NeonXSZ

There have been quite a few attempts at recreating the 6DoF formula as of late, and none of them really do it for me with their attempts to over-complicate the core elements and make things "modern". [i]NeonXSZ[/i] is the first game of its kind in a long time to really hook me in with its potpourri of elements that we know are fun and addictive, and have withstood the test of time. It combines the freedom of movement and perspective of [i]Descent[/i] and the edge-of-your-seat twitch action of [i]Quake[/i] or [i]Unreal Tournament[/i] with the addictive leveling and persistent loot of increasing rarity of an ARPG like [i]Diablo[/i], all combining for what is absolutely the most addictive and replayable shooter of any kind in years. The game places you into a vast and complex computer mainframe with a very open and free-form approach to exploration. There's a great in-depth tutorial to read at your own pace getting you into the motions, but you are more-or-less thrown into this world blind with no hand-holding involved and a great deal of content to discover on your own accord. While there is no hand-holding the game does not ever feel tedious or hard to get into even for the newest of players, as you are always being guided the right way thanks to the Appropriate Hostile function which will highlight on your map the best spot to hit next for your newest dose of weapons and upgrades. This makes exploration of the almost overwhelmingly large Station quick and accessible, as you are still lost but pointed in the right direction. The objective of [i]NeonXSZ[/i] is discovery and total domination, as you vie for control and power over the various hubs spread throughout the world in all-out territorial war. Despite the open-ended form of gameplay, [i]NeonXSZ[/i] is ridiculously easy to get into for players of any skill level thanks to an approachable and flexible learning curve. This is gained through giving the player full control over which enemies and hubs they tackle on, giving the ability to scan hostiles for their level before deciding to engage or flee. As you fight higher leveled enemies you start to feel more confident, you'll return to bases with your hard-earned loot and become even stronger leading to newer and more challenging areas. The amount of content you have to explore is massive and already offers a minimum of 30 hours of feature complete gameplay with more to come. I had already drifted around the computerized world for a few good hours exploring, taking on low leveled hostiles, and playing around with early equipment before I discovered the challenge arenas at the center of the Station in a massive sphere. This is where ♥♥♥♥ gets serious. Instead of analyzing and picking off single similarly leveled foes like in the main world, I was suddenly thrust into a large and complex series of challenging areas being bombarded by difficult but manageable enemies. Each lovingly detailed room was blocked off by a shield and every one of these persistent opposing ships had to be exterminated diligently in an intense and explosive battle in order to advance. The loot you get is of game-changing quality (depending on the level of the arena) and in high quantities, and defeating an arena allows you to claim territory on that Station for an allied side of your choosing. Leveling up your tech level isn't as simple as gaining experience points or grinding mobs of same-y enemies like in other games, in [i]NeonXSZ[/i] leveling up is determined by the quality of parts you're discovering and equipping. In order to grow strong enough to take on tougher foes, you'll need to outfit your ship with a select choice of higher leveled upgrades all dependent on the players' own playstyle. The range of different parts and the effect they have on how the game feels and plays is insane, and allows you to be anything from a slow, hulking tank with tons of shields and firepower to an agile and lightning-quick smaller ship that avoids all damage with ninja-like reflexes in the hands of the sharp-witted. Weapons are another integral part of [i]NeonXSZ[/i] and just like upgrades add a huge layer of player customization and personal technique to how combat is approached. You start with the standard pea-shooter in classic shootemup fashion, but are quickly presented with plenty of choices in how you take on your combatants. For the nimble and stealthy pilots who like to sneak up and get in close there's the Lightning Gun which packs a serious punch but drains your energy like crazy, and a Flak Cannon which spreads out for a wide shot but shreds anything in its direct path. For the sniper-minded you have the Railgun which requires the the most accuracy but disintegrates enemy ships almost instantaneously. There's Inferno Guns for taking your foes down in a firey blaze and Laser Cannons that deliver a shocking blast of energy from afar, all weapons I've discovered only in my first 25 hours of gametime and with more to be found. The arsenal in [i]NeonXSZ[/i] is remarkable, and will keep the most seasoned action veteran captivated for hours. The heavy mechanical beats and ambient dronings of the background music do an excellent job of keeping you engaged in the atmosphere of the cybernetic and neon-tinted highways around you. In general the sound design to me is very engrossing with its muffled sound effects and outside explosions giving you the feeling of truly being inside the cockpit. Some people might not be huge fans of the ships speaking A.I. system dubbed 'Betty', but personally I feel it adds to the retrofuture aesthetics of the setting and the authenticity of the interactive and immersive cockpit you become all too familiar with. Perhaps with just a bit more variation in speech, Betty would be welcomed by more players. If you're looking for lightning-quick combat, huge series of interconnected arenas, and ludicrous amounts of customization then look no further, [i]NeonXSZ[/i] is your next addiction. It's an already feature complete game with many hours of solid content, loads of replayability, and an amazing amount of polish. The games' state in Early Access is merely a sign of the tremendous amount of additional potential for an already mind-blowing shooter experience.

I've been playing and testing this game for over a year, since April 2013. I was the first pre-alpha tester and I've submitted the most bug reports. I know the game. When I started it was great, and it has just been improved a lot in every area since then. I have played for hundreds of hours if you qount all the non-steam dev builds and while I have tried a lot of different ship loadouts there are still many ships and loadouts that I want to try but haven't because new things to try is added all the time :) And this is true even after I've played past the levels where new qontent is unlocked for every progression! Many gadgets and abilities can have a playstyle centered on their use or their combination with other abilities. You can be a missile ship that shoots long range missiles around your energy wall. You can use a fast glass cannon build that does most of it's damage by bumping into your enemies and survives by dodging enemy fire and short invulnerability that lasts just long enough for you to get the kill because you have spent all your resources on damage instead of defense. You can make a turret ship that just flies through the enemy base while placing a bunch of turrets and survives with a gyro shield that protects your back. When you turrets are placed you hide in tunnels and behind debris and kill everything without even shooting them yourself. You can build something that takes advantage of several abilities without relying on a single one of them or spend all your upgrades on boosting your speed, attack and defense and takes down any type of enemy with perfect aim at long or short range with circle strafing in 3 dimensions. All this and much more is possible for you and your enemies to use! Then there are all the weapons and ship hulls that also each require it's own tricks, loadouts and playstyles. You don't need to qommit to one style throughout the game, instead you can switch at any time! You carry all your weapons at once and can switch out your whole loadout as often as you want even while on a hunt for loot deep in enemy territory, just dock in a garage! If you don't feel like hunting down enemies in the open world and setting your own goals then you can now fly to the world hub/fighting center sphere (figurativly and literally) where there are prescripted challenge arenas with moving parts and level design handcrafted for the enemy waves and the loadout you meet in there. Each level is a very unique experience and might require you to learn new tactics. The reward for completing the arenas is good enough that you can progress through the game mostly by these linear levels if you want to, or you can just ignore them whenever you feel like flying through the open world. Though the challange arenas are a part of the open world and you can fly from them to any other place without any loading screens at all. Whenever you want to do something you fly to the appropriate place and just do it, you never have to select what to do from a level select screen. NeonXSZ feels great, looks great, is fun and addictive. Every enemy you enqounter is using the same upgrades, hulls and gadgets that you can unlock and you can unlock it by qollecting the pieces of their wreck. Battles in NeonXSZ are never a repetitive grind, instead the AI is made to fight lika a human player which fits great in a first person shooter! They aim, move, utilize tactics and gadgets based on their personality and they design different loadouts. Since they are playing by the same rules as you it's possible to even learn from them and pick up tactics that they use. If you like 6DOF FPS games that requires some skill (though there's at least 4 ways to adjust the difficulty to suit anyone) and want to avoid boring grind then this is The Game! Fun from the start! If you want to hear about what the dev is doing with the game today you can follow his devlog (on the game forums at NeonXSZ.com) that is updated daily. So yes, I do recommend this game :]

So far the only thing I would add to the reviews on this is that the game feels like a mix of descent and tron with a wonderful level up system that makes the game pace fast, but comfortable. admittedly piloting using hotas is tricky at first but once the settings are tweaked the game is amazing fun with hotas or mouse. I normally dont get into games that dont have much storyline and are more or less team deathmatch vs. the computer, however this games pace mixed with a rather competitive AI makes it a very enjoyable experience. The game difficulty can be adjusted to fit prefered play style and i must admit being a fan of tron the visuals in the game are very appealing.

Below you'll find both a written and video impression on the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbC7ab0SutE NeonXSZ takes flight gameplay into an open cyber punk world, with tons of upgrades and customization. The game can be challenging, with a robust amount of upgrades for the player to experiment with for a long long time. With excellent flight controls, exciting dog fights, and lots to explore, NeonXSZ is a game with a ton of "meat" and depth. There is a small learning curve to get over, but once you get the hang of it, the game opens up. NeonXSZ is also incredibly impressive with buttons on your ship's hud actually functional, to the overall visual and sound effects. I felt as though I was in the ship piloting my enemies destruction. The Aesthetics and sound is well suited to the overall theme of the game. Though the textures are rather basic, the lighting, design, and style makes up for it. The sound of course is full of beeps and boops, and robot voices, as you would expect from a cyber punk game. It's done well, and works with the game's theme. To sum how the game plays out in a nut shell, you go around, exploring your environment, hunting down enemy ships, blow them up, and collect their valuable. Then you take those valuable and make new upgrades for your ship. Rinse, find new space stations, and repeat. The game is quite grindy, and I would even argue that it's designed around the grind. People like myself who don't mind the grind as long as it's well designed will welcome this, but those who are more sensitive to grindy games, it's worth your time to do a little more research before committing to a purchase. Overall NeonXSZ is an enjoyable exploratory flight RPG, with lots of customization. Even though it is pretty grindy in nature, the game is deep and versatile enough to hold my attention. I recommend NeonXSZ Pros: - Deep and varied amounts of customization - Challenging gameplay - Easy to understand flight controls - Very immersive - Has that "addictive" quality - Cyber punk your brains out Cons: - Lack of graphical options - Lack of side features - People sensitive to grinds may be put off

A bit disappointing. From what it seemed from the videos, it felt pretty much as a cool open-world Descent-like experience, so I was looking forward to it pretty much. Well, that was delivered at first. Fighting is pretty fun, weapons/powerups are cool, leveling/upgrading/trading is good too, but very soon after the initial experiences, bad things started to come up. First of all, the world is pretty much empty. Aside for looking for adequately-leveled enemies and upgrades, you have no reason to explore the world. Stations are modelled after several templates and therefore most of them looks mostly the same. There is nothing to collect, find, or anything. Offered missions in ports are also very template-ish, so nothing super interesting. The only thing saving this are the challenges present in the centre of each sub-world. Every one of them is different and makes the gameplay at least bit less the same. Some of them are somehow bit confusing, and in some I found myself aimlessly wandering and trying to hit all the triggers I encountered again i case I forgot something. Simply put: It is not terrible game, the base gameplay is fun, but for a game boasting with an open world, the possibilities are just too little.

Imagine that commercial where one fellow runs into another and they inadvertently mix their peanut butter and chocolate. Now imagine that commercial except it's mixing Descent and Diablo. And the two guys are kvetching and I come along in my tech 22 ship and kill them both and loot bubbles pop out of them. Now, the game isn't perfect (no game is)--I wish there were a campaign, but it's very solidly a sandbox style experience. That said, the actual gameplay is phenomenal. The "shipfeel" is spot on; it's genuinely a ton of fun to kill dudes and take their loot bubbles. I've dropped twenty hours into it since a friend picked it up for me as a Christmas gift, and all twenty hours have been a blast. Descent gameplay plus diablo sensibilities equals you should buy this.

Simply not fun. Literally no explanation of game mechanics or systems - kill an enemy and pick up random orbs that do things because reasons. Also enemies are super bullet-spongy. I don't mind a grind if there's a concrete reward, or if the game takes time to explain, you know, what that reward actually is. This game doesn't do that. Objectives are super vague - go to this map marker and, well, that's it, really. Controls are very twitchy - it literally feels like your ship is coated in bacon grease. I played all 3 Descent games back in the day, and this is nowhere near that level of quality. It shows some promise, but right now it's not there yet.

The start of the game is ass. Your ship starts out as ass. Your main gun (well, the first gun you have and always will) is ass. The harmless data transporters you're directed to start smacking around have bulky shields and high maneuvrability. Anything larger than you to start is going to hit hard, and boy, once the beams of lightning come out, do they hit, and they'll send your ass straight back to the docking panel. You're a nothing and the world is unkind. There's nothing stopping you from venturing out to wings of the station containing enemies a dozen levels above your own, where, predictably, enemy ships will mop the station, quite predictably, with your ass. But you persist. You bag a few kills, or fire off a few helpful shots at the bad guy a bunch of green ships ganged up on. You've collected a small planets' worth of subtly glowing loot balls. You land at a docking panel and buy yourself the lightning gun. Ah, the great equalizer. No longer do you try to peg some vessel for three minutes from afar with your glorified bean cannon, now you joust for your life in a high-speed, high-fatality game of who-can-hold-more-volts. You twitch, and dance, and pump electricity into a few ships, your battery runs dry, and you explode. The requirement for equipment upgrades begins to make sense. You buy the rest of the data to enhance your energy recharge value. Your tech rate goes up- this means you're hitting harder! You launch from the platform, bristling with power- and find yourself crawling towards combat zones, your vessel now encumbered because you've neglected the engines. You revise, you overcome, you unlock the inferno cannon (and put to bed your 'main guns' never to be used again). The tech levels come faster, your kills quicker. You tackle some arenas, each delivering hefty upgrades for their appropriate levels, tangling with two, three, four enemy vessels at once. Gone are the hours of floundering, of confusion, of harmlessness. You're a machine in the machine, all anger and grinding teeth, malice given engines. The enemies get stronger, but so do you. You're smarter, faster, twitchier. And you never. Stop. Improving. Flavour aside- NeonXSZ is about incremental growth in a mostly linear space given six degrees of freedom. Each faction has home areas that'll spawn more dudes, and those dudes fly towards the dudes they don't like and do battle. You get to do the same. You blow up the vessels you don't like, they drop lots of little balls that become parts of technology or energy if you know that tech already. You take that tech to a docking platform (look for the shopping cart icon cycling through the ones displayed), buy the rest of the tech required to unlock it, equip the higher level stuff, which increases your total level, which makes you do more damage. This increases your capability to go do the arenas located at the center of the station which, again, gives you big upgrades. The objective of the game is to make it through all eight(?) of these stations, either by gaining a high enough tech level or by completing the three (four?) arenas available at the center for each station. This is made possible by doing the above upgrades. The numbers attached to the upgrades are mostly meaningless- you want the higher tier of tech so that your tech level goes up. If something lags behind in tech level, that part of your ship will suffer. The details beyond that are just filler. It sounds shallow- maybe it is, but damn it, it's fun. There will always be guys higher level than you, and you'll want to avoid them. There'll always be guys lower level than you, and they won't be so threatening. As you play, you WILL feel that dynamic shift, and you'll end up having much more of the latter than the former. Parts of the station previously deemed too dangerous will no longer hinder you. You really feel your ship getting stronger- this is the part you'll care about, not the numbers attached to the upgrades. Speaking of- you'll unlock more weapon types and gadgets you can activate from your ship as you go on. The lightning gun gives you your bearings and that moment-to-moment live-or-die trade with opponents, there's a rail gun if you hate leading targets, the inferno gun is just a better main gun, the plasma gun lobs slow-moving balls that explode in an area (bag the bad guys that get stuck on walls this way), there's a very lethal flak cannon if you can get close enough without eating someone else's lightning gun, tools to slow time, to warp short distances, generate temporary walls, missiles to knock out enemy weapons, the "ruin-your-day" type of dumbfire rockets that one-shots vessels three levels above you on a direct hit (my personal favorite), the list goes on. You get a feel for what you like to use, and enough tools or vessels on the side to try something else if that's your fancy. The station itself is dull and uninteresting until you get to the arenas- this is where the level design shines, and what you'll look forward to checking out every few tech levels. Each one is handcrafted and wonderfully exploits the 6DoF available. Dizzying loops around giant pillars and sweeping curving tunnels? Yep. Large antechambers with nothing to hide behind? Good luck hugging the entry tunnel. Hallways lined with pillars? Sweep around 'em and shake those tails! Tunnels, glass, rotors, pylons, pistons, the area shifts and you must shift with it, using whatever terrain you can to get the upper hand. I haven't found a dull one yet. To boil it down to a few lines: Avoid if you get motion sickness, have epilepsy, hate twitch shooters, feeling weak, use flight sticks for your flight sims(game's designed with mouse/keyboard speed in mind), or having a lack of explanations or tutorials. Grab it if you like incremental progression, Tron, spaceships, twitching, overwhelming odds, vertigo, bright lights and flashy colors, laser shows, missile ships, or learning how a game works on your own. It's fun, and frequently on sale. If you do buy- get the lightning gun, learn how not to get lightning gunned. Do the arenas, they're the most interesting part of the game. Don't be afraid to splash a little uranium around (the in-game currency, and fuel). The penalty of death is pretty minor, so getting glassed is only a momentary setback. Tweak the difficulty 'til it feels right for you. You'll continue to unlock neat stuff even if it feels like the core gameplay loop has shown its hand, so between new gadgets, ships, and arenas, you'll have reason to keep playing. Would recommend.

Pretty good but not at all like Descent based on one simple fact. Newtonian physics. Inertia might be great for a wide open realistic space sim, but in a corridor based 6DOF game it's actually kind of a nightmare. There is however an auto-braking option, which acts a sort of inertial dampener. This improved my experience greatly. Anyway It's pretty fun. Upgrade system is a neat twist. Good music. Weapons feel and sound cool. Explosions are satisfying. Nice ship designs. Some solid ship management as well. Gear has mass and power usage, etc.

In the short time I spent with it the combat was unengaging, the main gameplay loop is based on repetitive objectives, the level design did not truly take advantage of all three axes and the upgrade/progression system seems uninteresting and tediously granular.