NeonCode

79%
Game Brain Score Based on 252 reviews
  • story
  • graphics
  • atmosphere
NeonCode Game Cover
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"NeonCode is a free, single-player cyberpunk indie adventure game set in a stylized open world city. Inspired by Blade Runner, Miami Vice, and Telltale games, it features a good plot, impressive graphics, and stellar music. Recommended system requirements include an Intel i5 8400 CPU, 8GB RAM, and a 2GB VRAM GPU."

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
  • Linux
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

79%
Audience ScoreBased on 252 reviews
story30 positive mentions
gameplay10 negative mentions
  • The game offers a visually immersive cyberpunk aesthetic with great music, creating a captivating atmosphere.
  • For its low price, it provides a decent linear narrative experience that can be completed in about an hour.
  • Despite its rough edges, the game showcases the developer's ambition and creativity, making it a commendable effort for a solo project.
  • The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making navigation and driving frustrating.
  • The game is riddled with bugs and optimization issues, leading to performance problems and a lack of polish.
  • The story is basic and lacks depth, with minimal character development and repetitive dialogue.
  • story136 mentions

    The game's story is a cyberpunk noir murder mystery that, while engaging in its atmosphere and visuals, suffers from a lack of depth and coherence. Many players found the narrative basic and poorly executed, with clunky dialogue and minimal character development, leading to an overall underwhelming experience despite some enjoyable moments. While the setting and aesthetic were praised, the execution of the story left much to be desired, often feeling like a missed opportunity for a more compelling narrative.

    • “The story is a murder mystery with a film noir tone.”
    • “Interesting story, great visuals and world, and immersive experience.”
    • “I went into this game unsure of how I'd feel about it, but within just a few minutes of starting the game, I found myself completely engrossed in the story and the atmosphere.”
    • “Overall you can tell that Neoncode is an amateur project, good ideas, perhaps well written in terms of plot but underwhelming as an experience.”
    • “The biggest downside is, for a detective story, there's very little actual story there, and only a handful of short conversations.”
    • “The story is incoherent, boring, banal, and the characters are bleak.”
  • graphics72 mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally described as decent, with a strong emphasis on the cyberpunk aesthetic that effectively creates an immersive atmosphere. While some players appreciate the visuals and ambiance, noting their ability to evoke the genre's signature mood, others criticize the dated animations and technical issues, suggesting that the overall polish is lacking. Despite these shortcomings, many agree that the visuals, particularly the use of fog and lighting effects, contribute positively to the game's experience, especially considering it was developed by a single person using free assets.

    • “The visuals and music are fantastic.”
    • “The overall setting and art style is really cool and classic cyberpunk, which I really like.”
    • “Truly rough around the edges, with checkpoint savings, some flashing textures, and reused model assets, but the graphics are really quality, with fog and lighting effects, which make up the difference.”
    • “...but the graphics are just too bad; even if the general style is awesome, the animations (if even existent) are horrible, the few effects you see would have been bad even in the year 2000.”
    • “Even with lowered graphics, my FPS is terrible in this.”
    • “It won't even start for me unless I select the lowest ('very low') graphics setting, and even then it takes minutes to load.”
  • atmosphere68 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive cyberpunk aesthetic, featuring a large, open city filled with neon lights, fog, and a compelling noir vibe. While the visuals and sound design contribute significantly to the overall experience, some players noted the lack of voice acting and occasional gameplay issues. Despite these drawbacks, many reviewers found the atmosphere to be the standout element, making the game enjoyable for exploration and ambiance.

    • “The city is surprisingly large, open, and atmospheric and is the strongest point of the game.”
    • “I love the cyberpunk genre, and the atmosphere is great as you wander the dark, misty streets.”
    • “The visual style and atmosphere are phenomenal, and perfectly nail the cyberpunk noir thematic language.”
    • “And there is zero voice acting at all, which is really bad for the atmosphere...”
    • “:d there is too much fog and you can't see a thing, the atmosphere is like from the 90s games we found in cereals, the story is cringeworthy and has only one ending but hell it must have been a ton of work to put this together and big thumbs up.”
    • “The fog and the lighting, like the rainfall, pull double duty both fleshing out the atmosphere and hiding a multitude of sins.”
  • music58 mentions

    The music in the game has received widespread praise for its immersive and atmospheric qualities, effectively complementing the cyberpunk aesthetic with a synth-heavy soundtrack. Many players found the soundtrack exceptional and expressed a desire for it to be available as downloadable content, while some noted that it enhances the overall experience despite the game's other shortcomings. However, a few critiques mentioned instances of mismatched music choices, such as during action sequences.

    • “The music, lighting, and overall feel is really cool.”
    • “The soundtrack is awesome (and would be extremely welcome as DLC), and the sound effects also stick the landing on the cyberpunk mood.”
    • “The music was exceptional - no joke, fantastic.”
    • “Weird choice of music for a car chase scene.”
    • “Its a bit buggy and clunky but its beatable and an interesting concept which makes up for the dated graphics and lackluster soundtrack.”
    • “Simple and short and that music?”
  • gameplay36 mentions

    The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it underwhelming and frustrating due to unpolished mechanics and linear design. While some appreciate the atmospheric aesthetics and the guiding mechanic, others criticize the lack of promised features, such as the VHS filter, and describe the overall experience as simplistic and lacking depth. Despite its cute concept and decent variety of mechanics, the gameplay struggles with poor optimization and low-quality assets, leaving some players disappointed.

    • “If you're a die-hard fan of neon aesthetics and don't mind a bit of a gameplay challenge, then give neoncode a shot.”
    • “The gameplay is linear, the OST has that cyberpunk feeling much needed, that meshes perfectly with the environment, which possesses enough neon lights and darkness, future and present.”
    • “The gameplay is really simple, but if you like exploring atmospheric levels and looking for clues, this is what you'll get.”
    • “The gameplay experience really sucks.”
    • “The gameplay is a bit underwhelming.”
    • “A hasty mash of low-quality assets, poor optimization, horrendous gameplay, and terrible driving physics.”
  • optimization14 mentions

    The game is widely criticized for its poor optimization, with users reporting issues such as constant stuttering, frame drops, and awkward movement mechanics. Many reviewers highlight the lack of adjustable settings, particularly for mouse acceleration, and overall describe the game as bug-ridden and in need of significant programming improvements.

    • “The game could definitely use some optimization!”
    • “Not very well optimized; it could've been better.”
    • “There is no optimization whatsoever.”
    • “I don't know if it was because of the poor optimization, the constant stuttering and dropping frames, the head bob, the weird (and non-adjustable) mouse acceleration, the general awkwardness of movement, or some combination of all those factors.”
    • “Apart from that, it is bug-ridden, unoptimized, and overall suffers from bad programming.”
    • “Short and could use some game-engine optimization.”
  • stability12 mentions

    The game is generally described as buggy and unpolished, with issues related to optimization and programming. Despite these flaws, many players find the experience enjoyable and worth the price, appreciating the interesting concept and gameplay.

    • “Apart from that, it is bug-ridden, unoptimized, and overall suffers from bad programming.”
    • “Overall buggy and unpolished.”
    • “It's a bit buggy and clunky, but it's beatable and an interesting concept which makes up for the dated graphics and lackluster soundtrack.”
  • humor6 mentions

    The humor in the game is described as hit-or-miss; while some moments, like the intentionally bad action short film at Ethan's bar, provide good laughs, overall, the comedic elements may not be strong enough to sustain interest. The game is noted for its quirky charm, reflecting its experimental nature by a single developer.

    • “Be sure to catch the hilariously bad action short film at Ethan's bar; it's worth a good laugh or two.”
    • “It's hilarious in a way, however, and like it says on the store page; experiment by one developer.”
  • grinding2 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect to be somewhat tedious, yet ultimately effective in achieving progress within the game.

    • “Grinding feels a bit tedious, but I guess it works.”
    • “The grinding mechanics are repetitive and can become a chore.”
    • “I find the grinding aspect to be overly time-consuming and not very rewarding.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
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