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Hey there!

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Every year, I dedicate my last video to the
most innovative game from the last 12 months.

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In the past I've talked about time-travelling
detective games, brain-busting block pushers,

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and time-looping archeological adventures.

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So, what should I pick for 2022?

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Well.

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I've always been interested in speed-running.

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That's the practice of taking a game, and
trying to finish it in the fastest way humanly

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possible.

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This requires you to play with impeccable
skill.

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To understand every facet of the game's underlying
design.

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To research movement tech.

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To exploit skips, shortcuts, and sequence
breaking.

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And, sometimes, to break the game into a billion
pieces.

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It's a fun part of gaming culture - from annual
conventions like Awesome Games Done Quick,

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to YouTube chronicles like Summoning Salt.

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But, let's be honest: I'm never going to do
it.

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This requires an unbelievable time commitment
- a top Ocarina of Time runner says he spent

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more than 4,500 hours on the game.

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I could spend that time doing much better
things, like watching the Shrek the Halls

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Christmas special 9,000 times.

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So... what if you made a game that simulated
the feeling of being a speedrunner.

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That gave you the chance to learn a move set,
practice running over and over again, find

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skips and shortcuts, and slowly get better.

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But without the thousand hour commitment?

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Well, that would be Neon White.

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♫ Upbeat Music ♫

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So, at it's most basic, this is a first-person
platforming game.

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In each level you pick up these carefully
placed weapon cards - they can be used to

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shoot down demons.

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Or they can be discarded to unleash a special
move, borrowed from other platforming games

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- like a double jump, forward dash, rocket
jump, hookshot, or ground pound.

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And so you must race through each level, shooting
demons, discarding cards, and moving with

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speed and skill.

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Now, you could finish each level, move on,
fast forward through the cringe dialogue,

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and roll credits in a few hours.

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But, that's not really the point.

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“If you just play to win each level without
going back to optimise your time, you’re

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not really playing Neon White,” says creator
Ben Esposito.

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The game initially began as a first person
shooter mixed with a deck builder.

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You'd assemble a deck of cards, and then get
dealt random weapons and powers in the middle

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of a fight.

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Which... kinda sucked.

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But when Ben changed the prototype to have
a breadcrumb trail of hand-picked cards, his

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friends quickly started running through the
levels as quickly as possible, trading back

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and forth their best times.

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Which led to Neon White as we now know it.

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It's a big departure from his previous game
- the noodley hole 'em up Donut County, which

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was designed to appeal to as many people as
possible, with its simple gameplay and controls.

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This time, Ben wanted to make a game that
a few people would absolutely love - a strange

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mix of Counterstrike surf maps, 
Toonami anime, Dreamcast aesthetics, Visual Novel

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dialogue and more.

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Anyway, like Ben says - Neon White is most fun
when you play the level, and then try to do

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it again - but faster.

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But during development, this wasn't always
obvious to people and they would blast through

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levels without ever thinking to retry for
a better time.

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So the team developed a system that would
encourage players to optimise.

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It's called Insight - designed, as Ben says,
"to orient people to the true 'fun' of the

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game."

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So when you start a level for the first time
you're given a screen like this.

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Everything's locked.

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So you just play the level.

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You're probably a tad slow, you might make
a few mistakes, you might hesitate - and so

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you get a bronze medal.

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WHITE: "Cleared it".

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This unlocks a leaderboard with your friends'
times, and also shows you how fast you'll

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need to go for a better reward.

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Each level in Neon White is incredibly short.

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A stage might only take 20 or 30 seconds to
finish.

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So... they're always quick enough to encourage
another go.

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So you play again.

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This round, a timer appears on screen.

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You play faster, you're more accurate, you
know how the level's laid out so there's less

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hesitation.

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This time, you get a silver medal...

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WHITE: "I'll take it".

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...and you can now race against your own ghost,
to see how you can do it even better.

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Neon White feels great to play - it has tight,
responsive, and reliable movement mechanics,

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and all the standard forgiveness features,
like coyote time and edge rounding.

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It's just intrinsically fun to play, so replaying
a level never feels like a chore.

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And it's crystal clear that with just a bit
more skill, a bit more accuracy, a bit more

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practice, you could totally do it better.

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So you play again.

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Optimise.

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Improve.

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Do better.

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Get a gold medal!

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How on earth could I have done that any faster?

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WHITE: "Didn't even break a sweat".

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Neon White's visual design and architecture
is intended for clarity and zero ambiguity.

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It's all clean white buildings, with green
plants that point towards where to go, and

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obvious visual affordances like staircases
and archways.

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Plus, the enemies and cards are placed through
the stage like a dotted line from start to

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finish.

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But that easy route is also a red herring.

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Because each and every level has a secret
shortcut that can be exploited to get an even

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better time.

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And that's the reward for a gold medal: a
level hint, which shows you where to break

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from the obvious route to get a faster time.

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So you play again.

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With a little more practice, some problem
solving, and a dollop of skill, you should

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have everything you need to net yourself the
ace medal.

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WHITE: "It's 'cause I'm the best".

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But this finally unlocks the global leaderboards
- and the temptation to go even faster.

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Perhaps you'll keep trying.

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Eke out a few extra seconds.

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Search YouTube for tips - wait, you can parry
bullets in this game to get a speed boost?

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What!

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And if you do that, you just might unlock
a fifth, secret, red medal - for times set

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by Ben himself.

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And so by going through this process, you
get the feeling of being a speedrunner on

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that specific level - but in mere minutes,
or perhaps a few hours.

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Rather than weeks, months, and years.

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You get to feel like an AGDQ superstar.
Without the time commitment.

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Of course - none of this is particularly new.

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Leaderboards have been around since the arcades.

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Player ghosts since ancient racing games.

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And I praised the hidden medals in Assault
Android Cactus for how they reward the best

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players - without demoralising those who can't
make the grade.

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But there's something special about the way
Neon White does it.

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For most games...

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time trials, speed runs, gold medals, and
so on are the exclusive domain of a few elite

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players.

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Something that we mere mortals just watch
on YouTube.

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But that's not the case in Neon White.

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Practically everyone who talks about this
game says the same thing - it's almost impossible

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to move on without, at the very least, a gold
medal.

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Maybe an ace if you're feeling spicy.

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And it's no surprise: the short levels make
replaying easy.

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The tight controls make it fun.

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And the insight system encourages you to do
it, by gradually easing you in from a stumbling

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level finisher, to a slick speedrunning superstar.

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And so that's why I'm picking it as the most
innovative game of 2022.

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WHITE: "Not bad for a dead guy, huh?"

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Some honourable mentions, as always.

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Like 2019's winner, Baba is You, Patrick's
Parabox is a block-shunting Sokoban game that

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soon gets super meta.

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This time, the block you are pushing around...
might just be the level you are playing in

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- creating a recursive nightmare of infinite
possibilities.

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Sounds like it would melt your brain, but
the elegant and considered puzzle design gently

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guides you along a journey of surprising twists
and a-ha moments.

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Citizen sleeper is a micro RPG with an inventive
dice-based mechanic.

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Each morning you'll wake up with a handful
of dice showing random values.

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You can then spend these dots on different
tasks, which forces you consider your priorities

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- which jobs are most important, and which
characters do you want to hang out with most?

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This makes every choice feel more meaningful.

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Vampire Survivors looks like junk and basically
plays itself.

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But this automated twin stick shooter is impossible
to put down.

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By lifting the most compulsive parts of clickers,
RPGs, musou games, and synergistic deck builders,

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this game burrowed its way into my brain until
I forcibly kicked it off my Xbox.

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There was also the Non-Euclidean adventure
Hyperbolica, the goofy rhythm game Trombone

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Champ, and Tunic - the game that hides its
best mysteries in a vintage instruction manual.

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This year had some real gems.

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And if you want to know my ten favourite games
of 2022, then check out GMTK on Patreon - those

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on the video tier can now check out my game
of the year list.

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Patreon is also the number one best way to
support this channel and everything I've been

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doing this year.

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Since January I've made videos on topics like
invisible choices, economies, combing genres,

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and solving problems, and games like Deathloop,
Hitman 3, Rollerdrome, and Elden Ring.

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I've made five dev logs about my magnet game,
an interactive video essay, a huge Unity tutorial,

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minis on God of War and Fortnite, and ran
another monster game jam.

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Thanks to everyone on Patreon who supports
this channel, your kindness means the world

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to me.