Neon Cipher is a blend of VR classic Moss and PlayStation relics like Intelligent Qube and Echochrome, offering a brain-teasing puzzle-platformer experience.
The game follows a hacker who is recruited by Captain S. Ren to hack XE_Corp's digital archive, featuring light plot elements to set the tone of the game world.
With simple and effective mechanics, players navigate through fifty puzzle stages to collect keys, using analog sticks and buttons for control in a third-person perspective.
Players manipulate objects and platforms in the game space using hands-on controls, with blue movable platforms and automated red platforms adding complexity to the puzzles.
As the game progresses, puzzles become more challenging with interactive puzzle objects and enemy encounters that require strategy to evade or counterattack.
The game's controls are tight and platforming is satisfying, offering an immersive gameplay experience without cumbersome mechanics or fall damage.
Combat in Neon Cipher involves simple melee attacks and stunning enemies, although combat mechanics lack complexity and may not be engaging for all players.
The game's puzzles could be more challenging, and the combat could be more demanding, but overall, the gameplay can be meditative and calm.
Neon Cipher offers a main campaign of fifty puzzles and a level creator for custom mazes, with potential future updates to allow for sharing custom maps.
As a debut from developer eXomorph Games, Neon Cipher is an enjoyable puzzle-platformer that may not match the depth of some titles but showcases interesting gameplay ideas.