NeonXSZ Review (PC)

A lot of classic game genres have been revived by various independent developers in recent years, ranging from puzzle platformers to twin-stick shooters and many more. This is due not only to their historical popularity but also to the fact that they’re pretty easy to develop.

One iconic genre that hasn’t seen such a big rebirth is the six degrees of freedom space shooter. Made popular by Descent in 1994, very few recent games have featured this complex mechanic. Fans were able to experience Sublevel Zero last year, and now one-man dev team Intravenous Software has brought forth NeonXSZ.

Promising a sprawling procedurally generated open world, hectic space battles, a combination of first-person shooting and action role-playing game mechanics, not to mention some impressive visuals, NeonXSZ seems like a sure winner. Does it manage to make an impression or should you go back to older games? Let’s find out.

Gameplay

The game doesn’t have a concrete story, but its overarching conflict does feature four different groups that make up two major factions. Regarding actually playing, everything you need to know is that you should shoot red ships and not shoot the green ones. Doing otherwise can turn the factions against you.

NeonXSZ mixes up a lot of different gameplay mechanics into a coherent package. First up, there’s the main claim to fame: the six degrees of freedom. You can pilot different ships with all sorts of characteristics across a huge sandbox world. The controls are quite responsive and, rather surprisingly, work best with a mouse and keyboard, although you can employ a controller to move around.

Your piloting skills will be put to the test not just in battle but also when it comes to navigating the complex world that’s procedurally generated, as well as the different challenge arenas that, while not completely randomized, offer a lot of interesting experiences. Exploration is really hard to wrap your head around at the beginning, but following the mini-map in the corner of your screen helps alleviate confusion.

The actual shooting also feels tight and responsive, and old-school shooter fans will certainly find a bit of Unreal Tournament or Quake in this new title. There are a lot of different enemies, both friendly and aggressive, so you’ll often jump from firefight to firefight while traversing the various environments in the game.

Jump into combat in NeonXSZ

The game also has a special button when your ship is docked into special stations, allowing you to teleport to the nearest level-appropriate conflict. This doesn’t always work as intended, as it can throw you into a big battle filled with regular foes as well as much tougher ones that take a huge amount of punishment until they explore.

While these mechanics alone can offer a lot of entertainment, NeonXSZ also throws in a pretty complex loot system that takes the game into an action role-playing direction. A huge amount of different items can drop from foes and can be equipped onto your own ship or used to slowly build upgrades. The progression is balanced, so you won’t encounter any big restrictions when it comes to augmenting your arsenal.

What’s more, enemy ship levels are dictated by their gear, and if you manage to take them down, they’ll drop all of their attachments, not to mention pieces of the hull or weapons, so going after tougher opponents is recommended.

You can adjust the difficulty in multiple ways, not just by selecting the four different settings. You can customize certain aspects, like the level of tech employed by enemies, as well as the damage they inflict. There’s also a pretty good skill system that allows you to pour points into different areas.

Visuals and sound

NeonXSZ lives up to its name and delivers a pretty good-looking visual style with neon colors, big explosions, and fast-paced combat. The framerate is rock solid, and while not everyone may enjoy the quality of the visuals, you’ll soon forget about them when you’re trying to survive its hectic firefights. The title also allows you to change the general color pallet, making everything feel fresh again.

The soundtrack is also pretty decent and fits the action on the screen quite well. It features plenty of sci-fi and techno beats, although it’s not always so memorable.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion