Tales of the Neon Sea explained

Tales of the Neon Sea
Developer:Palm Pioneer, YiTi Games
Publisher:Zodiac Interactive, Boke Technology Co., Ltd, Thermite Games
Engine:Unity
Platforms:Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4
Genre:Adventure, Puzzle
Modes:Single-player

Tales of the Neon Sea is an adventure video game developed by Chinese studio Palm Pioneer. It is a retro-styled pixel-art game in a cyberpunk setting.

Gameplay

The goal of Tales of the Neon Sea is to walk around in search of clues and solve a series of puzzles and brain teasers.

Players assume the role of Rex, a hard-boiled detective, to investigate a case. The protagonist is forced to use mechanical prosthetics due to injuries. He can use electronic eyes to scan objects and analyze corpses during investigation.

In some scenes, players will control the protagonist's assistant, William the black cat, to enter areas inaccessible to Rex to explore or collect items.

Plot

Set in a neo-noir metropolis where humans and robots contend with escalating tensions and mutual distrust, the storyline follows Rex, formerly a veteran police detective accepting random jobs as a private investigator to make ends meet.[1]

Development

The game was successfully crowd-funded through Kickstarter in 2018.

Reception

Upon release, Tales of the Neon Sea received mixed reviews by users and critics.

On review aggregate OpenCritic, Tales of the Neon Sea had an average 61 out of 100 review score with 13% approval rating based on 8 reviews. The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Accolades

In 2018, Tales of the Neon Sea won the award for "Excellence in Visual Art", and was nominated for "Excellence in Narrative" and "Best Game Grand Prize" at IndiePlay China Independent Game Competition.[2] [3] The game won the awards for "Most Innovative Game" and "Best Game Design" from Indie Prize at Casual Connect Asia 2018.[4] In 2019, the game was nominated for "Visual Excellence" award at BitSummit.[5]

Notes and References

  1. https://kotaku.com/a-throwback-detective-adventure-game-set-in-a-cyberpunk-1834507839 A Throwback Detective Adventure Game Set In A Cyberpunk Future
  2. https://www.savingcontent.com/2019/03/14/tales-of-the-neon-sea-a-pixel-art-cyberpunk-adventure-is-set-to-release-april-30th-on-steam/ Tales of the Neon Sea, a pixel-art cyberpunk adventure is set to release April 30th on Steam
  3. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/828740/view/4033492738911863744 Tales of the Neon Sea takes the “Excellence in Visual Art” award at indiePlay 2018
  4. https://www.wwgdb.com/blog/post/indie_prize_china_winners_revealed_at_casual_connect_asia_2018 Indie Prize China Winners Revealed at Casual Connect Asia 2018
  5. https://bitsummit.org/en/here-are-the-bitsummit-7-spirits-award-nominees/ Announcing the BitSummit 7 Spirits Award Nominations