Back when I was looking back at some of the review scores I’ve given out, I mentioned how rare it is for games to receive a Followup Article after being reviewed. It’s just not a good use of time for a variety of reasons. Consider it a sign of respect, then, that this is the third followup article I’ve written about Neurodeck after heavily criticizing its release state. The amount of work that’s been put into this thing is nothing short of extraordinary. Nearly every criticism I had when it released has since been addressed, and it’s actually a lot of fun to play through now. There’s more tension, additional possibilities, less filler, and each of my three games on 1.4 has pushed me toward a different strategy without railroading me.
Many of the game’s upgrades (such as the damage preview and visual indicators of low health/stamina) have already been covered in previous followups, so I’m instead going to gloat a little: the achievement for unlockable character Jupiter’s second play style has been removed, suggesting that it never made it into the game like I warned it might. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though—the different play styles were/are a little disorienting to move between. Neurodeck‘s resilience system that allows you to play through a version of the game with harder enemies and mechanics is what I ended up gravitating toward in the original release instead, and that’s been expanded with an additional two levels of difficulty.
I somehow missed Neurodeck version 1.3, probably due to being busy with something when it came out. At some point, though, new phobia bosses were introduced into the game. While you’re not guaranteed to go up against them, I fought two new ones during my very first game: the fear of dogs and the fear of garden gnomes. I didn’t even know the latter was a phobia. Somehow, I feel that having this knowledge has made the world a more magical place to live in. Adding in new bosses with the animations and attacks was a lot of work, I’m sure, but having a bigger pool of bosses makes for a much more varied experience.
Speaking of variation: the buffed boss you fight at Neurodeck‘s halfway point has received unique music. Not only does the track feel right at home with the others (which is to say that it’s really good), but you’ll reach the halfway point well before your playthrough’s halfway point because of how easy the early bosses are compared to those later on. That means that the unique tracks are playing roughly a third of the way in and during the last fight. By spreading these out, the normal fight music avoids being too repetitive.
It’s incredibly rare for a game to be improved like this after release. The devs put a crazy amount of time and effort into fixing up Neurodeck, and I can’t help but find myself rooting for them. The game has a Switch version that’ll be releasing at some point, so be sure to keep an eye on that if you own a Switch.
Neurodeck has made a total turnaround since release first appeared on Killa Penguin
