Neon City Riders

Our first steps towards new experiences have always been full of difficulties and pitfalls, but thanks to them we have gotten to where we are now. Whether we are happy with the final result or not, this year of life we ​​must accept It is good and bad, and today we are going to learn about the first step of the Mexican development team Mecha Studios in the world of… The game is titled Neon City Riders and is a Metroidvania experience similar to the classic Zelda games (the game doesn’t hide this at all, as there are many references to the Legend of Zelda throughout). I have to say that I admire the choice of a team that is aware of its limited capabilities, as it has not pushed its ambitions too far to start a career with experiments that are too big for it. He bites it, so we can say he starts his first step off with a good start, but does he maintain this pattern until the end? Today’s review answers this question.

Neon City Riders: A Metroidvania Experience

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

The Haunted City of Neon

Its streets are full of homeless people whose limbs are frozen with frost, and its alleys smell of crime being committed every hour, and in its features the manifestations of devastation in its various forms are clearly visible. This is Neon City, a city that has tasted neither peace nor tranquility since the revolution of robots who demanded their rights as living beings equal to humans, only to later become impossible for Meydan. Due to the conflict between four gangs, each of which dominates a part of it, looking to achieve their own goals, there is no doubt that this city will inevitably be destroyed and there may be no hope left to save it from the, what she is. The hero of our story, Rick, is well aware of this, but he also realizes that he cannot stand it. Silent in the face of everything that is happening to him and with the help of his old friend Evergray, he decides to defeat the four gangs and restore the safety of the haunted city, but the task will not be easy. As Rick prepares for his journey, a mysterious shadow suddenly appears, appearing ominous and threatening that the city, including her, belongs to him and that he will not allow it… So that the masked boy will never interfere in it , who is this? Shadow and what are his goals? What connection does he have to the four gangs that control the city?

A Gray Cast of Characters

As you can imagine, the story of Neon City Riders is not the main attraction of the game, but it sufficiently fulfills its requirements, presenting a group of gray characters (neither entirely good nor entirely evil) who have their own personalities for reasons , which led them to where they are, which gave the game a nice dimension, which prevented it. From entering the cycle of boring, trite stories that end with the elimination of the head of the greatest evil. Well… almost, I can confirm that you won’t be bored with the events of the story, but as we also mentioned, it won’t be one of the game’s unique points, nor a point of attraction for you in it, and that’s what you want I point out that the characters’ stories were explained in the style of Western comics, which gave it an additional attractive touch.

Simple Mechanics and Challenging Gameplay

Your right hand is your left, your left is your right, below you is above and above you is below.

As we mentioned at the beginning, Neon City Riders is a Metroidvania experience similar to the classic Zelda games, where you have to wander the city, fight enemies, solve puzzles and complete tasks in the city. The mechanics of the game system are very simple, so you can only move and attack, in addition to four skills. Each has its own special use, and in order not to make the game easier from the start and not to complicate it at the same time, you will first get these skills and learn how to use them. They will then be taken away from you so that you can collect them again as the game progresses. Although this decision may seem a bit harsh, I think it is more than appropriate. It seems completely unfair for the direction of the game since there are many areas that you can’t traverse without using certain skills and not knowing what you can do then because you don’t know how to use those skills and the ability to pass them on is completely unfair the first time will destroy the Metroidvania experience the game wants to give you. Also, I am not one of those who prefers experiences that give the player everything they have right from the start, as this destroys the joy of progression and the feeling of achievement that Neon City Riders truly offers wonderfully!

A Variety of Puzzles and Challenges

Run boy Run!

Now let’s talk about one of my favorite aspects of the game, the puzzles within it. There is a wide variety of puzzles that the game offers, but most of them depend on your intelligence and skill in the first place. Solving puzzles is great fun and gives you a great feeling of accomplishment that isn’t just found here. Avoiding the many obstacles that the game throws in your face and fighting enthusiastic bosses give the same feeling, and I must emphasize that I think you have already guessed, dear reader, that this game is not easy at all is. It represents a very big challenge, but at the same time it is fair. It won’t make you say it’s not fair, but it will make you want to try again and learn from your mistakes and not repeat them again. And at the end of the conversation I would like to say that you will need your own skills to be able to overcome these difficulties, or maybe you will have to face them to maintain them, and you will have to do many things. Sometimes you leave an area and return to it at a later time. For this reason, the game offers you a system to color the areas different colors, giving you the freedom to mark the areas that you have completed or that you want to return to later. I have to mention two important points that bothered me. The first is that this system is not convenient enough, since you are not able Secondly, the problem only sometimes worked in mobile mode, which did not bother me much, since the game looks really nice in it and I spent quite a lot of time on it , but you have to take that into account.

Earning Money and Completing Tasks

We have great experience and a promising team.

Progression in the game is not limited to the things mentioned above, because the townspeople desperately need you to solve their never-ending problems. Here comes into consideration the role of talking about tasks that, despite their simplicity, are wonderfully connected, not to mention that they do not give you more options than are necessary to complete them, as they might. A person in the town center asks you to bring him an item, but instead of telling the exact point where you need to go, you will notice that the item you want is colored the color of the area where you find it. To explain it simply: Each of the four perimeter areas in the game has its own color in addition to a center. In the city, completing these tasks is necessary to progress further, while others give you the opportunity to obtain additional content such as costumes or other side abilities, and finally to new endings, as the game offers four endings, which I was able to get the most out of two endings that required… I complete all tasks completely.

A Unique Atmosphere and Promising Future

Maybe before our journey ends we should pause for a moment to take a look at the atmosphere of Neon City Riders. The classic melodies that harmonize with the dark atmosphere of the city and the beautiful pixel graphics that serve the overall character of the game make it a truly unique experience. Of course, the game is not completely perfect since it is not without errors that can be found here and there, but let’s not forget that these are the first games of the team and we can’t ask much from them nor would I like to someone appears who justifies or covers up Mecha Studios, with whom I tell about my first experiences and from whom I had not heard before the first game, but I am really impressed by what He presented to him in his first steps into the world of gaming, and all I can say is that I’m glad to have him there and I look forward to what he will present in the future.

The game was reviewed using the Nintendo Switch copy we received from the publisher.