Today we'll take a closer look at Neon District - the (self-proclaimed) cyberpunk RPG of the milennium - a bold and ambitious claim, yet it may be in a better position to claim that title than another ill-fated cyberpunk game. It certainly has a roadmap and vision to works towards that ambitious goal - Version 2.0 seems quite packed full of new features. This will focus more on the current game design and mechanics, community, and anything unique to the game rather than profitability/graphics/etc. No score will be awarded in this review, as distilling it down to a number is a disservice to the game and can't be used to adequately compare games in this series of posts given the diversity.
The views expressed in this review article are solely based on independent observations and research conducted by the author. The author has not received any sponsorship or payment from Neon District in exchange for writing this article, and the opinions formed are independent of any external influence. Nothing contained within this article should be considered financial or investment advice, please do your own due diligence and research. An attempt is made to have accurate information included, but as projects are updated, this is all subject to change and may not reflect the current state of a project if enough time has passed.
Concept
Neon District aims to be a cyberpunk role playing experience with a focus on building a rich world full of missions and stories. The current state of the game offers a vertical slice of the world through the lens of pizza delivery in its Neon Pizza mode. Disguised as timed events, it shows a bit of the dangerous world of the game, where even pizza deliveries could be hijacked by gangs. Much like Rising Star, there's a layer of strategy involved with the timed delivery missions with added layers of risk vs reward and PvP. The roadmap includes a full campaign mode which isn't available yet, but the ability to collect and level characters and weapons is integrated into the current version.
Platform & Tech
Neon District is playable via its website and mints items and characters as NFTs on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain. The in-game token, Neon, is off-chain and non-tradeable. Characters and weapons are tradeable through in-game transfers or via marketplaces such as OpenSea and LootEx. Mobile play is possible given the game is browser based, though is not optimized for mobile.
Entrypoint & Self Sustainability
Neon District can be played for free with no minimum purchase required. Neon is earned through gameplay, though can be purchased separately through the game's interface. In game gear boxes, juice (needed to level characters), and parts (needed to level gear) are all purchased in game using neon - creating a loop where a player can reasonably earn and level items through gameplay alone.
Tokens
There's no specific token for Neon District - the in game currency Neon is not tradeable on chain.
Game Loop
Given the current state of Neon District, the game loop only reflects the Neon Pizza mode, but we can distill a sense of the larger world from it. In the Neon Pizza mode, a player first assembles a team of characters to carry out the delivery shift. This team can consist of anywhere between 1 to 4 characters, each with their own equipment load out. Depending on the difficulty level of the delivery shift, the player may be able to complete the shift without any interference on Tier 1 shifts, or be at risk of ambushes in Tier 2. With the additional risk, Tier 2 deliveries do offer better rewards, but require more attention to prevent losing too much Neon in an ambush.
After completing multiple deliveries, Neon can be exchanged for juice to level a character, parts to level equipment, a lootbox filled with equipment, or a new character. This part of the game resembles more of a traditional RPG experience with attributes changing as the characters and equipment are leveled up.
What is interesting though is how leveling up changes an item/character. In both cases, the player is presented with a set of attribute changes to bring to the next level. Two items with the same name and starting attributes could be leveled with vastly different stats due to this system. It's a unique mechanic as higher rarity items are pre-leveled, but a lower rarity item has the potential to better designed for a specific purpose if leveled as such.
The equipment and characters play a role in the battles in Neon District, very much similar to traditional turn based RPG battles. Currently these are available in the form of private or practice matches, but also as "contracts" and "ambushes" connected to the delivery mode. Players can opt to ambush a delivery team, or post a contract after being ambushed which another player can pick up to avenge the player who was ambushed.
There is an excellent and lengthy "How to Play" Guide available which goes more in-depth on the current mechanics. Given the level of depth and world building that has been applied to "pizza deliveries", it's obvious there are much bigger stories planned that will leverage and build upon the battle system.
For the Four Players
The "Four Types of Players" comes from Richard Bartle's Taxonomy of Players and helps distill potential points interest for particular player preferences (an online questionnaire for approximating a player's type is available here. At a high level, it evaluates players as Explorers, Achievers, Killers, and Socializers depending on their preferred activities.
In its current state, there may not be too much for Explorers to conquer in Neon District, given there's not much of a change in deliveries between Tier 1 and 2 aside from the PvP aspect. Once more of the world is shown, that could easily change. Players identifying as killers and socializers have ample opportunities due to the contracts and ambushes in Tier 2, as well as the fairly active Discord community. Achievers will often find themselves with a truly blank slate when it comes to hunting for the perfect gear for a build given the leveling system - duplicate items may be much more welcome here than other games given the potential for divergent attributes. Additionally, there are achievements in game, which give it that extra motivator to chase after.
Dark Patterns
A "dark pattern" is an aspect of a game that can potentially have a negative impact on the player, but is part of the core design of the game. These are not necessarily marks against the game, but I think it's important to call them out given the landscape of Play to Earn gaming.
Neon Pizza deliveries are timed events, which as a whole shift, typically last around 7-9 hours. At Tier 1, it's not terrible as a player can check in when able, and there's not much of an optimization strategy involved. With the ambushes at Tier 2, banking pay as often as possible is a method of safeguarding the rate of Neon earned. The alternative is to build a team that can withstand multiple ambushes, which could be difficult/time consuming for players. Within a given shift, there are approximately 7-9 deliveries, and the Neon earned can be banked after completing each one. Timed events are quite common in block chain and play to earn games, though in Neon District, the delivery times are random - making it hard to predict when a check in is needed to bank Neon in Tier 2 deliveries. This randomized element can make it harder to time interactions compared to other games.
Given the roadmap involves a campaign mode, the threat of PvP ambushes may be removed if the player choose to engage with the story mode instead and may be less randomized in terms of duration (speculation at this point).
Community
As mentioned a bit further up, there's an active Discord community for the game (and other Blockade Games projects). Neon District items are available on multiple marketplaces such as Lootex and OpenSea. In the official Q3 update, there are over 50k registered and unique users, with 21k of those being registered in the last month alone - that's a huge growth rate for the game in its current state. Undoubtedly some of these players are trying to start early with what's been promised is on the way.
Final Thoughts
With only the pizza delivery mode being available in Neon District, there's not much of a world to freely explore. Mechanically, the battle and gear system being integrated into pizza deliveries gives a glimpse of the larger game. With a full campaign mode, PvP arena, and an immersive world planned, there's much to look forward too. What's available now shows creativity and a surprising amount of world building around a simple pizza delivery mechanic. The leveling system is really a unique point which helps make gear feel useful even if it's not a legendary item - sometimes the potential of the item can be much greater. Much like a good pizza, it's hard to wait for the rest of this to come out of the oven.
Thanks for reading, and if you enjoy talking Neon District, Splinterlands, other Hive based games like Rising Star, or blockchain gaming in general, consider joining the Crypto Gaming Guild on Discord.