Retro run and gun with a twist
Neon Inferno looks like yet another love letter to the golden age of side scrolling shooters. Think of games like Contra, Metal Slug, Blazing Chrome, or Huntdown and you are in the right neighborhood. It has the full cyberpunk starter pack too. Neon soaked city, corrupt cops, laser sword wielding Yakuza, and more bullets than sense.
On the surface it feels very familiar. You run, you jump, you spray bullets, and you try not to eat a rocket to the face. But once you actually play it, Neon Inferno adds a clever twist that makes it feel fresh instead of just another retro throwback. It does not just copy the classics. It mixes genres in a way that feels surprisingly natural and very fun.
Under all the pixel grit and arcade energy there is a smart idea. Neon Inferno combines Contra style platforming with gallery shooter mechanics in the same level. That one design choice changes the whole rhythm of the game.
Run and gun meets gallery shooter
If you have ever played Wild Guns or even the old Duck Hunt, you already know the basic idea behind a gallery shooter. Enemies pop in and out of the background and you shoot directly into the screen instead of just left or right. Contra has done this kind of thing in individual stages before, but Neon Inferno goes a step further.
In Neon Inferno you are doing both styles at once. You are still running and jumping through a side scrolling level, but you can also swap your aim between the foreground and the background. Hold the right bumper and your crosshair flips focus, letting you blast enemies deeper in the scene while you are still dodging threats on your own plane.
This sounds like it should be total chaos and it absolutely is. Even in the ten minute Steam demo the screen fills with enemies, bullets, and explosions from multiple layers at once. Your brain has to juggle what is dangerous to your character right now and what is dangerous just a second from now in the background.
Instead of feeling cheap or unfair, this double layer combat makes the action feel dense and tactical. You are not just reacting to what is right in front of you. You are constantly making quick calls like whether to clear out background gunners before they pin you down or focus on the thug sprinting straight at you.
Because the game is built around this style from the start, the level design leans into it. Vehicle chases, enemies firing from windows, and large set pieces all take advantage of that foreground and background switching. It feels like a classic arcade shooter someone remixed with a modern multitasking mindset.
Hardcore energy with beginner friendly tools
With all that action on screen, Neon Inferno could easily have turned into one of those games that rewards only pain enthusiasts. Instead it adds some smart systems that make it much more forgiving without losing that arcade edge.
First, you are not made of glass. You can actually take a few hits before going down which already puts it in a friendlier zone than some retro inspired shooters. On top of that, there is a neat defensive mechanic built around deflecting certain color coded bullets.
When one of these special shots is about to hit you, you can perform a deflect. Pull it off correctly and two cool things happen. You enter a brief bullet time state that slows the action, giving you a moment to breathe and reorient yourself. Then you send the deflected projectile back into the crowd for bonus damage.
This is the kind of mechanic that helps both new and veteran players. If you are still learning, bullet time acts like a built in panic button and a tutorial tool. It gives you a second to see who is shooting from where and plan your next move. If you are more experienced, you can use deflects to chain attacks and clear rooms faster while looking stylish doing it.
The system particularly shines during big set pieces. Picture deflecting a rocket during a motorcycle chase and booting it straight into an enemy helicopter. That is the kind of moment Neon Inferno seems built to deliver over and over.
The accessibility does not stop there either. The game offers a range of difficulty options so you are not locked into grinding one credit clears if that is not your thing. You can play on an arcade style setting but with extra checkpoints to reduce frustration. You can also lower the difficulty if you just want to enjoy the spectacle without sweating every jump.
Even on hard mode the demo does not feel openly hostile the way something like Cuphead or Ghosts n Goblins can. It is tough and occasionally overwhelming, but you rarely feel like the game is actively trolling you. Local co op also helps. Having a friend on the couch means you can share the chaos and maybe blame each other when things go sideways.
After spending time with the demo it is easy to see why people are excited for the full game. Neon Inferno feels like a proof of concept for a bigger trend. Instead of just copying one retro template, it fuses a couple of them together and finds something new in the overlap.
It even sparks the imagination. If run and gun plus gallery shooter works this well, what other weird combinations could be fun. Could someone mash a puzzle game with a racing game and make you play Puyo Puyo and Outrun at the same time. Maybe that is too much. But Neon Inferno makes that kind of genre fusion feel possible and that alone makes it a shooter worth watching.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/this-absurdly-stylish-side-scroller-feels-like-playing-two-different-genres-of-retro-shooter-at-the-same-time-and-i-love-it/
