Neon Inferno Review – Classic Chaos Reignited

Neon Inferno Review

Retro-inspired games frequently hit digital stores, celebrating a bygone era. While many simply replicate the systems and mechanics that defined their childhoods, Zenovia Interactive builds upon its influences with Neon Inferno to craft a fresh yet familiar run-and-gun arcade shooter. Will it hit the mark, or will it misfire?

Set in New York City in 2055, corruption has consumed the state, sending crime spiraling out of control. With a crooked NYPD and the Yakuza battling for dominance, The Family, a coalition of the fallen Italian Mafia and other crime syndicates, looks to seize control. To do so, you take on the role of one of two members, Angelo or Mariana, as they deliver brutal justice to restore order to the war-torn streets. While the story itself isn’t groundbreaking, its presentation and delivery are strong, helping to maintain intrigue. Slick, stylish cutscenes add purpose to every encounter, enhancing your journey through each impeccably designed level.

Lock and Load

Your objective is simple: annihilate everyone in your path as you make your way to the imposing boss. But numerous hazards block your progress, turning each stage into an intense, high-stakes battle. Similar to classic run-and-gunners, bullets fly in all directions, requiring you to be nimble in order to avoid damage. As there’s no way to replenish health, this leads to gripping segments where you rely on quick reflexes and precise movement to survive each encounter. Checkpoints are well-positioned to ensure a strong level of challenge, requiring you to complete a couple of areas before your progress is secured. While the game does carry that retro difficulty, it also maintains the same ethos of learning patterns and reacting. However, with three difficulty settings available, you can fine-tune the experience to match your skill level.

While Neon Inferno includes staples of the genre with its bullet-hell segments, it also borrows clever elements from other retro shooters like Wild Guns, featuring enemies that attack from the background. This forces you to defend against threats from the sides as well as on a different plane. Debris offers temporary cover, providing brief safety from background fire, but these barriers are destructible, keeping you constantly on the move and maintaining a deliciously frantic pace throughout each encounter.

Who’s Next?

Enemy variety adds to the experience, requiring you to adapt your approach. Some shoot green bullets, which you can deflect with a well-timed swipe of your blade, inflicting significant damage. Holding your melee attack when attempting this manoeuvre enters bullet time, allowing you to aim the direction of the projectiles to take out anyone on screen. It’s a great feature that gives more options to support your survival. Other shots require you to leap out of the way or dodge past to avoid. With enemies attacking from left, right, above and even from the back, this leads to a truly enthralling shooter.

Bosses are expertly designed with multiple stages that require skill and finesse to overcome. Encounters have a lovely sense of progression, building to a finale which helps to make each battle feel momentous. While at first, fights may seem difficult, learning the patterns and counters leads to satisfying moments where you are able to overcome imposing enemies with ease.

Although shooting and scurrying across the landscape is at the forefront of the game, Zenovia Interactive also varies the gameplay with vehicle segments that require you to shoot incoming enemies while racing across a highway. Stages evolve, introducing surprises, which helps to add a real sense of adventure. The talented developers don’t just replicate shooters from the golden era; they build on those foundations to create something that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly modern.

Splash the Cash

After completing a mission, you get a rating and cash to spend on items at the store. You can purchase new guns, and while effective, they have a limited number of ammo, which means you must use them sparingly. This adds more variety and is a great way to personalize your adventure by experimenting with the options available. With a tough-as-nails arcade mode and two-player co-op also available, there’s plenty of reason to hit the ravaged streets of New York.

The overall presentation is incredible, with neon-soaked streets that perfectly capture a futuristic, war-torn city. CRT scan lines further root the game in its retro influences, while modern elements elevate the design. Dynamic weather and lighting effects pierce through the environment, adding a beautiful layer of detail to each area. Every character is impressively realized, sporting an anime-inspired aesthetic that evokes the spirit of Akira. Paired with a stylish synth soundtrack, catchy melodies, and visceral sound effects, the game delivers an impeccable audiovisual experience.

Neon Inferno is a brilliant run-and-gun shooter that not only captures the essence of its influences but builds upon them to create a remarkable, retro-inspired adventure. Its deep mechanics lead to fierce shootouts where bullets fly from every direction, testing your reflexes as you dodge and retaliate. Paired with its stunning visuals, it’s an incredible experience that fans of the genre simply can’t miss.

***A PlayStation 5 code provided by the publisher for review***