Gameplay

• Lived up to the hype, it actually is that good
• Had a very smooth difficulty curve, the game teaches the player brilliantly. its incredible how tractable and readable the final levels are
• Levels are really designed as puzzles, at least from the lens of Mark Brown's concept of "The Catch" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjC6fa_YBg&t=157s). In this case, the extremely readable and clear level design demonstrates a straightforward path through the level, and "the catch" is that the gold/ace medal demands a time that can't be achieved with that path
• Getting ace medals is more about finding one or two good shortcuts than technical execution, i wouldn't have minded if the game asked a little more out of me for ace medals
• the secret "red medals" are a very nice feature though and the few I've gotten were really tough, i like that a lot (see attached video)
• searching for hidden items in the later levels starting getting tedious once the levels became large and played with verticality
• other than the last point this is right up there with base game celeste for some of the most "perfect" level design i have ever seen. but i am psychopath and still wished it was harder

Narrative

• the game is a pastiche of early 2000's anime slop, beach episode and all
• VERY horny
• while the premise is compelling, the Bullshit Anime Dialogue takes away from the tension that the premise could have had (is this intentional? there is a surprising amount of talent in the writing room (one of the writers wrote We Know the Devil???????, the other writer is a writer director and storyboarder with credits on Fiona & Cake, Infinity Train, and Ok KO)
• despite the amount of lore the worldbuilding is completely nonsensical (is this intentional?)
• i did enjoy Red and White's flirty dialogue in the second half of the game, they have good chemistry
• the second half of the game is about the need for forgiveness, not because the offending party deserves it, but because forgiveness can be freeing for the forgiver
• i didn't hate the story but i didn't like it either. won't surprise if in the next few years we start getting "The Story of Neon White is GOOD actually" video essays