the structure, similar to the first section of the level. This time, however, they’re attached in a chain, too.
A room with Laser Traps to dodge and some demons near a door.
Next, the second Purify is discarded to destroy the demons, door, and start of the Laser Trap chain at the end of the hallway. The player then collects a Stomp from one of the demolished demons, quickly discarding it to crush another demon, door, and laser chain group.
The final dash, down to the end of the level.
Finally, the player collects another Stomp from the fallen demons and discards it to dive below to the Finish, destroying the surrounding nearby demons and completing the level. There’s not a ton to learn in this section, as it was meant to be optimized out, as evidenced by the Hand 🪬.
To sum it up, here is a diagram and corresponding path through the level. You may need to download this image if you want zoom in. Opening it in another tab also works.
A diagram of the first route through the level.
My Optimized Route
I’ll now walk through my theoretical maximum. There are probably further improvements to be made, including niche mechanics like deflecting bullets with Katana, which speed you up, but this will cover what I believe are the intentionally designed improvements.
Throughout the game, many of these discovered optimizations are, in reality, baked into the level and hidden for the player to explore within their attempts. This keeps levels exciting and encourages the player to find shortcuts of their own. Let’s see what I found:
Through the Looking Glass
The first key route improvement is made once the player realizes that the foliage-covered windows near the first Godspeed are actually open for you to jump out of. This enables you to shoot the two Laser Traps you otherwise would have dodged, then hop out the window onto some well-placed water paths.
One problem remains, though: the Laser Trap and demon below. Luckily, since the player didn’t use Godspeed on a door, they can deal with the trap from a distance with a well-placed shot.
A view from just beyond the windows. The Laser Trap and demon are visible for the last shot before moving onto dealing with the Godspeed demon.
Note that each Godspeed card has four bullets, so the player is challenged to shoot each of the three Laser Traps with accuracy, since they’ll need Godspeed to cross a gap later in the route. The first section has been crafted to enable the player to smuggle out a Godspeed card but also with speed.
Bypassing the Elevate Room
They’ll then swap back to Katana to destroy the Laser Traps and killing the Godspeed demon, just like in the other path. With a second Godspeed, in hand, we have the ability to dash twice, jumping over the gap and skipping the next room — but just like with the first shortcut, we have to figure out how to destroy the demons we’re avoiding.
In this case, we can consider the fact that the Elevate room only had a Laser Trap chain. As a result, we can clear the room with just a single shot through the window. Again, the player is given the choice to discover how they may optimize the route, but many of these are built into the level’s design.
With two Godspeeds in hand, the player can dash over the gap to their right. But first, they’ll need to target the Laser Trap chain inside.
We then continue on the same waterfall path — killing a few demons — until we end up at the intersection with the game’s mystical Hand 🪬, hinting us towards a shortcut.
The ramp next to the Hand where the player can Slam to the end of the level.
Clearing Your Heads
This is the game-hinted optimization, noted by the Hand in the diagram and screenshot. In good form, the hint shows you where to go but not how to get there. In this case, touching the hint shows the player they can immediately drop onto the goal to complete the level.
Examining the two Purifys in our hand, it’s a relatively quick jump to think of discarding Purify to destroy clusters of enemies, rather than to break down doors. With the windows into each room, the player can fire each Purify to deal with a group of a Head demon, Stomp demon, and Laser Trap chain.
Then, using the remaining Stomp, it’s a quick rush to the end, with the shock wave cleaning up the last demons at the end of the level very nicely. Here’s a final diagram of the path:
My optimized path through the level.
The layout of the level further cements the idea that specific sections are unable to be cut out (like most of the waterfall path sections) while other parts of the level, with their clustered demons or Laser Trap chains, are designed to be dealt with quickly.
Final Analysis
Hopefully, from this walkthrough of a single level, it’s apparent the careful craft that was put into the feel of Neon White’s exploration and optimization.
Each mission feels fast and fun from start to finish, yet after taking a closer look at each level, players will be rewarded with hidden paths and alternate ways to deal with the same challenges.
Decision Tree
Here is an (albeit too detailed) decision tree of the path through the level. There are likely other options missing, but it is enough to illustrate my point that many optimizations are sectioned off. So, when playing each level, these “Aha!” moments happens in different places and a different order based on what’s discovered first.
flowchart TD 1[Katana Laser Trap<br>Use Godspeed on Laser Traps] 1-->2a[Discard Godspeed through door<br>Use Katana on Laser Trap, killing demon] 1-.->2b[Jump out window<br>Shoot Laser Trap, killing demon] 2a-->3 2b-.->3[Use Katana on Laser Traps, killing demon] 3-->4a[Discard Godspeed through door<br>Use Elevate on Laser Traps, then discard] 3-.->4b[Use Godspeed on Laser Trap chain<br>Discard Godspeeds to reach platform] 4a-->5 4b-.->5[Use Katana on Laser Traps, killing demons<br>Discard Stomp, killing demon] 5-->6a[Discard Purify through door<br>Discard Purify and Stomp, killing demons] 5-.->6b["Discard Purify, killing room of demons (x2)"] 6a-->7 6b-.->7[Discard Stomp, killing demons below<br>Finish!]
There is already a push towards speedrunning with the game’s medal system as well as Gold/Platinum medal requirements for some story progression. But designing quicker paths in the level to be discovered by players makes exploring exiting.
And this is why the game is so much fun. It’s feels amazing to rush through levels quickly with the weapon cards’ playful movement abities (especially with the clubby soundtrack by Machine Girl), but then, players will be encouraged by the built-in shortcuts they find to each level and be inspired to find shortcuts of their own!
Conclusion
Neon White makes for an excellent speedrunner — especially to those new to the scene — by adopting the concepts of optimization and exploration. The levels are designed to be mastered many times over, as players discover new, shorter routes.
Exceptional amounts of these shortcuts are carefully placed into each level, as we saw in Covenant: Hanging Gardens. Demons are often clustered together or made to be dealt with in an entirely different way than the “standard” route.
The continuous cycle of exploration and optimization makes it so players can’t help but want to try and improve their time. There’s always something new to explore in each level as you perfect your theoretical best path.