Tips and Tricks
Somehow blending a card game, platformer, FPS shooter, and visual novel into a single title, Neon White is a complex and fast-paced action game that can be a bit daunting to even the best of gamers. Though there is certainly much to learn, you'll quickly discover how delightful and rewarding speedrunning can be if you have a little strategy and a whole lot of persistence.
Though there's no better teacher than experience, in this Neon White guide, you'll learn some tips and tricks that can help you shave down your completion times so you can quickly climb the Global Leaderboard and leave your friends in the dust.
Continue reading or click on one of the links below to speedrun your way to a specific section of this guide:
Beginner's Tips and Tricks
Embrace Failure and Gather Intel
Despite being a brilliant mashup of several genres, Neon White's core gameplay is focused on speeding through every level as quickly as possible. That's a simple goal on paper but finding the optimal path through levels will require you to fail... a lot. The culmination of the lessons you'll learn from your mistakes will ultimately be the catalyst for your record-breaking runs so embrace your blunders and use them to make micro-adjustments to your strategy and pathing.
Additionally, Instead of sweating your botched jumps and missed shots, you can use these opportunities to not only assess your mechanics but also experiment with your card usage, explore the map, and test out alternative routes. Your initial pathing and strategy will rarely, if ever, be the fastest way to complete the stage so reframe mistakes as opportunities to discover new shortcuts, uncover exploits, and gather intel on the demons present in the level.
For instance, if you accidentally clip a wall early on in a run, instead of resetting just ease through the course and eliminate each demon to identify how many Health Points they have. With this knowledge, you can then determine whether killing an enemy by discarding your card is the better play or if taking them out with your weapon and saving your movement ability would save you time.
Crosshair Discipline is Essential
For a number of reasons, effectively managing your crosshair is quietly amongst the best ways to trim down your personal best completion times. Since Neon White is part FPS shooter it goes without saying that crosshair discipline can help you gun down the various demons on each level, but what may not be immediately evident is that you're actually punished for jagged and indecisive crosshair movement. Because you should always keep your foot on the gas, looking in any direction other than your intended path will result in wasted movement.
As an example, let's look at Soul Cards, which are often placed off to the side of your spawn point. You should never completely turn your head to pick them up because you'd inevitably take unnecessary steps in that direction. Instead, aim your crosshairs just off the card's edge that is closest to your selected route. You'll still pick up the weapon without the wasted movement that turning causes.
Another reason crosshair discipline is so important is that Neon White punishes you for strafing. Moving left or right can sometimes be demanded by a level's layout but this should only be done when necessary since it'll reduce your speed. If you're in a level that has a hard turn you should do your best to keep your fingers off the movement keys and think like a racecar driver trying to make a tight turn. Aim your crosshair just off the edge of the incoming turn to hug the corner as much as possible, and when you reach the break, use your crosshair to make a controlled turn.
Lastly, your crosshair placement directly impacts how you'll interact with some Soul Cards and demons as seen by the additional air time you can gain by aiming towards the sky when bouncing off Purify's explosive projectile.
Level Hints and Map Geometry
Once you've completed a map fast enough to obtain at least Level 3 Insight, you'll earn the ability to enable Level Hints. Hints appear in the form of a floating hand marker that, when found, guides you through a shortcut. Hints are undoubtedly helpful, especially for newcomers to Neon White but they shouldn't be taken as gospel and you shouldn't allow them to stifle your creativity.
Level Hints guide you to the level's intended path but they don't always take you down the optimal path. By experimenting with different paths and testing the limits of your Soul Cards you'll find some absurd ways to exploit the map's geometry. As you'll discover when trying to collect hidden Gifts, nearly all of the platforms and roofs in Neon White can be accessed with the correct combination of movement abilities so it's not uncommon for the fastest route toward the finish line to be over a wall or through a window. Failures can be reset at the press of a button and the levels are relatively short so don't be afraid to let your imagination run wild.
Exploit Areas With Little to No Demons
To successfully complete a run in Neon White you're forced to eliminate every demon in the level. While trying to meet this win condition, stay vigilant for areas devoid of enemies and for any isolated enemies. Areas of the map with no enemies at all should signal to you that a more efficient path exists even if the Level Hint is pointing you in this direction. Bypassing areas that don't have enemies directly lowers your run time and it often gives you an additional movement ability to use elsewhere.
Meanwhile, an isolated enemy usually indicates that you can eliminate them and continue towards the finish line without wasting time heading toward their location. Try your best to hit flick shots on isolated enemies to avoid the wasted movement discussed earlier.
Quick Tips and Tricks
- Completing runs despite a few missteps can still be valuable since they can enable you to unlock helpful tools such as Hints and a Mario Kart-like ghost that displays your best run.
- Water is your best friend and you should always try to reap the benefits of its speed boost. Sometimes walking toward water instead of following the obvious path can save you a few milliseconds.
- Some weapons such as Purify have stacking effects that can be turned into insane movement abilities. In the case of Purify, using two projectiles as a launching pad instead of just one will send you noticeably further.
- Only jump when absolutely necessary. Jumping has a floating effect that keeps you airborne for much too long. So if possible, use your Soul Cards such as Purify, Godspeed, and Elevate for more agile movement.
- You can "bhop" after using movement abilities such as Godspeed and Purify by jumping again at the exact moment your feet hit the ground.
- Use the Global Leaderboard to improve your completion time. If you complete a run at a decent pace and you notice that other players managed to beat the same level at a significantly faster pace this likely means there's a shortcut or exploit you're not taking advantage of.