By: Jonathan Shan

Speedrunning is focused on the aspect of trying to beat the game as fast as you can. You phase through the levels and find ways to cheese things or even glitch them. Neon White is a game in which the levels are meant to be cheesed. That makes you feel like an intellectual who figured out uncharted paths by yourself.

You might see Minecraft speedrunners like Dream, Couriway, and TheeSizzler find ways to make their speed runs faster and more efficient. Games like Undertale and Supermario maker 2 allow players to earn a title by competing against how fast they can complete the levels. Speedrunning for all games is similar; you need a specific path that allows you to cover less ground, wasting less time.

The game Neon White is about an assassin with amnesia, and his primary mission is to massacre demons and compete against other killers to escape hell. Each level is a treacherous obstacle; you must kill all the monsters and get to the end with parkour. You can use a variety of different items, and each one is either a gun or an ability.

After completing a few levels, the mechanics may be hardwired into your brain, or you may have to play a few more. You can feel progression throughout the game, similar to Super Mario. Still, you go through levels instead of drilling the same map repeatedly with a specified path everyone takes. Neon White allows you can find ways to find shortcuts a lot more easily, but you must find those paths creatively.

Even though each level was cleverly designed so that you can find shortcuts, you will still feel like an absolute genius every time. It’s like when you find a game-breaking glitch in a game that makes you feel super proud. Even for players who know this deception, most still feel an ego boost whenever they find one.

The speedrunning aspect still adds to the pleasure of playing the game. You can go back and do all the levels beating your scores and perhaps your friend’s scores. The hidden mastermind scheme behind this game is one of the factors or characteristics that makes it a truly exceptional game.