Neon On!

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Neon On! is a family-friendly Puzzle game released on mobile devices in 2020 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2024. This game has players moving and plugging in power cables, with the goal of powering up blocks with the appropriate-color power source.

The presentation here is simple but good, using plain but decent-looking 3D visuals for the cables and various objects in an otherwise featureless void, backed by rhythmic electronica music that fits the game’s theme and relaxed pace very well. My one complaint about the presentation ties into this game’s physics system – the cables often flail wildly out of control in ways that look odd compared to the rest of the game.

For the gameplay itself, Neon On! starts fairly simple, just having players match cords to plugs, ensuring that the right color reaches the right destination based on the color of the outlet. However, soon enough you’ll be paying attention to male and female plug types, using Y-shaped cords to combine colors or split them to two destinations, plugging cords into extension cords to get them to reach, being mindful of obstacles, dealing with moving plugs… this game manages to find a good variety of obstacles given its simple premise, keeping things interesting.

As for complaints, my main issue is with how finicky the cords themselves are, often jerking around in unpredictable ways, tugging themselves out of sockets, or not moving to the socket you want them to go to. It’s irritating that these issues keep popping up in what is otherwise a relaxed and enjoyable game, and it really interferes with what could have been an excellent chill mood.

However, I can’t complain too much, given that this is a $5 game. And Neon On! does a good enough job giving players a relaxed Puzzle experience that fans of the genre should find it to their liking. It absolutely could have done with a bit more testing to smooth out the game’s issues, but as-is it’s still worth checking out.

tl;dr – Neon On! is a family-friendly Puzzle game where players connect cords to plugs to try to get the right color power from each outlet to its destination(s). The core gameplay here is well-designed and given a great amount of variety with different issues you’ll encounter, and the game overall has a great relaxed presentation, though issues with the game’s at-times volatile physics interfere with that chill vibe somewhat. Still, even with these issues, the $5 price tag makes this game an easy pick-up for Puzzle fans.

Grade: B-

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