Tales of the Neon Sea

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 16
  3. Negative: 2 out of 16

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  1. kantlax
    Jun 9, 2021
    6
    The art is great.
    A great atmosphere of pixel art and cyber punk.
    But I must say that history didn't catch me and I found the gameplay repetitive and I little bit confusing.
    A good option to try if you like pixel art and some puzzles.
  2. Babutto
    Jan 9, 2020
    9
    Pros.:
    - the world you really believe in;
    - characters;
    - CATS!
    - beautiful merge of Chinese and English;
    - story.

    Cons.:
    - several puzzles seem too hard or not clear to comprehend;
    - the game is not complete.

    I really recommend the game to any fan of cyberpunk and pixel art.
  3. Demiurge11
    Apr 14, 2021
    9
    This is a side-scroller point-and-click adventure game that rewards solving puzzles with a dystopian cyberpunk detective story. Note, this game is more about solving puzzles than collecting items. The most similar game I've played is Puzzle Agent.

    The Good: - Really fun, creative, interesting, and varied puzzles! - I enjoyed the story, finding it interesting and original - The story    This is a side-scroller point-and-click adventure game that rewards solving puzzles with a dystopian cyberpunk detective story. Note, this game is more about solving puzzles than collecting items. The most similar game I've played is Puzzle Agent.

    The Good:
    - Really fun, creative, interesting, and varied puzzles!
    - I enjoyed the story, finding it interesting and original
    - The story is a railroad--there is only one way to go with no branches at all. All clues must be found before you can continue to the next stage in the story. I am really bad at detective games, so this actually made the game playable and fun for me! However, you may hate this. YMMV
    - Incredibly cute cats

    The Bad:
    - Certain parts of the game (including the pseudo-tutorial at the very beginning) require quick reflexes. This can be fun, or it can be awful, depending on how fast you are. I find it somewhat out of place in a puzzle game.
    - It can be easy to miss the message that your game saved. I played the game 2 hours at a time, and when coming back later and reloading I frequently ended up having to redo stuff because the game didn't save when I had expected it to.

    The Ugly:
    - There are numerous sexist depictions of women, e.g. every female character has gigantic breasts, there are lots of posters of women in sexualized poses, and one of the NPCs literally says, "it's great to have a young wife"
    - The main character is 38 years old and is often referred to as an old man at the end of his life. Is this a bad joke? Are the developers confused? Middle age starts at 45, and old age at 65.
    - The English translation is pretty good overall, with only a strange turn of phrase here and there. However, toward the end of the game it seems that the translation got rushed and the text becomes somewhat incomprehensible.
    - The NPCs bounce up and down all the time. It's weird.    … Expand
  4. BalazsBozsik
    Apr 9, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is brilliant, the puzzles were exactly the right difficulty and length. The art is beautiful (maxed out what is possible with pixel art, excellent backgrounds), the music is decent. The story was maybe a 8/10, but the rest (e.g. game mechanics) was pretty solid. I think some of the broken elements mentioned in the other reviews were either fixed (played the Epic Store version just now) or you had to interpret the visual cue differently for the QTE. However, there was still one (and just one!) step that was not properly translated to English, with glitchy UI. The pacing was on point. Overall really enjoyed the ride.… Expand
  5. umud_abdulov
    Apr 16, 2021
    10
    If u enjoy cyberpunk and pixel art games, what are you waiting for?! Go and play this masterpiece. Breathtaking storyline, interesting game play, A LOT OF cute cats! What else you need for happiness? Generally this game looks very beautiful, the soundtrack suits the atmosphere very well. The only minus is that the storyline in the end just looks a bit not complete. I would like to hopeIf u enjoy cyberpunk and pixel art games, what are you waiting for?! Go and play this masterpiece. Breathtaking storyline, interesting game play, A LOT OF cute cats! What else you need for happiness? Generally this game looks very beautiful, the soundtrack suits the atmosphere very well. The only minus is that the storyline in the end just looks a bit not complete. I would like to hope there will be continuation.… Expand
  6. Aleosha
    Jan 17, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'll start with the bad things first - the fight with robot in Chapter 3 is broken, unless you're using gamepad, there's no way to complete it from a keyboard now. And the game itself ends in a cliffhanger, never to be finished, it seems.

    Other than that, the game is one of the best experiences I had in a long time, and it's a really pity no one played it, while everybody played horrible titles such as Phoenix Wright (aka The Ghost Did It!) and "Professor Layton Gimme A Clue Cuz Your Puzzles Dunt Make Sense".

    Pixel art is absolutely fantastic, it has lots and lots of cultural references to 80's and 90's (Blade Runner, Angel's Heart, Godfather, Short Circuit, and that's just a few), and good quality of puzzles - not too easy, not too hard.    … Expand
  7. Burgerface
    Feb 24, 2022
    10
    The atmosphere built within this pixelated world is stunning! Absolutely no loading times and grasping story make you play nonstop. For roughly 8 hours...
    After that you'll never return to the game, but it might just become a special, small memory in your head.
  8. viniciusiank
    Aug 2, 2022
    7
    It's a beautiful game for those who are fans of cyberpunk, pixel art or cats (surprisingly anticipating Stray). It's clearly inspired in Blade Runner and such cyberpunk influence, it has a crime/mistery story told trough dialogs and puzzles. It's decently immersive, I caught myself hooked by the game, if it caugth you attention, give it a try!

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. Adventure Gamers
    Sep 23, 2020
    40
    A positive late-game change in design ethos and cute atmospheric graphics can’t save Tales of the Neon Sea from a lack of story coherency, tedious gameplay, and poor writing.
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  2. PLAY! Zine
    Jul 8, 2019
    85
    Tales of the Neon Sea doesn’t take any risks with its narrative, but presents a beautiful story and even more beautiful world to the player. Immersive cyberpunk surroundings and interesting puzzles can be captivating, even in the light of the unfinished story that should be continued in a few months.
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  3. Games.cz
    Jun 24, 2019
    60
    This is not a Chinese Blade Runner. You might be forgiven for thinking so after the brilliant beginning, but it goes downhill rapidly, folding under the weight of boredom and frustration. Regardless, fans of cyberpunk and absurd humor might find something to like here.
    Read full review
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