NeonXSZ

I have a very mixed feelings about this game. From one side, I am a fan. Cos there is not even ONE space shooter with twitch mechanics/aiming, this is such a gem. And on top of It it has a rich set of loot and rpg
elements to spice up the action gameplay. What more could somebody want? Well, there Is a lot to be
desired. This game has a lot of design decisions that just constantly make me turn this game off. I don't
know exactly why, I'm gonna try my best, to point it here.
1." THE OOMPH PLEASE!”. Weapons do not have an FPS style oomph. they feel weak, and silent pew-pew,
feel like a chicken chipping at worms. bad, muted sound, and boring shape of projectiles, no fancy
explosions or anything that would make you really satisfied from a good shot or kill. Overload did it much
better. Also, look at the old style shooters, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Doom 2016. THERE IS OOMPH!
OOMPH Is important. improve sound and visuals
2. "HOW THE HELL I GET A BETTER WEAPON?"
the Item and shopping system... WHAT THE HELL? What Is what? I FEEL LO0OOOOOOST. I have no idea
what is what, how to use loot, how to get better weapons... oh my god, learning this game Is going to
make learning linux commandline a breeze. Look at Diablo, Diablo 2. Simple and clear, use DISTINCTIVE
COLORS and vivid SHAPES to distinguish between Ideas, types etc. I have no CLUE what Is what. I want to
shoot stuff and progress, make few choices, where I KNOW WHAT I AM CHOOSING, and shoot bad guys
and make quests. Why I cannot know what I am doing? Please explain It to me, but don’t throw at me a
documentation bible to read, A CLEAR INFO. HOPEFULLY THROUGH GAMEPLAY.

Overall the above two things are the biggest Issues I have with the game. I really like the twitch aiming
system. overload has slow as hell turning speed like any other space shooter, so you are really one-up on
this one, I also like the graphics customization options. Also a cool, enticing story wrapping this world and
gameplay would be nice. I recommend this game only for hardcore nerds, until the two issues |
mentioned above are fixed, then this game would be awesome.

Easy to start and easy to get bored, the dull environment made playing less enjoyable

I really feel that with the map layout that this game missed its mark. The combat could have been incredible if the movement controls were similar to the classic descent games. The linear yet floating movement makes combat less exciting in my opinion. I do like all the ship upgrade options and the map layout and colour options adds to a very cool vibe but the main focus which is combat just feels average and not enough to keep me engaged.

I don't know what people expect from an 11$ game - but this one is, in my opinion - underpriced. If I compare it to some titles in my library, there are 15$ games that have way less content and playability to them, so this one should probably sell for 16-18$.

Now, when that's out of the way - I think I get why some people are unhappy. While this is techniaclly a 6DOF shooter, it doesn't quite portray that experience. The fighting in here is not really like eg. Descent series, which means, typical FPS mechanics set in full 3D world.

First, there's a lot of inertia in your movement: when you let got of directional keys, the ship slides in the same direction.
Second thing, enemy shields are quite tanky, and enemies are _fast_. This means you nearly never fire at the enemy, but at the leading target reticle.
Third, you have a target cam, and it is always beneficial to try and flank the enemy.

When you add these together - the combat feels _much_ more like a spaceship dogfight battle, than a 6DOF shooter.
However - I think this is a good thing, because combat feels really, really good.

The upgrade system is interesting: to equip anything, you have to 'research', but research isn't a time-based progress. You collect 'fragments' by killing enemies, and these fragments slowly unlock your upgrades, depending on what enemies have and what is your 'loot rate' - a multiplier for killing multiple enemies fast.
The thing is, the closer you are to 100%, the harder it is to find remaining fragments, so game encourages you to find docking ports which have shops, and some of these shops will offer those same upgrades. Your cost is directly related to research percentage, but not linearly: buying full 100% costs about 20x more than buying 40%.

There are about 20-30 different hulls (ships) with various configuration boxes, and it seems there are hundreds of items, both passive boosts and active. There are about 10-12 weapons.
The game sometimes throws you a curveball, for example, I went to a distant place to do a mission, and got lost. To make things worse, enemies spotted me and locked me in a room - that was an intense fight, but it made for a really fun experience as I kept frantically looking for an exit, and fighting off multiple enemies who were all better equipped than me.
In the end, I survived and made it back safely - which was a great experience, and showed me that applying tactical thinking during fights helps a lot (eg. running behind covers to recharge shields, or stop shooting to let energy storage regenerate).

The graphics are clean and nice, and there's a very cool strong distance blur effect that makes everything feel like it has real depth to it.

About the controller woes - the game itself recommends keyboard and mous.
About the lack of tutorial - there's an extensive manual in a game, broken in three sections (beginner, intermediate, advanced) explaining everything.

Lastly, the complaints about sparse environments - it is true that most of environments look samey and are differentiated mostly by color schemes, but to me - this doesn't matter at all. This isn't a survival exploration game, but a combat game.

IMO - dev should've increased the price to 18$. The game is really good.

Honestly the game is fine, and the 6DoF aspect of it is well done. However, from my two and a half hours playing the game, it was non-stop just flying through barren-looking tunnels and shooting at the same types of enemies, with the only metric of progress being that I fly a little faster and enemies have more HP to match my increased damage. I just didn't feel this one, but it did make me interested to try other 6DoF games. Maybe I'll give Descent a go.

It's not descent, so get that out of your head. It's way faster pace, and includes millions of upgrade combinations with hundreds of different play styles based on what loot you get and how you combine it together and upgrade. This is a very unique game in that the upgrades are so varied for both the player, the friendlies, and the hostiles, but they are mostly all the same sets! If you can do it, an enemy might do it too.

There are many lovingly made details, good progression that keeps the pace up to whatever speed you choose, and some pretty tough puzzles.

There is a reason there isn't a let's play of this game -- some of the puzzles took me hours, especially the last one and the associated secret area (way cool upgrades, so worth it). You are rewarded for everything, and the harder it is, the bigger the rewards.

There are some funky physics with the loot gathering system and some of the environments - but the for gameplay is an absolute joy once you learn to not kill yourself by running into walls (which actually takes a bit in zero g if you leave the acceleration damper off).

Also, play with a mouse. It's intended to be played with a mouse -- you probably won't get the precision you need from other controllers.

Loved the time I spent with this, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the developer had also made space-bob vs the replicons, another lovingly made gem that keeps the drug drip of exploring, action, upgrading, and and progress towards an end goal at a good rate that is also very much up to the player.

The start of the game is ass. Your ship starts out as ass. Your main gun (well, the first gun you have and always will) is ass. The harmless data transporters you're directed to start smacking around have bulky shields and high maneuvrability. Anything larger than you to start is going to hit hard, and boy, once the beams of lightning come out, do they hit, and they'll send your ass straight back to the docking panel.

You're a nothing and the world is unkind. There's nothing stopping you from venturing out to wings of the station containing enemies a dozen levels above your own, where, predictably, enemy ships will mop the station, quite predictably, with your ass.

But you persist. You bag a few kills, or fire off a few helpful shots at the bad guy a bunch of green ships ganged up on. You've collected a small planets' worth of subtly glowing loot balls. You land at a docking panel and buy yourself the lightning gun.

Ah, the great equalizer. No longer do you try to peg some vessel for three minutes from afar with your glorified bean cannon, now you joust for your life in a high-speed, high-fatality game of who-can-hold-more-volts. You twitch, and dance, and pump electricity into a few ships, your battery runs dry, and you explode. The requirement for equipment upgrades begins to make sense. You buy the rest of the data to enhance your energy recharge value. Your tech rate goes up- this means you're hitting harder! You launch from the platform, bristling with power- and find yourself crawling towards combat zones, your vessel now encumbered because you've neglected the engines.

You revise, you overcome, you unlock the inferno cannon (and put to bed your 'main guns' never to be used again). The tech levels come faster, your kills quicker. You tackle some arenas, each delivering hefty upgrades for their appropriate levels, tangling with two, three, four enemy vessels at once.

Gone are the hours of floundering, of confusion, of harmlessness. You're a machine in the machine, all anger and grinding teeth, malice given engines. The enemies get stronger, but so do you. You're smarter, faster, twitchier. And you never. Stop. Improving.

Flavour aside- NeonXSZ is about incremental growth in a mostly linear space given six degrees of freedom. Each faction has home areas that'll spawn more dudes, and those dudes fly towards the dudes they don't like and do battle. You get to do the same. You blow up the vessels you don't like, they drop lots of little balls that become parts of technology or energy if you know that tech already. You take that tech to a docking platform (look for the shopping cart icon cycling through the ones displayed), buy the rest of the tech required to unlock it, equip the higher level stuff, which increases your total level, which makes you do more damage. This increases your capability to go do the arenas located at the center of the station which, again, gives you big upgrades.

The objective of the game is to make it through all eight(?) of these stations, either by gaining a high enough tech level or by completing the three (four?) arenas available at the center for each station. This is made possible by doing the above upgrades. The numbers attached to the upgrades are mostly meaningless- you want the higher tier of tech so that your tech level goes up. If something lags behind in tech level, that part of your ship will suffer. The details beyond that are just filler.

It sounds shallow- maybe it is, but damn it, it's fun. There will always be guys higher level than you, and you'll want to avoid them. There'll always be guys lower level than you, and they won't be so threatening. As you play, you WILL feel that dynamic shift, and you'll end up having much more of the latter than the former. Parts of the station previously deemed too dangerous will no longer hinder you. You really feel your ship getting stronger- this is the part you'll care about, not the numbers attached to the upgrades.

Speaking of- you'll unlock more weapon types and gadgets you can activate from your ship as you go on. The lightning gun gives you your bearings and that moment-to-moment live-or-die trade with opponents, there's a rail gun if you hate leading targets, the inferno gun is just a better main gun, the plasma gun lobs slow-moving balls that explode in an area (bag the bad guys that get stuck on walls this way), there's a very lethal flak cannon if you can get close enough without eating someone else's lightning gun, tools to slow time, to warp short distances, generate temporary walls, missiles to knock out enemy weapons, the "ruin-your-day" type of dumbfire rockets that one-shots vessels three levels above you on a direct hit (my personal favorite), the list goes on. You get a feel for what you like to use, and enough tools or vessels on the side to try something else if that's your fancy.

The station itself is dull and uninteresting until you get to the arenas- this is where the level design shines, and what you'll look forward to checking out every few tech levels. Each one is handcrafted and wonderfully exploits the 6DoF available. Dizzying loops around giant pillars and sweeping curving tunnels? Yep. Large antechambers with nothing to hide behind? Good luck hugging the entry tunnel. Hallways lined with pillars? Sweep around 'em and shake those tails! Tunnels, glass, rotors, pylons, pistons, the area shifts and you must shift with it, using whatever terrain you can to get the upper hand. I haven't found a dull one yet.

To boil it down to a few lines: Avoid if you get motion sickness, have epilepsy, hate twitch shooters, feeling weak, use flight sticks for your flight sims(game's designed with mouse/keyboard speed in mind), or having a lack of explanations or tutorials. Grab it if you like incremental progression, Tron, spaceships, twitching, overwhelming odds, vertigo, bright lights and flashy colors, laser shows, missile ships, or learning how a game works on your own. It's fun, and frequently on sale.

If you do buy- get the lightning gun, learn how not to get lightning gunned. Do the arenas, they're the most interesting part of the game. Don't be afraid to splash a little uranium around (the in-game currency, and fuel). The penalty of death is pretty minor, so getting glassed is only a momentary setback. Tweak the difficulty 'til it feels right for you. You'll continue to unlock neat stuff even if it feels like the core gameplay loop has shown its hand, so between new gadgets, ships, and arenas, you'll have reason to keep playing.

Would recommend.

A bit disappointing.
From what it seemed from the videos, it felt pretty much as a cool open-world Descent-like experience, so I was looking forward to it pretty much.
Well, that was delivered at first. Fighting is pretty fun, weapons/powerups are cool, leveling/upgrading/trading is good too, but very soon after the initial experiences, bad things started to come up.
First of all, the world is pretty much empty. Aside for looking for adequately-leveled enemies and upgrades, you have no reason to explore the world. Stations are modelled after several templates and therefore most of them looks mostly the same. There is nothing to collect, find, or anything. Offered missions in ports are also very template-ish, so nothing super interesting.
The only thing saving this are the challenges present in the centre of each sub-world. Every one of them is different and makes the gameplay at least bit less the same. Some of them are somehow bit confusing, and in some I found myself aimlessly wandering and trying to hit all the triggers I encountered again i case I forgot something.

Simply put: It is not terrible game, the base gameplay is fun, but for a game boasting with an open world, the possibilities are just too little.

Pretty good but not at all like Descent based on one simple fact. Newtonian physics. Inertia might be great for a wide open realistic space sim, but in a corridor based 6DOF game it's actually kind of a nightmare. There is however an auto-braking option, which acts a sort of inertial dampener. This improved my experience greatly.

Anyway It's pretty fun. Upgrade system is a neat twist. Good music. Weapons feel and sound cool. Explosions are satisfying. Nice ship designs. Some solid ship management as well. Gear has mass and power usage, etc.

Simply not fun. Literally no explanation of game mechanics or systems - kill an enemy and pick up random orbs that do things because reasons. Also enemies are super bullet-spongy. I don't mind a grind if there's a concrete reward, or if the game takes time to explain, you know, what that reward actually is. This game doesn't do that. Objectives are super vague - go to this map marker and, well, that's it, really. Controls are very twitchy - it literally feels like your ship is coated in bacon grease. I played all 3 Descent games back in the day, and this is nowhere near that level of quality. It shows some promise, but right now it's not there yet.

This game is AMAZING! it's basically like most RPGs. you choose your fighting style, you choose your ship, weapons, etc. You kill things. you get a prize. lots of prizes.

Not a lot of grinding is really neccessary, but if you want to, it's really worth it. I can compare it with going on a RAMPAGE in GTA 5. JUST KILL EVERYTHING...but beware kiling factions.

basically you take control of a ship that has 6 dimensions of travel. 6DOT. up down left right forward backwards. it's great. you can trust me. I have big hands.
There is a SLIGHT learning curve, but once you get it, it's simple. after an hour i stopped bumping into things.

You play a program in a computer. you can be good(anti-virus) or be bad(virus). Areas are separated by level, so if you want a challenge, fight higher levels, but BEWARE...some of these little shi7s will chase you...be aware. If you don't want a challenge, fight lower levels. Fighting at lower levels is like going into beast mode. The body count is HIGH!

addicting. fun. time flies. you can get on here and lose track of time. It's one objective to the next. The objectives are finished quickly but can be complex. Honestly, I was thinking about this game at work today. It's really quite satisfying to play.

it's DEFINITELY worth $15.I thought about whether I should for an entire week...and YES $15 is nothing for how good this game is.

Nice Descent-like 360 degrees gameplay with RPG elements and progression.
Runs perfectly on Linux, rock solid (never crashed) and stable 120 fps (vsync enabled with 120hz screen),
no tearing and good cores scaling, you can feel that the engine is a piece of art :)

I like it and I'm going to put more hours into it.

Get it now while its on sale but also at full price it'd be worth it.

Got the game on sale because it looked interesting. Played some other games beforeturning to this on a break. after about a 15 minute learning curve, I was hooked. I recommend playing with the controls to find something you're comfortable with. The default controls might work for someone, but not me. Don't get frustrated early on if you're not used to this type of game. Stick it out, it's worth it. The visuals are sweet, the music is good. Progress is in small increments that make it really feel like even if you're just messing around you're making progress. In short, a really good game, worth the risk.

Immediately engrossing, NeonXSZ feels like playing a more arcadey interpretation of X3: Terran Conflict on fast forward. You're plopped into the middle of a sandbox of dogfighting, and need to gradually master all six of your degrees of freedom if you want to get anywhere. Customizable difficulty, lots of upgrades and weapons and ships to play with, and fun challenge arenas and procedurally-generated tasks make for a fast-paced, player-driven experience. Nice bright high-contrast visuals pay homage to Tron and are highly customizable, and the low penalty for death (at first) encourages you to keep extending beyond what you think you're capable of, to never play things too safe.

What you'll discover as you get farther is that everything you're doing consumes your main currency, uranium. Whenever you thrust needlessly, or fire weapons without thinking, you're consuming uranium, which is also used to respawn, to purchase upgrades, and to use teleporters. You can gain it by doing tasks and killing enemies, but as you move up along the power curve, you're forced to learn more advanced, more elegant and efficient, techniques. Failing to use your power responsibly, or trying to farm things that are way below your level for too long, could put you in danger of not having enough energy to respawn, should you die. The way the game nudges you gradually toward both this realization and to increasing challenge and player skill is pretty brilliant.

This is a pretty simple game, but it's really addictive for some reason. If you just need to shoot things or want a good RPG without a super confusing plot, this is the game for you.

Edit:
Half way through this turned into a 3d maze racing game. Instead of shooting things, collecting loot and leveling up, I now have to shoot several finicky, akwardly placed switchs, race through an extremely disorienting maze in 3d space and run into a door that just slammed in my face. I don't find this mechanic fun at all. It is extremely frustrating and boaring. I had to change my rating to not recommended. I've been working on one of these stupid things for two hours now. There might be as many as 20 more of them. If I keep playing, I may reevaluate the game when I get to the end, but it's not looking good.

So far the only thing I would add to the reviews on this is that the game feels like a mix of descent and tron with a wonderful level up system that makes the game pace fast, but comfortable. admittedly piloting using hotas is tricky at first but once the settings are tweaked the game is amazing fun with hotas or mouse. I normally dont get into games that dont have much storyline and are more or less team deathmatch vs. the computer, however this games pace mixed with a rather competitive AI makes it a very enjoyable experience. The game difficulty can be adjusted to fit prefered play style and i must admit being a fan of tron the visuals in the game are very appealing.

NeonXSZ has captured my attention in a way that games rarely seem to manage these days. It is absolutely packed with gameplay and player choice, is highly polished and very configurable, both in terms of game settings and aesthetics (how many games do you have that let you change the theme of the game world?).

It's a mouse driven 6DOF shooter (yes, mouse and keyboard is by far the best control method) in an open world cyberspace environment, so even though you have an ultimate goal you also have a high degree of flexibility in how you achieve it. New ship components and even new ships are introduced at the perfect rate and make you feel always like you're making steady progress. Two (well, four) warring factions make things even more exciting...rarely do you fly for more than a minute without encountering some firefight taking place that you can ignore or join as you wish.

In short, NeonXSZ is a pure joy to play. It's pretty, it's fun, it's packed with options...if you asked me what typical 6DOF shooters need I couldn't tell you any more than NeonXSZ already has. It's a stunning example of the genre - a revolution, really - and an incredible achievement for the one-man dev team.

As an old Freelancer player feeling at home with endless waves of nasties to hunt down for loot in your own little spaceship, NeonXSZ is an amazing breath of fresh air, making me feel at home and yet bringing in the amenities and quality of life that we have come to expect from newer games.

To compensate for the lack of a 'story' you get so much more here than in Freelancer in terms of loot and customization (those who love checking all the little stats have so much to do in the in-game upgrade shops, and the loot explosions after each kill feel like Christmas: loot comes inside spherical bubbles that go with the most satisfying pop as you collect them) .

The game is all about killing the bad guys, level up and get to try out the many new unlockable hulls while upgrading the dozen or more equipment parts that keep enhancing your killing machine. So even if you have the option of picking up standard kill or fedex missions at every shop, the point is to get into the action and, well, kill the bad guys.

With every hour I played I came to appreciate more and more the incredible care and skill with which the (interactive) cockpit has been designed, conveying a huge amount of information without it ever feeling cluttered (I wish flight simulator cockpits were optimized like this!). The graphical quality of the environment and the effects is astounding and makes this EA game totally feel like an AAA title (let alone that I have never met with a single bug since I bought it). Adding to this, you can even customize the environment colors so that nothing will hurt your eyes as you hunt (including flipping the color of the enemies to a different high-contrast choice).

There is no standard in-game tutorial but the learning curve is very gentle because the low level enemies are push-overs and, besides, you can customize the difficulty curve to just where you like it (even the travel speed can be lowered, so that you don't need to be worried about this being a twitch-game that shuts you off if you lack Korean-like reflexes. The many colorful, detailed in-game help pages have been added recently and provide all the information one needs, and the rest can always be learned from exploration and trial and error (it helps that the death penalty is very mild, inviting you to go back into the action with no regrets). So even if the ultra-detailed cockpit may at first overwhelm, don't worry, keep killing the bad guys because it will grow on you and one day you will be able to immediately find the info you need where you want it.

Finally, speaking of levels and longevity, I have been taking in the sights and enjoying the leveling-up of my ships' components, so that after 16 hours I am still at level 12 or so, while I understand that one can work it up to 80! Seems like a huge amount of play value to me and so, summing it up, now that I recently passed the 500 game mark in my Steam collection I have never before seen a 'small' indie game done with such an incredible attention to detail and one that I could more sincerely recommend to all loot-addicted space flight fans in need of a high-quality fix. I know that we have been repeatedly disappointed by a number of Freelancer lookalikes in the past several years, so while we wait why not take this gift of a perhaps less ambitious, yet amazingly satisfying game?

If anything in this review resonates with you, please do yourself a favor and give NeonXSZ a try - it won't cost you a dime, and it will probably suck you in.

I haven't played much of Descent or its ilk, I find Sid Meier's Pirates kinda dull and repetitive, and loot-grindy shooters like Borderlands have never held much appeal for me. Yet I STILL love this game, which is a testament to just how extremely well-executed it is. A one-of-a-kind RPG-FPS mash-up that's refreshingly free of fluff and boring bits, due to an easily traversable game world and consistently exciting combat. The developer is really on to something here, and I hope to see similar games released in the future-- but for now, there's nothing else like it in existence. Absolutely check this gem out, you're getting a stupid amount of value for your money.

Pure Joy! This is not a space shooter with hard target lock, there are no asteroids to mine, this is one of the rare breed of 6DOF twitch shooters done up in glorious fashion, a treat for modern gamers and old fans of Descent and Forsaken alike. The RPG and customization elements are crazy addictive, and the alien atmosphere and soundtrack are perfect. Amazingly polished for an Early Access title. All of the settings and HUD elements can seem overwhelming at first, so can the controls (fully remappable), but part of the joy of the game is discovering and experimenting with them. EVERYTHING can be tweaked to play exactly how you like, right down to the colors of the environment and even speed of the game. Pick this one up, you won't regret it.