Wireframe 2019

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Review

Rated


Review

Does Professor Layton dream of electric rats?


t was after I’d been trapped in two
rooms of a flat for an hour, unable to
go anywhere else until I’d found the
one or two remaining clues at the
murder scene, that Tales of the Neon
Sea revealed to me how much of an arse it was
being. The vast majority of clues and interactive
elements in the game are highlighted as such
when you walk past them. I was used to this, so
was looking for an interaction prompt I might
have missed. Naturally, the clue I was looking
for wasn’t highlighted, so
it was blind chance (and
button mashing) that helped
me progress, not superstar
cybernetic detective abilities.
Tales of the Neon Sea looks
superb, and sounds even better, but after a short
amount of time, this not-quite point-and-click
detective/adventure game has shown you all
it has. There’s traipsing around (lovely-looking)
areas, with a lot of ferrying back and forth. There’s
a lot of interacting with clearly highlighted things,
and a small amount of trying to find the stuff
that isn’t highlighted. And there are puzzles, for
some reason. Puzzles that make no sense in the
game world, even when there’s an accompanying
explanation as to why they’re there, and puzzles
that – while sometimes fun – do little more than
act as roadblocks to your inevitable progress.
Some roadblocks are bigger than others,
thanks to a combination of the puzzles
themselves being occasionally challenging
and saddled with explanations that have been
poorly translated. I won’t nitpick the translation

elsewhere – Neon Sea is a game made by a small
Chinese team, you’d be daft to expect perfection


  • but when the instructions to a minigame, one
    you have to complete in order to progress, are
    muddled at best, it does impact things negatively.
    Having to wrestle with the actual point of a
    puzzle before even starting to try and solve it in
    earnest is not what you’d call fun.
    And, on reflection, I think that feeling carries
    throughout Neon Sea. It’s not a lot of fun.
    It’s busywork, a lot of back and forth to grab item
    A and take it to place B, before
    solving a lockpick/Pipe Dream/
    line-drawing puzzle, then
    taking item C to place D and
    so on and so forth for about
    ten hours. Or 20 if you get
    stuck on a puzzle’s instructions and the lack of
    highlighted interactive elements. It’s a muddled
    experience, not quite being an adventure game
    in the point-and-click sense, nowhere near
    simple enough to be a casual visual novel-alike

  • it just comes across as unfocused, not really
    knowing its own identity.
    Tales of the Neon Sea, as you can tell, is
    gorgeous. Its soundtrack is fantastic. The
    cyberpunk-lite setting is generally well thought-
    out and coherent. There’s a lot you’ll want to love
    about the game, especially the cheeky sense of
    humour and sections where you take control of
    a feline sidekick and see the secret world of the
    cats in all its glory. But looking at the package
    as a whole, it’s just a bit of an ill-defined, vague
    experience. It’ll stick with you in some ways, but
    otherwise, this is sadly a forgettable one.


Tales of the Neon Sea


I


VERDICT
Gorgeous and atmospheric
it might be, but Neon Sea
flounders where it counts.

53 %


GENRE
Detective/cat
simulator
FORMAT
PC (tested) /
Consoles later
in 2019
DEVELOPER
Palm Pioneer
PUBLISHER
Zodiac Interactive
PRICE
£13.49
RELEASE
Out now

Info


Review

Rated


REVIEWED BY
Ian Dransfield

“It’s not a lot of fun.
It’s busywork, a lot of
back and forth”

HIGHLIGHT
Neon Sea’s musical score is
fantastic, though its loops
are a bit on the short side
and can become an irritation
when you’re stuck on a puzzle.
Nonetheless, the lo-fi, synth-
laden soundtrack is a fabulous
accompaniment to your time
in the game, and easily one of
its strongest elements.

 It’s gorgeous both in motion and
when static, with moody neon
lighting littering most of the game.
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