NEON INFERNO - Arcade 1CC

Описание: Neon Inferno is the latest game from developer Zenovia, creators of the great action/platform game Steel Assault from 2021. Steel Assault was a melee focused action game, so this time, they've put more emphasis on shooting, taking inspiration from games like Metal Slug and Wild Guns. I can't think of any games off the top of my head that combine the side scrolling shooting and platforming of Metal Slug with the three dimensional shooting of Wild Guns, so it was a cool idea to blend both genres together, and it works very well.

This is a clear of the Arcade mode, where you get one credit, and if you die, you have to restart from the beginning. All damage you receive is permanent, but you can buy an item that restores 1HP in between each stage for $5000. It's relatively cheap, so at first, I thought it would make a one credit clear really easy if you just spent all your money on health. But it only let's you heal one at a time, so you still need to learn each stage thoroughly to minimize your mistakes. It's pretty well balanced.
You can also buy a shield item for $35,000, which I used for the last two stages. I didn't realize it carried over in between stages, so if you're going to use this item, it's probably best to get it as soon as possible. That way even if you get hit once in the next two stages, you should still get the full $20,000 clear bonus for finishing it without taking damage.

The shop also sells weapons, but after playing this more, I'm not sure I like that system. They have limited ammo and none of them seem worth the price, aside from the chaser. That one only costs $10,000, and it lets you sprint through dense areas without having to aim at crouching enemies or anyone above you. I bought the flame shot once to try and take out a boss quickly, but it didn't do as much damage as I was expecting, and the fire made it harder to see bullets that were coming in, so it just made me think I wasted $20,000. I never had a specific use in mind for the other weapons, so I only tried them once. Your default weapon is perfectly capable of handling everything, so I felt like the only things worth getting were health, the shield, and the chaser. I think it would be better to just have a weapon drop in each stage.

In the story and Arcade modes, the first stage and the last two stages are always the same, but you can do the three in between them in any order. I like to do A Fatal Overture first because it's the one I'm most likely to get hit on, so resetting if it goes badly isn't too big of a time loss.

I had more fun playing Arcade mode than I had when I was just going for S-ranks in Replay Mode, so I wound up liking this even more. Game structure is super important, innit?

There's no actual scoring system in this game, but I think it would be a fun challenge to try and accumulate over $100,000 in an Arcade run. You'll have to S-rank several stages, not buy the shield, and maybe not buy any weapons to reach that point, which is a step up from a more casual clear like this one. It would be cool if they added that in as an achievement.

Neon Inferno is a great game overall, with top class pixel art, a great soundtrack, and a solid level of difficulty all packed in to a unique blend of Metal Slug run-and-gun and Wild Guns style gallery shooting. I've been looking forward to this for years now, and I'm happy with how it turned out. It's definitely one of the highlights of 2025, and we'll worth the $15.99-$19.99 price tag if you're a fan of Arcade games. Check it out!

Huge thank you to Retroware for sending me a key for review! They've been releasing a lot of interesting games lately, with Toxic Crusaders on the horizon!

0:00 Intro
2:11 Stage 1 - Heat of the Night
6:58 Stage 2 - A Fatal Overture
14:10 Stage 3 - Baptised in Flame
22:49 Stage 4 - One to the Heart
30:03 Stage 5 - Night of the Hunters
36:46 Stage 6 - Every Hour Wounds
49:33 Ending & Credits
https://store.steampowered.com/app/29...
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/c...
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/stor...

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