Neckbreak

Incredibly painful and obnoxious gameplay with puke-inducing lighting. Basically took what made Hotline Miami great and stitched it in, especially with the aesthetic but somehow fail to deliver their own spin on it so most of the time I was wishing I was playing that instead. The weapons too felt incredibly lousy with how far wide spread the bullets go, felt like they did it just for the sake of making it difficult without a second thought but turned into more of an annoyance when the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bullets don't even come pubicly-hair close to where your cursor is (even for the so-called precision rifle). The hit registry on targets is usually a miss too since they're just walking pngs and when you do get too close to get a hit in, you're already dead. Horrible game overall and don't see myself returning to it ever.

[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote] Hotline Miami caused quite a revolution in the video game industry. It intrigued many to pursue a career in video game development, caused the uprising of indie games, and is still used as an inspiration source not only in the field of video games, but other mediums of entertainment as well. Many games have tried to replicate Hotline Miami's gameplay, or use it as an inspiration to form their own unique blend. Including the game we have here: Project Downfall. Oh wait, no. I mean... [h2]That f***ing nobody... is "probably" John Wick...[/h2] This game was originally called "Project Downfall" for the longest time. A while after the game came out of early access, it was suddenly delisted, with the reason being some key important changes needing to go through recertification. However, the game was relisted with a new name: "Neckbreak". Not only that, it also featured a whole bunch of cosmetic changes, such as removing the main character's facial hair. In the announcement that was posted the same day, the dev acknowledged the changes, but stated they are not at the liberty to go into details. We don't know what exactly happened, but one theory that seems most likely is a copyright takedown request. The game was frequently referred to as "John Wick FPS", due to its gameplay and the facial hair of the main character (you can see the old face on the store page's GIFs). In addition to that, the dev not being able to talk about details makes it look like a Non Disclosure Agreement had been signed. Therefore, people theorized that the copyright holders for the John Wick IP saw the game, took it down, then settled things with a NDA to make sure the IP is not going to get bad press. This theory also gets more probable as we realize this would not the first time something like this has happened (e.g. Ion Fury and Void War). However, all of what I've said so far does not explain the name change. [b]Now do note I did not type all of that to say the game is good...[/b] [h2]MY EYES!!![/h2] I have to address this first as you immediately run into it as soon as you boot up the game. The game has nice aesthetics, a good atmosphere, a serviceable graphical style... but did the dev really had to add all of these fancy effects to the game? I get that people want their games to be stylized, but it should not be done in a way that hinders proper visibility. When the game starts, you are greeted with an absolutely horrendous and blurry screen, mostly thanks to Chromatic Aberration being on by default, forcing you to go and deactivate everything to be able to see. This does not stop the game though, as sometimes the screen will still [i][url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3673022512]be engulfed with very bright lights or foggy effects for some reason[/url][/i], hindering proper visibility. You can use photosensitivity warnings all you want, but that does not change the fact that some of these effects are unnecessary, and their removal would have made no difference. While we're at it, the game's performance is not very good either. Sometimes you can face some strange drops in frame rate after damaging the nearby objects, [i][url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3673026319]enemy and environment models might glitch in and out of existence if you try to look at them from behind a fence[/url][/i], some textures and meshes are placed incorrectly and allow you to see the outside of the level's boundaries, or sometimes the dead enemy models start glitching in and out of existence or stretch out. [h2]Life is hell... literally...[/h2] The game takes place in a dystopian setting. The air is always polluted, everyone feels miserable, gangs are too powerful and roam the streets, cops are corrupt, and corporations are still evil. People work to death each day and to boost their productivity, they are forced to use a special drug that enhances their senses for a limited time. The problem is, frequent usage of this drug can cause hallucinations and ultimately lead to madness, so one should be careful when it comes to its consumption. Our main character is also a worker with a history of previous mental problems that gets involved in a violent encounter, and bloodlust pushes him to become a vigilante of some sort. Admittedly, the story is very interesting and the idea of getting different endings and levels based on your actions and decisions is very appealing. But there are some issues that lower the quality of the whole story presentation. Like sometimes, it's not clear what you have to do to pursue specific story requirements. For example, it is mentioned that you need to make an appointment with your doctor, but it is not explicitly told that you need to do it through a device on your living room desk. Or the game prompts you to choose what you want to do, but it's not always clear where you have to go to choose the alternate route. There are also characters in this game that you can talk to, but can shoot and kill as well. And if you accidentally kill them, they are gone for good and won't return even after restarting the game. Now since killing some of these NPCs allegedly leads into different endings, you can accidentally lock yourself to an ending you did not want to get. [h2]Imma be real with you chief... this is not fun...[/h2] However, the biggest problem with Neckbreak is that the gameplay is way too punishing and therefore not enjoyable, even if you lower the difficulty. According to the developer, the game's combat is a mixture of Hotline Miami, Superhot, Condemned/F.E.A.R. and Rainbow Six, but I honestly believe what we have here is not a decent mixture of the aforementioned titles. You are limited to a first person perspective and have to go against a lot of enemies at once, meaning you can easily get flanked/overrun and die thanks to the low TTK (Time to Kill). The game uses flat sprites for the characters and enemies, so it's very easy for them to stack behind each other, not letting you know exactly how many of them there are. Some enemies are tougher and require multiple shots to be put down. The aggro triggers are not well-placed in some levels (like the train station), causing enemies to suddenly come after you as you're exploring the environment, or just stay in place until you get really close ot shoot at them. Unfortunately, there's more. Almost all of the enemies look forwards and the levels don't have different openings, therefore stealth kills are almost impossible and you have to face enemies head-on. So, with how many enemies there are in a stage and the amount of ammo the game gives you, every combat encounter becomes extremely deadly, forcing you to constantly hide behind cover and try to exploit the enemy AI (as going for a specific order of actions usually leads to the exact same results) to be able to stand a chance, which is neither fun nor rewarding.. It also does not help that going from one area to the other causes you to lose every equipped weapon, forcing you to finda ranged weapon as fast as possible in order be able to survive. This is somewhat understandable as having the ability to keep weapons could have trivialized the gameplay, but it also does make some sections infuriatingly hard to go through as the melee weapons are pathetically useless in the majority of the enemy encounters. Now I know some people would try to argue that's why the pills are there, but I don't think they should be necessary for progression; Even if it's your first time playing the game. [h2]TL;DR[/h2] The game has a cool concept and an interesting story, but the gameplay is incredibly punishing and unforgiving for all the wrong reasons, and its excessive visual effects can cause serious discomfort.