never had I felt so compelled to challenge myself and explore the full potential of gameplay and had the game show so much respect in return. its like they knew their level design was so good that I'd be playing the same track over and over just to see whether or not I could clear that one hurdle, whether that windowsill had collision, whether I could beat the invisible dev time that, even then, doesn't necessarily indicate complete mastery over a level

there's so much to praise here about the way neon white turns speedrunning in on its head while simultaneously making it seamless enough that I was seriously contemplating whether I wanted to replay the entire game and attempt to beat all dev times. I didn't, but there's extra hard modes post-game for those who did. those guys are the true masochists.

but that's exactly who this game is made for: suckers, freaks, and normal people that will probably find things to love in the characters and style of neon white despite its shamelessness in dialogue and presentation. machine girl ROCKS and the sound design is also superb. I have to admit the story got a bit wonky with the lore dump at the end and there's some cracks in the main's cast backstory that I would've liked to see clarified, but the sheer rush of its core gameplay is unmatched.

my pro tip would be to wait until your friends play it before you like I did and then treat breaking their record times as the true standard for your own. its more fun that way. you can be a dick and brag about it but then they might be compelled to go back and one-up you and with how much substance there is in this game I feel like such a rivalry would eventually become comparable to white and green's. except there are no good guys and you're both just weirdos who want to bang red (((<-- EXTREMELY JUSTIFIED)))

all and all, masterpiece of a game.