How Neon White Lets You Speedrun Speedrunning

[@GMTK]

Neon White is my pick for the most innovative game of 2022 - but want to know my 10 favourite games of the year? GMTK Patrons on the video tier get a bonus video where I go through my top picks - www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-video-game-75863560

[@GroLulu]

Did you try Warstride Challenges ? (totally different Idea behind it than neon white, but still pretty close)

[@reev9759]

Can you define coyote time and edge rounding?

[@jianalexander1359]

There is a game based on the mechanic of First-Person shooter mixed with deck building. I think it is called 'Friends Vs Friends'.

[@jianalexander1359]

@@reev9759 Coyote time refers to the time you can jump when you leave the edge of platform; You can learn more in his Celeste video

[@revimfadli4666]

Will Bopl Battle be at least nominated for 2023 GMTK Most Innovative? It's such a fresh take on the platform fighter genre among the flood of smash-likes

[@dazcarrr]

probably the biggest surpsise here was learning that this was made by the same guy as donut county

[@Yolwoocle]

I was surprised too

[@hamster2u396]

Haha me too

[@PluckyStar]

Not just Donut County, either. The same man was also responsible for Tattletail, What Remains of Edith Finch, and even Sonic Dreams Collection. Ben Esposito's resume is some of the wildest you can imagine.

[@matijatu]

Having played donut county recentlyy I don't think it's surprising at all

[@ghostkill221]

Donut County wasn't anywhere near as horny.

[@NykowPalalum]

Loved the video. If I had one remark though, it's that by playing Neon White you're not 'pretending' to be a speedrunner, you are speedrunning. You don't have to spend thousands of hours to speedrun, the same way you don't have to be a professional soccer player to play soccer. Just trying to have a fast time on a game is speedrunning, even if you do it casually.

[@solsystem1342]

This 1,000,000% I always think of it as the next step in improving at a game you love. Similar to challenge runs speed running is just setting an arbitrary challenge and seeing how well you do at it🤷‍♀️ You can play any game at any level and still speedrun. Just have fun tearing into the game.

[@Grollock11]

Oh hey that's me at 5:56 :) Glad to see more people talk about the game, one of the best things I played all year

[@haroeneissa790]

That's a massive coincidence that you already found out about it only a few minutes after the video got uploaded. Especially since you have less than 10 subscribers. Edit: why do some people think that I think that he is part of some kind of conspiracy. I meant it literally. It is objectively a massive coincidence that this guy found out about it only a few minutes after the video got posted. Especially since youtube has billions of users and this video got maybe like 50k views in the first hour.

[@Grollock11]

@@haroeneissa790 I watch this channel anyway, so I was bound to notice pretty quick

[@humanbeing8676]

@@haroeneissa790 you can see his channel name

[@1TheAvatar]

@@haroeneissa790 bro what are you on about lmao

[@aze4308]

nice

[@CROWcolin2]

We GOTTA mention that the Neon White soundtrack was done by Machine Girl - which truly couldn't be better for a game about speedrunning. Literally one of my top spotify albums this year.

[@duckowap8337]

if you like those crazy ass Japanese movies, Machine Girl is definitely for you

[@scottwatrous]

Oh shit really? nice

[@tenthirtyseven-v1]

Neon White owes a lot to Lovely Planet, a series of games I was absolutely addicted to, but Neon White definitely handles the approach so much better, it's 10/10 when it comes to roping people in for just one more try. Definitely a good choice for this year.

[@Mother_boards]

Oh yeah, I remember Lovely Planet! I think I won a giveaway for it way back in the day, and liked it a lot. Definitely see the similarity between it and Neon White!

[@SilveraLordz]

i totally forgot lovely planet existed loved the games so maybe i should try neon white

[@deanfieldhouse]

SEUM deserves mention too. Fast-Paced Speedrun FPS with ability pickups and a hidden item within each level.

[@GroLulu]

We made Warstride Challenges and then we heard about lonely planet ! That was really cool

[@futurecoplgf]

One of the first speedrun FPS's that 'hook'ed me was Cyber Hook: had a ton of fun with that crazy grappling tech and now I like seeing all these other games like Lovely Planet and Neon White which I didn't know a genre existed for. More recommendations, I say!

[@CERTAIND00M]

I had a similar experience with Door Kickers the year that came out. I couldn't bring myself to move on to the next mission unless I'd completed the previous one with at least a 2-star rating and no deaths. Then, halfway through the game, I unlocked the silencer attachment and suddenly every level had to be re-replayed, this time with perfect stealth. Then I unlocked the taser and learned that every level had a secret pacifist objective... Door Kickers was great.

[@futureskeletons66669]

Indeed it is.

[@theSato]

Couldn't have said it better myself. This game is fantastic. And honestly, the cringe dialogue and story is part of the whole charm of the game -- I might have not finished the game without it, I was looking forward to what silly turn would happen in the story next!

[@thedontpanic]

Honestly while there are definitely some select cringy lines, the story overall hasn't been too bad from what I've played. Just tropey, not super serious, mainly the characters are just weirdos. Which isn't inherently bad, its enjoyable partially because watching people be weird can be amusing. And I enjoy how much the story takes the piss out of its version of Heaven.

[@thetechnosaiyan]

It's not cringe to me.

[@Alphasoldier]

That absolute self-sass of "Pretend I have friends on Steam" (3:54), it's small things like that that make your videos even more enjoyable beyond the nuggets of knowledge and downright inspiration they already are. Amazing job Mark, I love it.

[@chickensangwich97]

I adored Neon White, so glad you featured it here. Videogamedunkey said it best: "This is a game that will make you feel like you're good at games." By the end of the first two chapters or so, you're going to just feel so confident and clever and badass.

[@shawnheatherly]

It's one of the best feeling games I played this year. It's incredible how you go from feeling like that time is impossible to improve only to do drastically better in a few runs later.

[@redfox8898]

If neon white was made in a game jam, the developers would speedrunning speedrunning speedrunning

[@ukranian_deadbeat]

I wish people mentioned Lovely Planet when they are talking about Neon White. Such an underappreciated game.

[@eta0carinae]

this is the first thing that popped in my mind watching this video. love this gem

[@l3xforever]

Or ShootMania, which is even closer to the roots

[@paolo2k]

Love that game

[@DarshanBhambhani]

I’ve played every game you deemed most innovative and always had a good time, happy to see your selection this year

[@marshallc6215]

I want to push back slightly on one idea in the setup for the video. Speedrunning isn't about investing 4500 hours into a single run. Those are literally the 0.0001% of runners who are competing for milliseconds and for sub-pixel precision. Personally, I've done a handful of speedruns and not a single one was worth submitting. They weren't even real categories. Memeruns are a great introduction to the "idea" of speedrunning. Instead of the basic "how fast can you finish the game" which will inevitably pit you against people who have spent more time and have more skill at the game, which is super demoralizing when you're just learning about what speedrunning feels like, take it one step further. "How fast can I beat the game using only the shotgun" or "how fast can I beat the game without killing anything but bosses" or something like that. Do the theory crafting and run it a couple times. Maybe beat a survival horror game without crafting anything. Maybe beat a racing game without using the brakes or without using any boosts. Maybe beat a shooter using only melee attacks. Don't expect it to be perfect or even good. Just finish them. If at the end of a run, you say "man I want to do this section better" then you can later go practice that section or mechanic. This is where the big timesink of running is - either running entire categories until you get lucky and don't choke or practicing very specific tech until you can do it reliably. That is the pure essence of speedrunning. It is not a binary choice of "become the best or don't even try."

[@ZandoFox]

For sure, it's something you can just do for fun and invest as much or as little time as you want.

[@shards-of-glass-man]

Also such a binary choice discounts glitch hunters and routers, who don't even necessarily place on leaderboards. Speedrunning is about community and cooperation, and having fun picking apart the games of your choice.

[@danieladamczyk4024]

Do it for fun.

[@golovkaanna8757]

Why doing speedrun if you are not aiming to be the 0.0001%?

[@EfrainMan]

Absolutely, your own personal speedrun competitions are as valid as trying to get on those worldwide leaderboards. And I've definitely used speedrun tactics to occasionally mess around in a game I've played a bunch of times, like mock ball in Super Metroid.

[@LordShadowZ]

Neon White is my Game of the Year for 2022. It is such a fun and well crafted game. I put in a total of 60 hours, first in my semi-casual playthrough that led into going for all the gifts and blue ace medals as I worked through the main story, then I discovered the red ace medals (after accidentally achieving one) and more than doubled my play time getting those on every level, then I went for the Heaven and Hell rushes, and White's Hell rush took me 3 days of attempts to complete (with a time of 54:01) which was one of the most satisfying achievements I've accomplished in gaming in a long time. I don't 100% many games but Neon White was just a constant blast to play and replay and I loved every minute of it.

[@toastbr0ti]

This is how I felt playing Cyber Hook. Just had to repeat one more time to beat my previous time. And another. And another...

[@rusalex9902]

Cyber hook is the game I downloaded after completing (relatively) Neon White (gem of a game)

[@tecnicofwars]

Indeed. Cyber Hook was even better because you could watch the replays of other players, so you could see how they played better than you or the tricks they used. Shame it wasn't as popular as Neon White.

[@thecreatorofpc7929]

I saw Cyber Hook in a video about Indie Games, was already playing Neon White and felt like i needed more after it, so i bought it for like 3 dollars thanks to the Winter Sale I need more games like these.

[@lyingpancake95]

Even with such a heavily blurred image in the thumbnail, Neon White is still so recognizable. Can't disguise that style 😎

[@Betruet]

It has been a great year for content on GMTK. I've enjoyed every video. Thanks for the quality

[@nebulae5236]

I’d love to hear more on tunic! It’s starting to feel more and more like a game that’s been swept under the rug, but it’s still the game I‘ve kept coming back to, trying to uncover all its mysteries. More discussion on how Tunic hides its puzzles would be an awesome topic, if your willing to give the game another chance and let it have its time in the spotlight before its forgotten forever!

[@ericmrx]

The overarching puzzle in this game is simply incredible. The role and design of the gaming booklet brought so many nostalgia moments of playing video games as a wee lad. Definitely one the most memorable game of the year for me.

[@Olivman7]

Watching the intro, I thought you were going to talk about Teardown. The game really scratches that speedrunning itch, end you end up spending two hours thinking "okay, if I stack this bit of rubber on that car, I can directly jump on the rooftop and get to this objective 0.8s faster and complete the map!"

[@mothersbasement]

You should try a 2021 indie platformer called Super Sami Roll. It’s got a similarly addictive replay loop

[@Clepston]

The subtitles were so good that I was able to watch the entire video without the sound on while waiting for my shift to end. Not many KZbin videos have that level of detail- thanks!

[@modestestmouse4820]

I think for me the soundtrack played a big part in replaying levels too. It just felt so good to listen to the soundtrack in the game world that I really didn’t mind sinking in extra time in each level just to keep listening

[@guitubagrips9719]

They could have never made a better soundtrack for the game. It is peak

[@blakeapher2178]

You've crushed this year and have really encouraged me to try and design. Saving up to buy a computer but keep the great content coming! Happy New Year, Mark!

[@jjkthebest]

oh man that puzzle game in the honourable mentions sounds amazing

[@MondSemmel]

The dev somehow published two puzzle games on Steam this year (Patrick's Parabox and Linelith), both with a 99% positive rating despite 1700 and 300 reviews respectively. It's insane.

[@bartholomewjenkins164]

It is. I played it on release, and it has maybe the best difficulty curve of any puzzle game I’ve ever played. I never got stuck for long, but I also never felt pandered to. The game does a great job of making you feel smart. It’s just delightful.

[@iestynne]

Patrick's Parabox is one of my favourite puzzle games of all time, simply a delight from beginning to end!

[@ScratchGenius]

bruh the entire intro i was thinking it was certainly teardown lol especially the "to break the game into a million pieces" got me exited (0:40) this neon white game seems cool though

[@pixelsurfergames]

8:49 So cool that you've mentioned Signalis. I've studied with the devs at the same university in Germany and played a first prototype back in 2016 on a game jam. Amazing how much effort they've put in the development.

[@CreativeSteve69]

I bought this game for my switch few weeks back. Haven't gotten time yet to actually play it due to playing a game already. Thanks for showcasing this game to us Mark. I love both platformers and card games. I love how the designer combined the two genres together for a unique take. Can't wait to play this soon. I also would love to thank you Mark for starting on your own GameDev journey this year. It has motivated me to not give up on mine as I'm learning python for my game. :)

[@Shade2800]

Probably in my Top 10 games I played this year! Maybe even 5. Always appreciate a game that makes movement fun.

[@chinbag]

How did you comment this fast?

[@kizuati]

@@chinbag Early Access probably

[@Sorry-Not-Sorry-K38]

wow.

[@Shade2800]

@@kizuati Yep.

[@askapaskrn]

You totally sold me on this game, I've seen it already but the way the levels and medals work sounds really fun and accessible. I played Parabox and Citizen Sleeper and they're fantastic, so glad you were able to play them too and I hope more people will play them after watching this!

[@jk-pc1iv]

As soon as you mentioned „speedrun“ I knew what it was going to be 😃

[@Joseju]

So glad to see you covering this game. It's a work of genius.

[@tigergaj]

Had no clue that neon white was made by Ben Esposito! Excellent news

[@THExRISER]

Ooh, looked GMTK just in time. Happy new year Mark!

[@munkholt]

Thanks!

[@firefly5247]

YES!!!! Neon White is probably the happiest I've been gaming, not just in 2022, but in years. I love speedruns, and Neon White nails that feeling where a speedrunner at GDQ does something incredibly technical and then says, "That saved 0.3 seconds." The first time I learned about red medals was completely on accident and it's going down in my personal list of gaming's best moments.

[@martinbansey719]

Trials Fusion has a similar mentality in my opinion: short levels, precise controls, medals that keep you coming back to shave off parts of seconds and optimum lines. At the harder difficulties that does switch from finishing quickly to just finishing but it feels as if there are similarities.

[@Andyman620]

Glad to see hyperbolica get an honorable mention. Definitely the most innovative I’ve played this year

[@beybladetunada5697]

I can't stop comparing this game to Trackmania, I mean they are very different in almost everything but both games are made for speedrunning and time-attack. Cool to see this style of game being represented more

[@pessimisticdiabetic717]

I absolutely love machine girl’s ost for neon white

[@StepBaum]

Great visuals, amazing subtle comedy and love the way you explain. Thanks for another great video, always love watching these :)

[@wiley-e-coyote]

Exactly one year after this video was realeased, I finally started Neon White, and you basically explained everything great about it so far. I will not move on until I get at least top 100k. I'm always trying to beat myself. The levels are quick but not overly frustrating. Movement is fun and experimental since every gun gives us a different movement option that is fun to move around with. Though I think the best part is that there is zero load time when it comes to restarting a level. It gives little time to frustrate you because it's an easy to restart to try a new idea or try to perfect a manuver. I'm currently trying to get timeling down with bomb jumps on water, but I'm usually to early with jumping so I mess up a lot, but it's not too bad because there is no penalty for failures.

[@adityaanuragi6916]

After 1st run : unlocks friendly scoreboard and gold, silver and bronze criteria and puts a timer in the game from now on for that lvl After 2nd run : race against ghost everytime from now on After gold : lvl hint revealing a faster route After ace : global scoreboard After parrying enemies : red medal

[@ajguevara6961]

I've just heard the word speedrun, I haven't finished the video, but my guess is Mark awarded Neon White as the most innovative game of this year.

[@hyrumtaylor3581]

When I first saw the thumbnail, Neon White was my first thought.

[@heysamesam]

The moment 4-2 glitch appeared on the screen I knew it was Neon White!

[@Cynt3r]

I’m so glad you picked this, I mentioned it when you asked on Twitter. Been having a blast with it on Switch, just played it an hour ago in fact! So much fun, ”just one more go”

[@Nakabozu]

Really surprised that Tunic didn't win, but Neon White is a marvel of gaming so I'm not totally disappointed. It's crazy how they took an FPS and a Racing game, mashed them together, and wound up with something so addictive and replayable.

[@SBFSachiel]

No mention of "The Case Of The Golden Idol" surprised me.

[@Maetschll]

Congratulations on all the things done this year! your content is amazing

[@Krutonman]

For some reason KZbin stopped showing me your videos so commenting to keep engagement up

[@monsieur_kerki4464]

Aaaaaand... So I'm a patron now I guess. ^^ Learned so much from you about the last years and got so many interesting recommendations and different perspectives on gaming. Absolutely worth it and I'm excited to see what's yet to come. Merry Christmas to you and all the rest of the community. :)

[@GMTK]

Awesome, thank you!

[@JulianBliss]

I always play whichever game you give this award to, so this year I set out to try to play the most innovative games before hand. I was pretty sure I had the choices narrowed down to Patrick's Parabox or Hyper Demon or Hyperbolica, but Neon White wasn't out of my purview.

[@josephchambers4509]

I was sure tunic was gunna be this years game :D Loved the vid

[@NanoMan737400]

The thrill of getting ever faster and reaching for at least gold reminded me a lot of my old days in Trackmania. This is the first time I'm actually interested in playing this game, thanks Mark!

[@este_marco]

and they even stole the green medal from trackmania lmao

[@htm4106]

Probably the reason I love racing games so much. For me it's about getting really good at one specific track. Finding the right setup and figuring out the best racing lines reliably sends me on an enjoyable gameplay loop

[@Vespoid]

what a great year for you Mark!

[@CaptBighead]

"I've always been interested in 'speedrunning'..." Me, who's been quietly crying about Neon White getting a raw deal from the Besties and the Game Awards: "EFF YEAH!"

[@Calloflunacy]

Yes Tunic! glad that made the honorable mentions list, that would have been my pick for the year.

[@AdriBlt]

Thanks Mark for another awesome year! I will definetely check Neon White. Happy end of year and keep on for years to come.

[@Leftistattheparty]

Happy New Year and thanks again for all the great videos you make.

Thank you for another great year of content, Mark!

[@Wormopera]

I had the same feeling with ultra kill, because there's a secret that you only can open by perfecting all missions in the first act Which needs you to be fast and effective Also you need to kill almost everything.

[@Refue]

this was such a good game; steam randomly recommended it to me and i do not regret one minute spent on this game. learning the movement was so fun

[@frenchertoast]

Thanks for making my day a little better!

[@EliasSpacer]

Neon White was an amazing surprise for me. I don't tend to like first person games, platformers, or speed running focused titles. Yet the aesthetic, music, style, even the dialogue, interested me. So I picked it up on my Switch after playing a few levels on my brother's copy... Now, nearly 70 hours later, I got every red medal in the game, and am improving my times steadily each time I go back to the beginning to do it all again. I even cracked the top 30 of the global leaderboards, yet I'm craving more and am gunning for the top 20. This game did something awesome, it's just the right mix of everything that nailed a fun, addicting game that I happily consider my GOTY for 2022. I love it dearly!

[@JackVice]

Holy cow I've been watching since the snake pass vid... has it really been that long? Keep it up fam, its good stuff!

[@nobodywashere3123]

I'm actually so happy u picked this game. It's story is super generic and the jokes are hit or miss but by God that GAMEPLAY THO it's literally if u made time trial modes a core game mechanic and it feels soo fucking good when u hit them ace tokens. God this game blew me away.

[@Blazik3n99]

The dialog was terrible but I didn't think the story was generic. Is it an anime trope or something?

[@nobodywashere3123]

@@Blazik3n99 death game stuff is just super huge in asian cinema. Plus I read a ton of hunger games esk books growing up. Not saying it's bad cause of it. But I was never really surprised by the story and at certain points, I felt like I was mind reading the writers. Which, imo. Isn't a good thing, seeing that I'm a shit writer lol.

[@Evitrea]

Suggesting title update: "How NEON WHITE speedruns speedrun"

[@Evitrea]

Did I actually got chosen or bunch of people said the same thing

[@Evitrea]

Maybe I just guessed the original planned title huh

[@kunairuto]

Looking forward to another year, Mark!

[@VideoFeverShow]

That's not a simulation of speedrunning. That's just speedrunning. That's all there is to it. You're a speedrunner.

[@chadjones1266]

Just joined on Patreon. Can't believe it took me this long. Keep it up

[@julienavenet5988]

Big year ! Wonderful content, love this channel

[@GMTK]

Much appreciated!

[@lalalandd123]

i think i have diamond medals in every single story mission, and had NO idea about the red medals lmao

[@IndigoWraithe]

Yay! 8:47 Love seeing Signalis getting a bit of a call out. What an incredible, classic survival horror game. Anyone who loves old school Resident Evil or Silent Hill should give that game a go. One of the best games of 2022 for sure.

[@Chizypuff]

I played through this very recently, always getting the Ace time before moving on. After 100%'ing the game, I went back and cleared the Developer times on each level. Now I'm working through the 2nd hell rush, clearing all levels in a row without dying. This game makes you feel fast and I love it

[@mad_s6035]

Once again - nice video! Would love to see a video essay where you talk about the sense of freedom in games or the illusion of freedom. The thing openworld games seeks to accomplish. In Fallout 3 for example - you really get the feeling that you are the one discovering megathon, even though we all did it.

[@turboblastrodent3357]

The smooth controls surprised me more than anything in this. The insight system carrying the whole concept or the existence mikey still surprise me less than the how maniabillity, skills and LD make it so that you never get screwed by not knowing where you really are in space, unlike most FPS.

[@imraanakollo-arenz1449]

Another way that Neon White encourages replayability is the fact that getting enough gold medals allows you to progress through the game. It acts like a skill check of sorts for the player

[@cadenhenderson4322]

Super Mario Maker 2 captures the speedrunning feeling pretty well with its "Ninji" speedruns. Basically, Nintendo releases a level and for ~2 weeks, players get to race and optimize on it while competing on a global leaderboard. Surveying the level, developing your own routes, and then searching what routes and tricks the best streamers and KZbinrs uses is really fun and captures the fun speedrunning feeling. Plus, the fact that the winners are decided and medals are given out after ~2 weeks makes it much more approachable unlike games like SM64 where runners have been optimizing for years.

[@llenastro5986]

really glad you mentions patrick's parabox at the end

[@westhefitting4105]

Citizen Sleeper is so good. Not only does it take bad part of social interactions in dnd and turn it into something fun engaging, but the art direction is insane and the story is compelling.

[@askapaskrn]

I was so immersed in the game world of citizen sleeper, I couldn't put it down until I finished. Will definitely play it again sometime

[@Kumabokun47]

I hope one day you'll do a video about death stranding , as it is a unique take on open world games and it has got a lot of room to discuss its design aspects

[@gabilegameur]

3:12 it's crazy how Danganronpa has this power where whether you like it or not, it makes you freak out for the tiniest appearance

[@Xhadp]

A couple of thoughts after watching this short documentary covering the video. How easy is it to "reset" after each level, failure or not? When having a short >5 minute per level basis, the ability to reset is a very important feature towards speedrunning. It is why certain games get hated a lot or even why intro cutscenes are sometimes removed altogether in some situations. The standout one in this area is Super Mario Maker where manually resetting is more efficient than automatic letting it rest which still saps away your time at doing nothing. Leaderboards is generally not a thing that you want to base a game around. Having games be around a competitive scene can actually hurt the game's reputation. How "unique" are the levels? Are there reasons why a person might choose to selectively run only one level over the rest? This reasoning pushes someone to only run one game / level over many others even if they know they aren't the best of the best or knowing RNG is in the way. How much actual content and variety is there? It seems like you aren't showing all of it off in this video but at the same time it seems very bland based on what its showing off. Glad to see Patrick's Parabox getting an honorable mention! Haven't touched that game personally but man watching Aliensrock play it was a joy to watch how the game unfold itself.

[@Dok179]

Reset is one button press, takes about 2 seconds The game's marketing was literally "from freaks, to freaks". I don't think they're concerned about appealing to the masses. Besides, it's a game about speedrunning. Speedruns and leaderboards go hand in hand. Each level is unique, most of them have a specific theme or type of challenge the level is focused around. That said, there is not a lot of mechanics and the levels are short, so they're not drastically different. There is ~100 levels and 3 bosses. Visual variety was good enough for me. Hope that cover everything.

[@FireallyXTheories]

Tunic is also a game I couldn't resist playing again. Knowledge as a progression always made me think "If I knew this then, what could I do?" It's one of 3 games I've ever 100%'d. Glad to hear it got an honorable mention!

[@C4puch]

I saw the thumbnail and was able to recognize the cover of Neon White instantly.

[@jan_wh1tey]

im gonna be honest, many of the pros you mentioned in the video were cons to me. the cards + the enemies being meticulously laid out made it super mindless to play. never did I have to think about where to go, what card to use, or if I should save the card. every obsticle was overcome by pressing m2. you dont even need to look at what card you're about to use. they are laid out is such a way so that you will, by design, have the perfect card for the moment. "each and every level has a secret shortcut that can be exploited to get an even better time" the shortcuts did not feel like shortcuts because of the fact that a)they are told to you and b) there is only 1 really obvious shortcut. they end up not being "secret shortcuts", just an alternate path. I like finding shortcuts in videogames, but the enjoyment comes from finding something degenerate that the dev never intended. I tried finding other, unintended shortcuts, but the levels are designed in such a way that they are really rare and not that interesting. there are other things you didnt mention that irked me too. for example, when you rocket jump, you always get pushed up. in other games where rocket jumping is a product of the game engine, and not meticulously designed, you are pushed in a direction based on where the explosion is, reletive to you. this causes neon whites rocket jumping to be eaiser (you dont have to worry about small mistakes in the explosion position sending you in a wrong direction) but also alot less enjoyable for someone who wants to put alot of time and get really good. I agree with you. the game is good for people that want the feel of speedrunning, but dont want the time commitment. for me personally, as someone that wants the super difficult games that require lots of practice, I did not enjoy the number of edges that had to be sanded down to reach that goal. ok, now that ive gotten that out of my system, here are some things I agree are really good about the game. the movement is great. the visuals are great. the presents you have to get to are really fun. that was the one time where it felt like I had to really problem solve. the presents were sometimes placed in spots where you almost have to OOB to get them. that's the kinda shit i love.

[@lukehughes6943]

Quite possibly my actual all time favourite game. It's definitely top 5, it just feels so perfect to play, if you can ignore the characters and story.

[@undyla-chan1675]

Whatttt? But the characters are super charming imo

[@lukehughes6943]

@@undyla-chan1675 I'll take your word for it, I have the WR for skipping through every dialogue. A bright red stain on an otherwise perfect game imo, but people can enjoy whatever they enjoy, as long as I can skip it.

[@collin6885]

You got me wanting to play again, I only got through half the game but waS getting red medals on every stage , loved it to much I burned my out after 20ish hours. Thanks! Its a wonderful game for people who love the idea of speedruning. Have to say as well movement is so consistent which meant a lot to me, its easy to repeat a movement in comparison to many other games, no unintuitive momentum conservation like how I felt with ghost runner.

[@estilara]

its really a delight watching your videos! thankss

[@simonplumaj5542]

Feels like a crime not to mention Sonic Frontiers here. The levels in that game have the same effect of encouraing the "speedrun mentality" to get the S rank in each stage. You need lots of practice and micro-optimization, but it all comes together quickly.

[@ki7roy]

YES!!!! I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH FOR THIS REASON, IT MADE ME BECOME A SPEEDRUNNER WHEN I HAD BEEN INTERESTED IN SPEEDRUNNING FOR SO LONG, THANKS FOR MAKING THIS VID ABT IT

[@Casperr]

Have you tried Super Lovely Planet?

[@sahilrwt29]

Loved your leader board. Let's Pretend I Have Steam Friends All are great bunch of people.

[@jlnrdeep]

Mentions Toonami anime and shows a Canadian TV program 😂, "Reboot" is a lost forgoten gem of canadian TV stations

[@theneongoomba]

I'm glad to see games like Baba Is You and Patrick's Parabox getting some recognition; thinky puzzle games have been getting better with more thoughtful design, and I'm excited that they're starting to gain traction.

[@antont4974]

Neon White is a great gateway to speedruning, levels and gameplay are just perfectly curated to get you into the flow

[@mikina993]

I'm kind of surprised I don't see Immortality at least mentioned here. For me, it was the most innovative game design I've seen this year - I've never seen a game where a hidden game-mechanic is the plot twist, and once you stumble upon it the tone of the game immediately changes. Discovering it was one of the best aha moment this year, and my favourite piece of game design. Especially since it was always there. I've also really liked how they end the game before you've seen all of the clips - watching all of the scenes from 3 movies at once and in random order was suprisingly interresting experience, and I'm glad I did not try to continue after the credits roll and 100%, since I think the experience is a lot more memorable, though-provoking and interresting when you don't have the closure - which I think was also a deliberate design choice.