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1000 results for “R_devs_news”
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‘all(<symbol>)’ signals an error now, as some similar coercions; previously, the coercion of the symbol resulted in ‘NULL’ internally, raised a warning, and could access illegal memory; thanks to Kevin Ushey's PR#19054.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/26 -
‘abbreviate(<non-ASCII>)’ now works better, using ‘iswlower()’ and ‘*upper()’ to treat “wide” characters, thanks to Kevin's PR#19058.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/26 -
‘wilcox.test(x, exact=FALSE, correct = k)’'s p-value computation got a missing ‘dnorm(z)’ factor.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/23 -
‘as.POSIXct(x)’ for ‘POSIXlt’ object ‘x’ with ‘.Machine$integer.max - x$year < 1900’ no longer suffers from C level integer overflow, thanks to Suharto Anggono's patch for PR#19038. Currently, this does not apply when the ‘"internal"’ code for date-time conversion and printing is in use, as e.g., on Windows and macOS.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/19 -
Border case ‘zapsmall(x, digits=Inf)’ where ‘x’ has an ‘Inf’ entry, no longer returns all ‘NaN’ but rather ‘x’. Help page improved, also with more non-default examples.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/19 -
‘as.data.frame.vector(<row.names_w/_NA>)’ now signals the same error as ‘data.frame()’, fixing Hervé Pagès' PR#19059. From Suharto Anggono's comment #c4, it gives the same error also when ‘row.names = RN’ explicitly, where ‘RN’ has ‘NA’s.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/01 -
‘as.data.frame.vector(<row.names_w/_NA>)’ now signals the same error as ‘data.frame()’, fixing Hervé Pagès' PR#19059. From Suharto Anggono's comment #c4, it gives the same error also when ‘row.names = RN’ explicitly, where ‘RN’ has ‘NA’s.
https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/05/01 -
Kotaku: Final Fantasy XVI Devs List Their Top 3 FF Games, And The Top One Is Surprising Fans https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xvi-ranking-devs-favorite-games-ps5-1850547789 #gaming #tech #kotaku #videogamesdevelopedinjapan #singleplayervideogames #roleplayingvideogames #kazutoyomaehiro #creativeworks #finalfantasy #hiroshitakai #windowsgames #ryotasuzuki #videogames #squareenix #nintendo #vmaehiro #anthony #ivalice #sports #ffxvi #bartz #mizu #rpg #ffv
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Kotaku: Final Fantasy XVI Devs List Their Top 3 FF Games, And The Top One Is Surprising Fans https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xvi-ranking-devs-favorite-games-ps5-1850547789 #gaming #tech #kotaku #videogamesdevelopedinjapan #singleplayervideogames #roleplayingvideogames #kazutoyomaehiro #creativeworks #finalfantasy #hiroshitakai #windowsgames #ryotasuzuki #videogames #squareenix #nintendo #vmaehiro #anthony #ivalice #sports #ffxvi #bartz #mizu #rpg #ffv
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Kotaku: Final Fantasy XVI Devs List Their Top 3 FF Games, And The Top One Is Surprising Fans https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xvi-ranking-devs-favorite-games-ps5-1850547789 #gaming #tech #kotaku #videogamesdevelopedinjapan #singleplayervideogames #roleplayingvideogames #kazutoyomaehiro #creativeworks #finalfantasy #hiroshitakai #windowsgames #ryotasuzuki #videogames #squareenix #nintendo #vmaehiro #anthony #ivalice #sports #ffxvi #bartz #mizu #rpg #ffv
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Kotaku: Final Fantasy XVI Devs List Their Top 3 FF Games, And The Top One Is Surprising Fans https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xvi-ranking-devs-favorite-games-ps5-1850547789 #gaming #tech #kotaku #videogamesdevelopedinjapan #singleplayervideogames #roleplayingvideogames #kazutoyomaehiro #creativeworks #finalfantasy #hiroshitakai #windowsgames #ryotasuzuki #videogames #squareenix #nintendo #vmaehiro #anthony #ivalice #sports #ffxvi #bartz #mizu #rpg #ffv
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Hela is a new open-world adventure game from the devs of Unravel
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Hela is a new open-world adventure game from the devs of Unravel
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Hela is a new open-world adventure game from the devs of Unravel
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PS5 Turns 5: Creators of ‘Astro Bot,’ ‘Ghost of Yōtei’ and ‘Gran Turismo 7’ on PlayStation Console’s Best Features, Next-Gen Dreams
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Long-Lost NES Cartridge Game ‘Xcavator,’ More New Indie Titles Unveiled During Day of the Devs 2025
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Starknet Releases SN Stack Allowing Devs to Launch Appchains - The Starknet Foundation, a Layer 2 Ethereum project, announced the launch of SN S... - https://cryptonews.com/news/starknet-releases-sn-stack-allowing-devs-to-launch-appchains/ #blockchainnews #appchains #starknet #snstack
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🚀 Hold onto your keyboards, folks! Bun's #transformation into #Rust was finally "merged" like a hipster's first surfboard, promising to revolutionize... absolutely nothing you'd notice. 🦀 Web devs everywhere would be thrilled if they weren’t too busy pretending this matters. 🙄
https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1tcrmjs/rewrite_bun_in_rust_has_been_merged/ #Bun #WebDev #News #HipsterTech #HackerNews #ngated -
🚀 Hold onto your keyboards, folks! Bun's #transformation into #Rust was finally "merged" like a hipster's first surfboard, promising to revolutionize... absolutely nothing you'd notice. 🦀 Web devs everywhere would be thrilled if they weren’t too busy pretending this matters. 🙄
https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1tcrmjs/rewrite_bun_in_rust_has_been_merged/ #Bun #WebDev #News #HipsterTech #HackerNews #ngated -
🚀 Hold onto your keyboards, folks! Bun's #transformation into #Rust was finally "merged" like a hipster's first surfboard, promising to revolutionize... absolutely nothing you'd notice. 🦀 Web devs everywhere would be thrilled if they weren’t too busy pretending this matters. 🙄
https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1tcrmjs/rewrite_bun_in_rust_has_been_merged/ #Bun #WebDev #News #HipsterTech #HackerNews #ngated -
🚀 Hold onto your keyboards, folks! Bun's #transformation into #Rust was finally "merged" like a hipster's first surfboard, promising to revolutionize... absolutely nothing you'd notice. 🦀 Web devs everywhere would be thrilled if they weren’t too busy pretending this matters. 🙄
https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1tcrmjs/rewrite_bun_in_rust_has_been_merged/ #Bun #WebDev #News #HipsterTech #HackerNews #ngated -
🚀 Hold onto your keyboards, folks! Bun's #transformation into #Rust was finally "merged" like a hipster's first surfboard, promising to revolutionize... absolutely nothing you'd notice. 🦀 Web devs everywhere would be thrilled if they weren’t too busy pretending this matters. 🙄
https://old.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1tcrmjs/rewrite_bun_in_rust_has_been_merged/ #Bun #WebDev #News #HipsterTech #HackerNews #ngated -
https://www.alojapan.com/1451318/trails-ys-devs-new-action-rpg-kyoto-xanadu-slashes-to-ps5-this-summer/ Trails, Ys Dev’s New Action RPG Kyoto Xanadu Slashes to PS5 This Summer #falcom #Kyoto #KyotoNews #KyotoXanadu #news #PS5 #trailers #京都 #京都府 Falcom has finally announced its sequel to Tokyo Xanadu, which it’s been working on for at least the last couple of years. It’s called Kyoto Xanadu, and it’s headed to PS5 this summer. You’ll have to bear with the Nintendo Direct trailer for now, though. Like its predecessor, it’s an action-based R
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https://www.alojapan.com/1451318/trails-ys-devs-new-action-rpg-kyoto-xanadu-slashes-to-ps5-this-summer/ Trails, Ys Dev’s New Action RPG Kyoto Xanadu Slashes to PS5 This Summer #falcom #Kyoto #KyotoNews #KyotoXanadu #news #PS5 #trailers #京都 #京都府 Falcom has finally announced its sequel to Tokyo Xanadu, which it’s been working on for at least the last couple of years. It’s called Kyoto Xanadu, and it’s headed to PS5 this summer. You’ll have to bear with the Nintendo Direct trailer for now, though. Like its predecessor, it’s an action-based R
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Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost Review (Nintendo Switch)
Release Date: December 25, 2025 (North America)
Developers: Voltage Inc.
Publishers: Voltage Inc.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)STORY
Kumyo: The land of neon lights and fleeting pleasures.
A land where if you don’t step on others to get to the top, you’ll only sink to the bottom. Effort means nothing. Charity? Forget about it.
Kroa is an underground courier at the bottom of the barrel. In order to survive life in Kumyo, the youth have turned to the mafia life to fight for power. The mafia is a violent criminal organization shunned by the public. However, there was one family both respected by fellow mafioso, and adored by the general public.
Their name was the Liu family.
11 years ago, the Liu family was exterminated.But once the sole surviving member, Gante Lowd, crosses paths with the rightful heir, Liu Kroa, the wheel of fate begins to turn once more.
ART AND MUSIC
Director:Ichika ShiinaArtist:Takao (Overall character design), Kuroyoki(Chibi)BG Artist:Studio COCOLOScenario:Ririka YoshimuraOST:Shihoko Hirata (OP & ED theme, lyrics)BGM/Soundtrack:Shunsuke Tsuchiya (BGM, OP Composer)Concept, Producer:Satoshi NoharaI love Neon Clash’s overall visual aesthetic. The artwork is beyond beautiful and I am completely enamored with the game’s art style. The CGs especially, are insanely pretty! All the while being very emotional and very impactful! On top of that, the LIs have multiple sprite variations, and their outfits are really stunning. We have none other than the Japanese illustrator, Takao to thank for all of Neon Clash’s gorgeous glory, which appears to be their first full otome game project. I sincerely hope they’ll have more otome projects in the future because their art style to me, is crazy gorgeous!
As for the game’s staff, the writing team is led by Ririka Yoshimura, who is widely known for also being the lead scenario writer for Cupid Parasite and Despera Drops. The game’s overall director is Ichika Shina, an in-house director for Voltage Inc.
Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost also has one of the most banger OPs this year. The OP theme, Shangri-La, was by far one of my favorite otome OST of 2025. I also really enjoyed how vibrant the BGMs are in this game; I think they mesh pretty well with the neon Chinese aesthetic of this title, which I’m really loving btw. The game’s BGMs are by Shunsuke Tsuchiya of Procyon Studio, who also composed for Even if Tempest, Black Wolves Saga, KgK, and a few other otome game OSTs in the past.
Voice Acting
Yuichiro Umehara as “Gante Lowd” – Alfred (Mistonia’s Hope), Paschalia (Radiant Tale), Serge (Genso Manege), Kohei Minato (Sympathy Kiss), Benkei (Birushana), Canus Espada (Café Enchanté), Enishi (Jack Jeanne), Demento (Period Cube), Shingen Takeda (IkeSen), Sage (Nekopara Catboys Paradise), Rain (Shiro to Kuro no Alice), Oochidori (Touken Ranbu)
Shunichi Toki as “Sun Maslo” – Hibiki (9RIP), Dahut (Virche Evermore), Leo (Piofiore), Yakumo (Dairoku), Hibie (Winters Wish), Matsui Go (Touken Ranbu), Mousse Atlas (IkeRev), Yuki Rurikawa (A3!)
Jun Fukuyama as “Sodyk Mun” – Ascot (Mistonia’s Hope), Karatachi (Illusion of Itehari), Mizuchi (Hana Awase), Tomomori (Birushana), Vyn Richter (Tears of Themis), Mozu (BUSTFELLOWS), Goro Fujita (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Liberta (Arcana Famiglia), Rin (Togainu no Chi), Aido (Vampire Knight), Tokiwa Etsuya (Dairoku), Goke Kanimitsu (Touken Ranbu)
Ryota Suzuki as “Zhang Hiyok” – Lucas (Mistonia’s Hope), Ash (Despera Drops), Koyo (9RIP), Ginnosuke (Him, the Smile and bloom), Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kiito Minorikawa (Jack Jeanne), Trey Clover (TWST), Ink (Gunka Haita Neko), Caster (FGO), Mizuro Tamaki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Takeo Otsuka as “Mazho Meqrin” – Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries), Elbert Greetia (IkeVil), Sunday (HSR), Luke (Chaos Zero Nightmare), Miyabi (UN:Logical), Katsu (Shinjuku Rashoumon), Yuen Hu (Shinjuku Soumei), Kanata (Angelique Lumenarise), Remnan (Gnosia), Joshua Rosfield (FF16)
Yusuke Kobayashi as “Shelby Zhiho” – Flynn (The Red Bell’s Lament), Tomonari (Winters Wish), Hira (Dairoku), Byleth (FE Engage, 3H), Shinano Toushiro (Touken Ranbu), Suwon (Yona of the Dawn), Yuli Norbert (MidCin), Manai Tomoki (Sweet Clown), Xavier (Love and Deepspace), Ugetso (Utakata no Uchronia), Kiyoshi Kurotani (Persona 5), Senku Ishigami (Dr. Stone)
Hana Shimano as “Shelby Zhia” – Himari Kino (Whisper Me a Love Song), Mako Kawai (Food for the Soul)
Kazuyuki Okitsu as “Yuan Gonglu” – Ankou (Virche Evermore), Yoji Kobase (Sympathy Kiss), Atsushi Daikoku (B-PROJECT), Tsukuyomi (Olympia Soiree), Epilogi (Café Enchanté), Hachisuka Kotetsu (Touken Ranbu), Dante (Jack Jeanne), Ray (EPHEMERAL), Kuya (NU Carnival), Kyrie (Ozmafia!!), Keith Knight (Iris School of Wizardry)
Shinnosuke Tachibana as “Shao Feng” – Himeutsugi (Hana Awase), Seiya (9RIP), Koizumi Yakumo (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Camu (Despera Drops), Xiaolei (Battlefield Waltz), Henri (Piofiore), White Mask (Bad Apple Wars), Kousei (Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku), William Rex (IkeVil), Koryu Kagemitsu (Touken Ranbu), Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)
Eiji Takeuchi as “R” – Riley Randolph (Mistonia’s Hope), Hitoya Amaguni (Hypnosis Mic), Sumio (Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master), Rafa (Borderlands 4), Hide (Nioh 2), Nobutaka Osanai (Tokyo Revengers), Takefumi Kawada (The Devil is a Part-timer)
Kazuhiro Yoshimura as “Xiadun Jue” – Shioji (Illusion of Itehari), Oleander (The Red Bell’s Lament), Alest (Radiant Tale), Minegeshi (Collar x Malice), Ten (Cafe Enchante), Maki (Side Kicks!), Souji Kamishiro (Suika Niritsu), Pepe (Bustafellows)
Haruki Ishiya as “Yunzi Yulong” – Toichi Nagayama (Jack Jeanne), Jiro (Hypnosis Mic), Roger Ward (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Toru (Slow Damage), Louis (FE Engage), Sebek Zigvolt (TWST), Makoto Shizuo (Prince of Stride), Haku (Gunka o Haita Neko), Mikado (On Air!)
Taishi Murata as “Kyochu Yona” – Kaina (Olympia Soire), Idaeus Glodell (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Tokugawa Iemitsu (Ken ga Kimi), Takeshi Efuku (Prince of Stride), Seth Hyde (IkePri),
CAST AND CHARACTERS
With Neon Clash being AmuLit’s third otome console game installment, it has become clearer to me that the studio really does have its own distinct narrative formula. If you’ve played their previous two titles, Even if Tempest and The Red Bell’s Lament, you’ll notice a similar structure shared with Neon Clash, where in the story progresses in a largely linear fashion, and the romance endings only unlock after the main story has been cleared.
That said, this title does not have any branching individual routes in the way conventional console otome games do. Instead, the romance endings only become available after you’ve completed the TRUE Ending of the game. Each chapter has the heroine spending time with a specific love interest:
- Chapter 2: Lowd
- Chapter 3: Maslo
- Chapter 4: Mun
- Chapter 5: Hiyok
- Chapter 6: is the final chapter that wraps up the story and leads into the endings.
In a way, this format kinda plays out similarly to how Chinese mobile otome games structure their stories (think Tears of Themis, LaDs, MLQC, etc.), where there’s one overarching main story and each chapter is dedicated to a particular love interest.
As for how the story benefits from this type of formula, it certainly depends on the kind of narrative the writers present in the main game. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of how it played out in The Red Bell’s Lament, but I did enjoy the same formula in Even if Tempest. With Neon Clash, I think this approach works well here too, especially given how impressively fast-paced and eventful the main story is. I’ll save more of my detailed thoughts for my “overall impressions” section below, so please keep reading!😁
Walkthroughs:
Note: The CGs shown below are promotional images for the game, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. All spoiler-related content in this review will be hidden behind a spoiler drop-down, that you can choose to view at your own discretion.
⬇️ Click to view Content Warnings Violence, gun violence, public shooting, murder, mass murder, death, blood, decapitation, discrimination against other nationalities, class system, marginalization, poverty, sexual assault, manipulation, gaslighting, drug abuse, drug addiction, kidnapping, abduction, alcohol abuse.GANTE LOWD
- god bless the hot loyal mafioso priest 🙏📿
- Lowd in a nutshell… 🤭🤭🤭
A mafioso through and through who was adopted and raised by the original Liu family. He works as a priest in a church in Taozhe, with hopes to one day rebuild the Liu family.
I love Lowd! And Umehara seems to have nailed this character down to a T. What a perfect match! Lowd also became one of my fav LIs in the game, and one I’ll probably think of fondly from now on.🥺 He was such a great character and love interest. The man stayed steadfast and loyal until the very end. It actually hurts how unwavering his devotion to the heroine is.😭 Through all the hardships, he remained by her side, for better or worse. I really don’t have any qualms or complaints about this LI.
After finishing all the romance endings in this title, I also think Lowd had the best romantic relationship with Kroa. Personally, I found their chemistry as a couple the most convincing and satisfying. I’m still brainrotting over his romance ending as we speak! I needed more chapters!
⬇️ SpoilersOH MAAAHH LOWWWD!🥵🥵🥵 I am down bad for this man.
I think out of everyone’s romance endings, Lowd’s felt the most natural and intimate. And perhaps this is because of how closely he and Kroa bonded during Chapter Two. It was also the only chapter where the heroine openly admits that she’s in love with someone before entrusting her feelings to her gun, Dilu. While she does something similar with the other LIs, she usually refers to those emotions as “budding feelings.” With Lowd, however, she literally jumped in front of a bullet for this man.
With Dilu nullifying at the end, it makes sense that the most impactful “romantic” feelings she carries are tied to Lowd. After all, he was the very first man she ever developed genuine feelings for. And let’s be real, among everyone Lowd was the one who remained steadfastly by her side the entire time. He never strayed, never did anything to hurt her (whether intentionally or accidentally), never manipulated her, and never forced her feelings. He was also never intrusive, and consistently respected her both as a woman and as the head of the Liu family.
Also, the love endings were all so random, dumb, and silly…but I absolutely ate all the fluff up. After everything they’ve been through, they deserve to just lay back and be dumb and silly for once. 😭
On a different note, I was reading Umechan’s commentary about Lowd, and was kinda shocked that he’s also a Romance of the 3Kingdoms nerd and was even basing Lowd’s character on Guan Yu from the series. He mustve felt giddy having to voice a character inspired by his own fav character from the show.lol So that was a nice little fun fact. I also felt like he did such an amazing job as Lowd, and I really couldn’t imagine anyone more suitable for the role.
SUN MASLO
- not a shota 👀😏🤭
- when that maslo beat drops…
Maslo is the boss of a small-time mafia from the countryside. He’s a friendly guy, and the last sort of person you’d expect to be leading a criminal organization. Aside from being part of the mob, he’s active as a popular DJ and song-writer.
Oh my beautiful pink boy! I am also down bad for Maslo… him, his character design and his designated BGM. (laughs) 🤣 Sometimes I intentionally leave the game idle just to listen to his dj vice track, lmao. But on a more serious note, Maslo was a really interesting character, no? And I can’t help but feel like the game could have done so much more with him if he had a proper individual route. In fact, this applies to all of the LIs. There was just so much untapped potential for us to explore more of them in greater depth, if their routes were longer.
Maslo and Kroa’s interactions in chapter three, I have also really enjoyed,🥹and his romance ending had one of the most beautiful CGs in the game. Although, I have to say, it’s his sad ending that completely cemented him as my new oshi.👀
⬇️ SpoilersI just feel like the writers probably had Maslo’s route skeletally structured around him being the designated yandere of the story. However, because of the game’s linear storyline, they scrapped this off and held back! My poor boy! 😭 I really think he didn’t get to shine as much as he deserved because of “plot”. As much as I’m enjoying the game overall, this is kind of the downside of games having linear plotlines; the character depth usually gets shoehorned.
Regardless, I still absolutely love Maslo. I was a bit miffed that his romance ending felt like an exposition dump of his backstory, but that beautiful kiss CG under the sakura tree compensated for it, so I guess its’ all good.(cackles) 😂 I also wanted to get a spicy CG of him and Kroa, making out backstage of his club and I can’t help but feel like we were really robbed of that visually!😭😭😭 His happy end was the only one that did not get a “bed ending” lmao although his sad ending compensated for that!😂 PLS I NEED A FANDISK! I BEG!
SODYK MUN
- the cleavage is doing crimes
- manipulation never looked this good
The boss of a huge mafia, Mun is considered the only one capable of competing with Biying. The public knows him as the young president of a big company, thanks to his many media appearances. Mun’s natural charisma tends to win him a lot of admirers.
Oh, Sodyk Mun… the man that you are… This is yet another straight-up “I can fix him” FukuJun character fresh outa the oven! Damn, what a smooooth guy. I was grinning the whole time playing Mun’s chapter (Chapter 4) in the game. The dude was just seductive, entrancing, smooth like butter. Though, I have to admit, playing his chapter also made me really nervous. It’s one of those instances where everything feels so right, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is… just off. Ha!🤣🤣🤣
I think Mun’s chapter was probably my favorite in the story. I can’t even allow myself to put the game down, his persuasive nature was literally working its way like cancer. The way his character was written, and how Fukuyama played this out was chef kiss, I have no words! I think Mun is going to be a fan favorite because, man oh man, how could anyone resist being completely swayed by this guy?
⬇️ SpoilersThe instant Mun suggested segregation with his class system BS, alarm bells started ringing in my head from all directions. My dude, NO!😭 How could anyone think segregation was a good idea? Even if he was preaching that it was the “best way” to maintain order in Kumyo, NO, NO, NO!!
Mun’s chapter I have to say was probably the one I had enjoyed the most because you can clearly see how deceptive and exceedingly manipulative he is, and I loved how vulnerable Kroa was here as well. She knew the man was making her dance around his palm, but she bit into the trap anyway. Her realization later that something was seriously wrong and that she needed to break free before Mun completely devours her whole and successfully makes her his pawn was such a good story climax.
I also loved the part where she starts noticing herself becoming like Mun while interacting with the Liu capos, and it takes Rin confronting her to snap her back to reality and see Mun’s true colors. That scene was absolutely peak!
If you think about it, Mun was the most dangerous and formidable enemy of the Liu family. The dude was a master manipulator! He manipulated everyone around him: his capos, the entire Sodyk family, the government officials in Kumyo, the police, and law enforcement. They all really believed he was the righteous man he made himself out to be. He even manipulated R, sending him to an early grave, and Zhiho, who ended up betraying the heroine and throwing a wrench into their infiltration plan.
On a side note, I can’t help but think that Mun and Kroa’s dynamic leans into the “lovers to enemies” trope where they start off as close, almost like lovers, and then fate throws them at each other’s throats. I’m really loving this trope in otome games lately! I usually only see it in reverse harem manga/manhwas so having this here was a nice touch.
ZHANG HIYOK
- resident himbo genki🥺
- golden retriever energy
A gangster from Taozhe. Hiyok is determined to protect the same Taozhe he was born and raised in, but in reality, his gang was only capable of recklessly, but unsuccessfully lashing back against the Zhuo family. When he downs a particularly strong alcohol, he becomes a whole different person, capable of taking down multiple men at once.
This game is now making a hako-oshi, because I also love Hiyok. The first time you’ll meet him, you can immediately sense just how precious and likable he is.🥺 Hiyok is another trusted and sworn comrade of our heroine, Kroa. Like Lowd, he is incredibly loyal and one of the Liu family’s strongest fighters. I’m a tad wistful though that his chapter only half-focused on him, especially since his final volumes were already converging with the main plot and heading toward the finale. I guess I just needed more fluff with this himbo.😭 On a different note, I wasn’t expecting his bad ending to turn out the way it did…but I kind of liked it. 😳👉👈
⬇️ SpoilersHe also keeps a diary! What a precious boy!😭
Kroa’s worries about Hiyok losing his feelings for her felt a bit anticlimactic, because in the end, he never really lost it. It was also pretty easy for her to win him back given Hiyok has always been fond of her. He even had a crush on her the first time they met.Still and all, I absolutely loved how she worked to get him to like her again in Hiyok’s “happy ending.” It was nice to see her making the first move in everything, and seeing Hiyok turn into this blushing, genki mess was adorable. I love their dynamic as well! So much!😭 Again, I feel robbed of fluff with this man because the romance was too short; just as the cute, fluffy stuff was starting, the chapter was already over. 😭
LIU KROA (Main Heroine)
- cunning mafia princess
- best girl!
I love Kroa. She’s now one of my favorite otoge heroines! This woman has serious balls of steel. I was a little wary of her at first, since she came across as somewhat idealistic in the common route, and I had my doubts whether she could truly pull off being the Liu family boss. But as the story progressed, I realized, wow this girl can actually walk the talk.
She’s certainly physically strong, highly skilled with a gun, and more than capable of holding her own during a shoot-out. But its actually her unwavering determination and her intrepid sense of taking risks that got me on her side of the camp. As a mafia boss, she will be pitted in situations where she has to make bold and risky decisions, not just for herself but for everyone in the Liu family. My anxiety was through the roof every time she was served yet another obstacle right after overcoming the last one. The girl seriously could not catch a break!😭 I was nervous for her all the freakin’ time, but her resilience was mighty impressive and very infectious. I could truly feel that she earned every ounce of respect her capos give her.
Kroa is also a very flawed heroine, and that’s one of the things I love most about her. She knows what she is capable of and uses her strengths wisely, but she’s also aware of her limits and what she can’t do on her own. She makes plenty of mistakes throughout the game, and sometimes her risky decisions put both herself and her comrades in danger. She beats herself up over those failures, but what’s remarkable is how she learns from them, rubs the dirt off her face, gets back on her feet, and pounces back harder and stronger every time.🤧 My girl!! 😭😭😭I loved how she was written to be very capable without ever feeling grossly overblown, if that makes sense? She’s not the kind of heroine who’s all mouth and no bite, she doesn’t talk a big game or rely on empty bravado. I really couldn’t stop rooting for her, just like her capos who believed in her as their boss.🥹 BEST GIRL!!
SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION
Before I get into the details of the game’s system, I just want to say in passing that the love catch for this title is so pretty! 😍 The butterfly animations were perhaps one of my fav design elements, aesthetically speaking, in this title.
As for the system itself, I think this is where most of my complaints lie. First of all, the font was rather tiny and not very visible, the kerning was also kind of awful and there was no way to adjust this. I play docked on my TV, so over time this became a non-issue for me. Next, and perhaps the thing that bothered me the most, is that the system overwrites its parameters after every ending you achieve (whether its the true end or sad end). What I mean is that after achieving, say, the“true ending”, the next time you restart the game from the very beginning, all your save files from the previous run become defunct, and are replaced by the new current progress in your present gameplay.
I think this is probably because of the game’s linear storyline, but as a completionist, it was kind of frustrating to unlock all the endings without having to restart from the very beginning of each chapter, or at worst, from the prologue. It became a nightmare to skip through scenes just to unlock different bad endings while trying different combinations of choices in the process. At the very least, the True End was easy to achieve all thanks to the love catch system.
PROS:
- Heroine name customizable
- SHOP – The boss’s grade points you collect can be spent here
- “Secret Information” in the EXTRA section –this is where all the short stories that you’ve bought from the shop are located.
- Terminology – the game’s glossary.
- Chapter Intermission
- Underground Newspaper – will show up after finishing a chapter.
- MAPS – shows which family rules over each territory.
- CHAPTER Select
- Love Catch System
- Skip READ and AUTO function
- Quick Save/Quick Load
- CG Library
- Movie Library
CONS:
- No heroine side sprite image
- Unvoiced Heroine
- SKIP Read’s fastest setting is slow.
- Lingering voice lines, even if you’ve skipped the character’s lines
- No Skip to Next Choice function
- No Flowchart
- No Sound Library
- Typos
- Parameters reset after every ending achieved.
Localization
The translations also seem pretty good. Since the theme involves the mafia and a lot of morally gray characters, there are naturally lots of coarse language thrown around which I think fits the game’s theme overall. Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos throughout the game. Not that they ruined gameplay, They didn’t bother me, but they’re definitely present, nonetheless.
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPA6yvkZMbg
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I think my overall gameplay lasted about 40 hours total. This includes trying to unlock all the endings in the game and playing all the CCTV short stories in the “EXTRA” section. I was also playing blind, my switch docked, and was on auto mode most of the time. Technically, with a walkthrough and without auto-mode, you could finish the game in less than 40 hours.
AmuLit’s Linear Storytelling is back!
To start with, yes, Neon Clash unfortunately has a linear structure, similar to Even if Tempest and RBL. There are no separate branching routes for the guys. Instead, it plays out as one main story, with each chapter highlighting a specific LI.
Personally, I feel like the way these segments advanced wasn’t jarring or disjointed like in RBL, its predecessor. Each chapter introducing an LI flows smoothly within the story, and the MC’s bonding with her love interests doesn’t come off as forced (at least to me). The story kind of just naturally melds together without trying to shove anything in, if that makes sense. With that said, in my opinion, the linear structure actually worked pretty well here because of the game’s setting and how fast-paced all of the events unfolded.
As for how the heroine spends time from one LI to another, her relationships in the main story remain fairly ambiguous. There’s definitely some romantic pining going on, but they mostly come from the LIs’ side (kind of like how they do it in reverse harem animes). The heroine does emotionally acknowledge her budding feelings for an LI in every chapter, but the game somehow found a cheat code to progress the story without locking the romance into one specific guy. Shockingly enough, it made sense to me and worked well in favor of the overall narrative.😳
⬇️ Read spoilers if you’re curious about what I mean.Around the end of Chapter 2 (Lowd’s segment), Maslo approaches Kroa and teaches her how to use her psychometry in reverse. Instead of reading emotions from objects, Kroa learns to store her own emotions into her gun, Dilu. This way, she can transfer all her strong feelings of love, romance, grief, regrets, sorrow to Dilu, and fully step into her role as a mafia boss and endure the territorial power struggles against her rivals without anything weighing her down.
I know it sounds goofy to dump your feelings into a gun lol. But I thought it was actually a pretty crafty way to move the story forward without making Kroa’s interactions with the LIs feel weird or awkward. She also makes it a point in the game to make sure that before her “budding feelings” develop further, she gets rid of them and entrusts them all to Dilu.
Being the head of the Liu family comes with a lot of consequences, so before any lingering emotions weigh her down, she chooses to do away with them. This is especially crucial given the many mistakes she makes throughout the story. In Chapter 2, she jumps out of formation to protect Lowd, which leads to the death of one of her capos, Zhia. Another instance where entrusting her feelings to Dilu becomes vitally relevant is during Mun’s chapter. As her most formidable foe, facing him head-on requires her to completely forget her personal feelings for him.
So yeah, in a way, this cheat sheet actually works really well in the narrative. I was very satisfied with how it was handled.
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms But Make it Mafia
For CN media aficionados, if it isn’t obvious, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost is actually heavily inspired by the famous Luo Guanzhong novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was reading the director’s commentary on the game, and they mentioned that Satoshi Nohara, the producer, the staff themselves, and even the seiyuus were big fans of the series. Ngl, I think it’s kinda brilliant how they were able to interlace the power struggle theme from RoTK into a modern-day mafia story. I was also a fan of the series, (well, mostly the 2010 tv series and the old TRPG lol)😅 and I think the devs really drew a lot of inspiration from the original source and incorporated it beautifully into this game.
Even the game’s worldview, where you can see Kumyo’s map and how it shows which bases belong to which family as well as which family captured which bases after every chapter ending, draws heavily from RoTK, and I thought this was really clever!
I also loved how they adapted the Triad/Chinese mafia-gang style in the story, where the mafia is less formal, less rigid, and more chaotic compared to the American-Italian style mafiosos. I grew up watching HK cinema, and if you’re like me and loved gangster movies like Young and Dangerous, you will absolutely enjoy the intense, hard-hitting action-packed style that Neon Clash delivers. So yeah, this game was right up my alley, so to speak.
I feel like the producer’s vision was perfectly realized by the director, the scenario writer, and the rest of the staff. From reading the team’s commentaries, it’s clear that everyone was highly coordinated, and you can really see that synergy reflected throughout the game!
An Action-Packed Storyline with Multi-Faceted Characters
Plotwise, the tension in this game was insane. Our main characters go through relentless hardships, one after another. I was totally shook how vivid and strong their motivations felt (as if I was there with them lol). I spent the whole time gritting my teeth, wondering what would happen next? How are they going to make their next move? The story itself really felt like an intense battle of divide and conquer all the way up to the very end.
Whenever Kroa and the gang survived and achieved their goals (even for just a brief moment), I couldn’t help but smile and cheer with them. And whenever they suffered a loss, I cried right along with them too. It’s kind of amusing how invested I got in the story, now that I think about it!😅
This title is also pretty fast-paced. While the action-packed scenes in the story take place months apart chronologically, the game’s structure delivers them back-to-back, which kept the story momentum high, sometimes leaving you gasping for air.🤣(laughs)
I think I also liked the fact that, despite the storm of tragedy and chaos unfolding, the game still gives you enough breathing room to process things before throwing you into another spiral. What’s especially nice is that every conflict is born from a character’s own choices and missteps, so the chaos didn’t feel like some sort of arbitrary monkey wrench thrown into the plot for shock value. Most of the tragedies happen within reason and fit naturally into the narrative, so I was pretty satisfied with this aspect of the story. Also, keep in mind that since the story revolves around a modern-day mafia theme, the game can get pretty graphic and violent. So if these things make you queasy, please check the content warnings above.
The side characters were also a lot of fun. I had my favorite picks like R, Rin, the Shelby twins, Yulong, Shao Feng, Yona, and a whole lot of others. Gonglu was a piece of sh*t, but I have to admit, I was kind of infatuated with him at some point. (cackles).🙈
Just look at that sassy, scheming grin of his!😭It’s also really hard not to like any of the LIs, as they’re all so distinctively well-written. This game turned me into a filthy box-pusher (hako-oshi) all over again, because I genuinely mean it when I say I’m down bad for every single love interest. I was so sure my top pick was Lowd after finishing all the romance endings, but as I’m writing this review, I keep brainrotting over Maslo. His story in the game was kind of shafted, which is a pity, but there’s just something about him that I’m really drawn to (maybe its his sexy neck frayglyph tattoo, who knows). 😏🤭So I guess, if I had to choose at gunpoint, I’d be rallying behind my beautiful DJ pink-kun!
You already have my heart, bb!😌As for the romance, the confession scenes in the Happy Ends were all pretty silly, dumb, and hilarious, but I somehow inhaled every single one of them because I was STARVED for romance the entire time. After all the hurdles, and hardships these characters went through, they absolutely deserved to let loose and just be silly and dumb for once.
Having said that, if anything, what this title could’ve really benefited from, was more romance scenarios. I’m not saying there’s none because I think the romance in the individual “Happy Ends” was really good food (delicious, even). After all, the scenario is by the writer of Cupid Parasite, so you can definitely pick up their signature flair for spicing things up. However, the length of the epilogues just felt far too short to showcase an utterly satisfying fluff. I wanted more. More fluff and more spice! 😭 Maybe a fandisk could scratch this itch… please, Voltage, I beg!
Do I recommend this game? YES.
I…..really….. loooooved this game.😭 I realized I was also the target audience for this title. The ending was so satisfying to me, that I can overlook a few exposition issues because of it. It’s not often that I finish a title and sigh, “Man, that was great,” but that’s exactly how I felt after finishing Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. I don’t claim this title is flawless or perfect, but everything about it, from the beautiful cyberpunk Chinese aesthetics, the intense power struggle plotline, the modern-day mafia action-packed scenarios, to the exhilarating main characters that I’ve grown to love and care for, keeps calling me back every time. I’m honestly really shocked at how much this title has wormed its way into my top favorites.How I wish I could forget this game so I could re-experience all the positive restlessness and edge-of-your-seat milliseconds I spent on it all over again. 😭 It was hell and back, peak! I was thoroughly entertained until the very last roll of credits, so yeah, this is an easy recommendation from me.
This title is currently on a 10% release month discount, so I don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve already bought sets of merch for this title, and I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last time I spend on it. If you care about peak storytelling and peak characters, absolutely play Neon Clash, by all means necessary.
#AmuLit #NeonClash #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLost #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLostReview #NeonClashReview #nintendoSwitch #OtomeGameReview #VoltageInc
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Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost Review (Nintendo Switch)
Release Date: December 25, 2025 (North America)
Developers: Voltage Inc.
Publishers: Voltage Inc.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)STORY
Kumyo: The land of neon lights and fleeting pleasures.
A land where if you don’t step on others to get to the top, you’ll only sink to the bottom. Effort means nothing. Charity? Forget about it.
Kroa is an underground courier at the bottom of the barrel. In order to survive life in Kumyo, the youth have turned to the mafia life to fight for power. The mafia is a violent criminal organization shunned by the public. However, there was one family both respected by fellow mafioso, and adored by the general public.
Their name was the Liu family.
11 years ago, the Liu family was exterminated.But once the sole surviving member, Gante Lowd, crosses paths with the rightful heir, Liu Kroa, the wheel of fate begins to turn once more.
ART AND MUSIC
Director:Ichika ShiinaArtist:Takao (Overall character design), Kuroyoki(Chibi)BG Artist:Studio COCOLOScenario:Ririka YoshimuraOST:Shihoko Hirata (OP & ED theme, lyrics)BGM/Soundtrack:Shunsuke Tsuchiya (BGM, OP Composer)Concept, Producer:Satoshi NoharaI love Neon Clash’s overall visual aesthetic. The artwork is beyond beautiful and I am completely enamored with the game’s art style. The CGs especially, are insanely pretty! All the while being very emotional and very impactful! On top of that, the LIs have multiple sprite variations, and their outfits are really stunning. We have none other than the Japanese illustrator, Takao to thank for all of Neon Clash’s gorgeous glory, which appears to be their first full otome game project. I sincerely hope they’ll have more otome projects in the future because their art style to me, is crazy gorgeous!
As for the game’s staff, the writing team is led by Ririka Yoshimura, who is widely known for also being the lead scenario writer for Cupid Parasite and Despera Drops. The game’s overall director is Ichika Shina, an in-house director for Voltage Inc.
Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost also has one of the most banger OPs this year. The OP theme, Shangri-La, was by far one of my favorite otome OST of 2025. I also really enjoyed how vibrant the BGMs are in this game; I think they mesh pretty well with the neon Chinese aesthetic of this title, which I’m really loving btw. The game’s BGMs are by Shunsuke Tsuchiya of Procyon Studio, who also composed for Even if Tempest, Black Wolves Saga, KgK, and a few other otome game OSTs in the past.
Voice Acting
Yuichiro Umehara as “Gante Lowd” – Alfred (Mistonia’s Hope), Paschalia (Radiant Tale), Serge (Genso Manege), Kohei Minato (Sympathy Kiss), Benkei (Birushana), Canus Espada (Café Enchanté), Enishi (Jack Jeanne), Demento (Period Cube), Shingen Takeda (IkeSen), Sage (Nekopara Catboys Paradise), Rain (Shiro to Kuro no Alice), Oochidori (Touken Ranbu)
Shunichi Toki as “Sun Maslo” – Hibiki (9RIP), Dahut (Virche Evermore), Leo (Piofiore), Yakumo (Dairoku), Hibie (Winters Wish), Matsui Go (Touken Ranbu), Mousse Atlas (IkeRev), Yuki Rurikawa (A3!)
Jun Fukuyama as “Sodyk Mun” – Ascot (Mistonia’s Hope), Karatachi (Illusion of Itehari), Mizuchi (Hana Awase), Tomomori (Birushana), Vyn Richter (Tears of Themis), Mozu (BUSTFELLOWS), Goro Fujita (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Liberta (Arcana Famiglia), Rin (Togainu no Chi), Aido (Vampire Knight), Tokiwa Etsuya (Dairoku), Goke Kanimitsu (Touken Ranbu)
Ryota Suzuki as “Zhang Hiyok” – Lucas (Mistonia’s Hope), Ash (Despera Drops), Koyo (9RIP), Ginnosuke (Him, the Smile and bloom), Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kiito Minorikawa (Jack Jeanne), Trey Clover (TWST), Ink (Gunka Haita Neko), Caster (FGO), Mizuro Tamaki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Takeo Otsuka as “Mazho Meqrin” – Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries), Elbert Greetia (IkeVil), Sunday (HSR), Luke (Chaos Zero Nightmare), Miyabi (UN:Logical), Katsu (Shinjuku Rashoumon), Yuen Hu (Shinjuku Soumei), Kanata (Angelique Lumenarise), Remnan (Gnosia), Joshua Rosfield (FF16)
Yusuke Kobayashi as “Shelby Zhiho” – Flynn (The Red Bell’s Lament), Tomonari (Winters Wish), Hira (Dairoku), Byleth (FE Engage, 3H), Shinano Toushiro (Touken Ranbu), Suwon (Yona of the Dawn), Yuli Norbert (MidCin), Manai Tomoki (Sweet Clown), Xavier (Love and Deepspace), Ugetso (Utakata no Uchronia), Kiyoshi Kurotani (Persona 5), Senku Ishigami (Dr. Stone)
Hana Shimano as “Shelby Zhia” – Himari Kino (Whisper Me a Love Song), Mako Kawai (Food for the Soul)
Kazuyuki Okitsu as “Yuan Gonglu” – Ankou (Virche Evermore), Yoji Kobase (Sympathy Kiss), Atsushi Daikoku (B-PROJECT), Tsukuyomi (Olympia Soiree), Epilogi (Café Enchanté), Hachisuka Kotetsu (Touken Ranbu), Dante (Jack Jeanne), Ray (EPHEMERAL), Kuya (NU Carnival), Kyrie (Ozmafia!!), Keith Knight (Iris School of Wizardry)
Shinnosuke Tachibana as “Shao Feng” – Himeutsugi (Hana Awase), Seiya (9RIP), Koizumi Yakumo (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Camu (Despera Drops), Xiaolei (Battlefield Waltz), Henri (Piofiore), White Mask (Bad Apple Wars), Kousei (Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku), William Rex (IkeVil), Koryu Kagemitsu (Touken Ranbu), Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)
Eiji Takeuchi as “R” – Riley Randolph (Mistonia’s Hope), Hitoya Amaguni (Hypnosis Mic), Sumio (Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master), Rafa (Borderlands 4), Hide (Nioh 2), Nobutaka Osanai (Tokyo Revengers), Takefumi Kawada (The Devil is a Part-timer)
Kazuhiro Yoshimura as “Xiadun Jue” – Shioji (Illusion of Itehari), Oleander (The Red Bell’s Lament), Alest (Radiant Tale), Minegeshi (Collar x Malice), Ten (Cafe Enchante), Maki (Side Kicks!), Souji Kamishiro (Suika Niritsu), Pepe (Bustafellows)
Haruki Ishiya as “Yunzi Yulong” – Toichi Nagayama (Jack Jeanne), Jiro (Hypnosis Mic), Roger Ward (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Toru (Slow Damage), Louis (FE Engage), Sebek Zigvolt (TWST), Makoto Shizuo (Prince of Stride), Haku (Gunka o Haita Neko), Mikado (On Air!)
Taishi Murata as “Kyochu Yona” – Kaina (Olympia Soire), Idaeus Glodell (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Tokugawa Iemitsu (Ken ga Kimi), Takeshi Efuku (Prince of Stride), Seth Hyde (IkePri),
CAST AND CHARACTERS
With Neon Clash being AmuLit’s third otome console game installment, it has become clearer to me that the studio really does have its own distinct narrative formula. If you’ve played their previous two titles, Even if Tempest and The Red Bell’s Lament, you’ll notice a similar structure shared with Neon Clash, where in the story progresses in a largely linear fashion, and the romance endings only unlock after the main story has been cleared.
That said, this title does not have any branching individual routes in the way conventional console otome games do. Instead, the romance endings only become available after you’ve completed the TRUE Ending of the game. Each chapter has the heroine spending time with a specific love interest:
- Chapter 2: Lowd
- Chapter 3: Maslo
- Chapter 4: Mun
- Chapter 5: Hiyok
- Chapter 6: is the final chapter that wraps up the story and leads into the endings.
In a way, this format kinda plays out similarly to how Chinese mobile otome games structure their stories (think Tears of Themis, LaDs, MLQC, etc.), where there’s one overarching main story and each chapter is dedicated to a particular love interest.
As for how the story benefits from this type of formula, it certainly depends on the kind of narrative the writers present in the main game. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of how it played out in The Red Bell’s Lament, but I did enjoy the same formula in Even if Tempest. With Neon Clash, I think this approach works well here too, especially given how impressively fast-paced and eventful the main story is. I’ll save more of my detailed thoughts for my “overall impressions” section below, so please keep reading!😁
Walkthroughs:
Note: The CGs shown below are promotional images for the game, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. All spoiler-related content in this review will be hidden behind a spoiler drop-down, that you can choose to view at your own discretion.
⬇️ Click to view Content Warnings Violence, gun violence, public shooting, murder, mass murder, death, blood, decapitation, discrimination against other nationalities, class system, marginalization, poverty, sexual assault, manipulation, gaslighting, drug abuse, drug addiction, kidnapping, abduction, alcohol abuse.GANTE LOWD
- god bless the hot loyal mafioso priest 🙏📿
- Lowd in a nutshell… 🤭🤭🤭
A mafioso through and through who was adopted and raised by the original Liu family. He works as a priest in a church in Taozhe, with hopes to one day rebuild the Liu family.
I love Lowd! And Umehara seems to have nailed this character down to a T. What a perfect match! Lowd also became one of my fav LIs in the game, and one I’ll probably think of fondly from now on.🥺 He was such a great character and love interest. The man stayed steadfast and loyal until the very end. It actually hurts how unwavering his devotion to the heroine is.😭 Through all the hardships, he remained by her side, for better or worse. I really don’t have any qualms or complaints about this LI.
After finishing all the romance endings in this title, I also think Lowd had the best romantic relationship with Kroa. Personally, I found their chemistry as a couple the most convincing and satisfying. I’m still brainrotting over his romance ending as we speak! I needed more chapters!
⬇️ SpoilersOH MAAAHH LOWWWD!🥵🥵🥵 I am down bad for this man.
I think out of everyone’s romance endings, Lowd’s felt the most natural and intimate. And perhaps this is because of how closely he and Kroa bonded during Chapter Two. It was also the only chapter where the heroine openly admits that she’s in love with someone before entrusting her feelings to her gun, Dilu. While she does something similar with the other LIs, she usually refers to those emotions as “budding feelings.” With Lowd, however, she literally jumped in front of a bullet for this man.
With Dilu nullifying at the end, it makes sense that the most impactful “romantic” feelings she carries are tied to Lowd. After all, he was the very first man she ever developed genuine feelings for. And let’s be real, among everyone Lowd was the one who remained steadfastly by her side the entire time. He never strayed, never did anything to hurt her (whether intentionally or accidentally), never manipulated her, and never forced her feelings. He was also never intrusive, and consistently respected her both as a woman and as the head of the Liu family.
Also, the love endings were all so random, dumb, and silly…but I absolutely ate all the fluff up. After everything they’ve been through, they deserve to just lay back and be dumb and silly for once. 😭
On a different note, I was reading Umechan’s commentary about Lowd, and was kinda shocked that he’s also a Romance of the 3Kingdoms nerd and was even basing Lowd’s character on Guan Yu from the series. He mustve felt giddy having to voice a character inspired by his own fav character from the show.lol So that was a nice little fun fact. I also felt like he did such an amazing job as Lowd, and I really couldn’t imagine anyone more suitable for the role.
SUN MASLO
- not a shota 👀😏🤭
- when that maslo beat drops…
Maslo is the boss of a small-time mafia from the countryside. He’s a friendly guy, and the last sort of person you’d expect to be leading a criminal organization. Aside from being part of the mob, he’s active as a popular DJ and song-writer.
Oh my beautiful pink boy! I am also down bad for Maslo… him, his character design and his designated BGM. (laughs) 🤣 Sometimes I intentionally leave the game idle just to listen to his dj vice track, lmao. But on a more serious note, Maslo was a really interesting character, no? And I can’t help but feel like the game could have done so much more with him if he had a proper individual route. In fact, this applies to all of the LIs. There was just so much untapped potential for us to explore more of them in greater depth, if their routes were longer.
Maslo and Kroa’s interactions in chapter three, I have also really enjoyed,🥹and his romance ending had one of the most beautiful CGs in the game. Although, I have to say, it’s his sad ending that completely cemented him as my new oshi.👀
⬇️ SpoilersI just feel like the writers probably had Maslo’s route skeletally structured around him being the designated yandere of the story. However, because of the game’s linear storyline, they scrapped this off and held back! My poor boy! 😭 I really think he didn’t get to shine as much as he deserved because of “plot”. As much as I’m enjoying the game overall, this is kind of the downside of games having linear plotlines; the character depth usually gets shoehorned.
Regardless, I still absolutely love Maslo. I was a bit miffed that his romance ending felt like an exposition dump of his backstory, but that beautiful kiss CG under the sakura tree compensated for it, so I guess its’ all good.(cackles) 😂 I also wanted to get a spicy CG of him and Kroa, making out backstage of his club and I can’t help but feel like we were really robbed of that visually!😭😭😭 His happy end was the only one that did not get a “bed ending” lmao although his sad ending compensated for that!😂 PLS I NEED A FANDISK! I BEG!
SODYK MUN
- the cleavage is doing crimes
- manipulation never looked this good
The boss of a huge mafia, Mun is considered the only one capable of competing with Biying. The public knows him as the young president of a big company, thanks to his many media appearances. Mun’s natural charisma tends to win him a lot of admirers.
Oh, Sodyk Mun… the man that you are… This is yet another straight-up “I can fix him” FukuJun character fresh outa the oven! Damn, what a smooooth guy. I was grinning the whole time playing Mun’s chapter (Chapter 4) in the game. The dude was just seductive, entrancing, smooth like butter. Though, I have to admit, playing his chapter also made me really nervous. It’s one of those instances where everything feels so right, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is… just off. Ha!🤣🤣🤣
I think Mun’s chapter was probably my favorite in the story. I can’t even allow myself to put the game down, his persuasive nature was literally working its way like cancer. The way his character was written, and how Fukuyama played this out was chef kiss, I have no words! I think Mun is going to be a fan favorite because, man oh man, how could anyone resist being completely swayed by this guy?
⬇️ SpoilersThe instant Mun suggested segregation with his class system BS, alarm bells started ringing in my head from all directions. My dude, NO!😭 How could anyone think segregation was a good idea? Even if he was preaching that it was the “best way” to maintain order in Kumyo, NO, NO, NO!!
Mun’s chapter I have to say was probably the one I had enjoyed the most because you can clearly see how deceptive and exceedingly manipulative he is, and I loved how vulnerable Kroa was here as well. She knew the man was making her dance around his palm, but she bit into the trap anyway. Her realization later that something was seriously wrong and that she needed to break free before Mun completely devours her whole and successfully makes her his pawn was such a good story climax.
I also loved the part where she starts noticing herself becoming like Mun while interacting with the Liu capos, and it takes Rin confronting her to snap her back to reality and see Mun’s true colors. That scene was absolutely peak!
If you think about it, Mun was the most dangerous and formidable enemy of the Liu family. The dude was a master manipulator! He manipulated everyone around him: his capos, the entire Sodyk family, the government officials in Kumyo, the police, and law enforcement. They all really believed he was the righteous man he made himself out to be. He even manipulated R, sending him to an early grave, and Zhiho, who ended up betraying the heroine and throwing a wrench into their infiltration plan.
On a side note, I can’t help but think that Mun and Kroa’s dynamic leans into the “lovers to enemies” trope where they start off as close, almost like lovers, and then fate throws them at each other’s throats. I’m really loving this trope in otome games lately! I usually only see it in reverse harem manga/manhwas so having this here was a nice touch.
ZHANG HIYOK
- resident himbo genki🥺
- golden retriever energy
A gangster from Taozhe. Hiyok is determined to protect the same Taozhe he was born and raised in, but in reality, his gang was only capable of recklessly, but unsuccessfully lashing back against the Zhuo family. When he downs a particularly strong alcohol, he becomes a whole different person, capable of taking down multiple men at once.
This game is now making a hako-oshi, because I also love Hiyok. The first time you’ll meet him, you can immediately sense just how precious and likable he is.🥺 Hiyok is another trusted and sworn comrade of our heroine, Kroa. Like Lowd, he is incredibly loyal and one of the Liu family’s strongest fighters. I’m a tad wistful though that his chapter only half-focused on him, especially since his final volumes were already converging with the main plot and heading toward the finale. I guess I just needed more fluff with this himbo.😭 On a different note, I wasn’t expecting his bad ending to turn out the way it did…but I kind of liked it. 😳👉👈
⬇️ SpoilersHe also keeps a diary! What a precious boy!😭
Kroa’s worries about Hiyok losing his feelings for her felt a bit anticlimactic, because in the end, he never really lost it. It was also pretty easy for her to win him back given Hiyok has always been fond of her. He even had a crush on her the first time they met.Still and all, I absolutely loved how she worked to get him to like her again in Hiyok’s “happy ending.” It was nice to see her making the first move in everything, and seeing Hiyok turn into this blushing, genki mess was adorable. I love their dynamic as well! So much!😭 Again, I feel robbed of fluff with this man because the romance was too short; just as the cute, fluffy stuff was starting, the chapter was already over. 😭
LIU KROA (Main Heroine)
- cunning mafia princess
- best girl!
I love Kroa. She’s now one of my favorite otoge heroines! This woman has serious balls of steel. I was a little wary of her at first, since she came across as somewhat idealistic in the common route, and I had my doubts whether she could truly pull off being the Liu family boss. But as the story progressed, I realized, wow this girl can actually walk the talk.
She’s certainly physically strong, highly skilled with a gun, and more than capable of holding her own during a shoot-out. But its actually her unwavering determination and her intrepid sense of taking risks that got me on her side of the camp. As a mafia boss, she will be pitted in situations where she has to make bold and risky decisions, not just for herself but for everyone in the Liu family. My anxiety was through the roof every time she was served yet another obstacle right after overcoming the last one. The girl seriously could not catch a break!😭 I was nervous for her all the freakin’ time, but her resilience was mighty impressive and very infectious. I could truly feel that she earned every ounce of respect her capos give her.
Kroa is also a very flawed heroine, and that’s one of the things I love most about her. She knows what she is capable of and uses her strengths wisely, but she’s also aware of her limits and what she can’t do on her own. She makes plenty of mistakes throughout the game, and sometimes her risky decisions put both herself and her comrades in danger. She beats herself up over those failures, but what’s remarkable is how she learns from them, rubs the dirt off her face, gets back on her feet, and pounces back harder and stronger every time.🤧 My girl!! 😭😭😭I loved how she was written to be very capable without ever feeling grossly overblown, if that makes sense? She’s not the kind of heroine who’s all mouth and no bite, she doesn’t talk a big game or rely on empty bravado. I really couldn’t stop rooting for her, just like her capos who believed in her as their boss.🥹 BEST GIRL!!
SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION
Before I get into the details of the game’s system, I just want to say in passing that the love catch for this title is so pretty! 😍 The butterfly animations were perhaps one of my fav design elements, aesthetically speaking, in this title.
As for the system itself, I think this is where most of my complaints lie. First of all, the font was rather tiny and not very visible, the kerning was also kind of awful and there was no way to adjust this. I play docked on my TV, so over time this became a non-issue for me. Next, and perhaps the thing that bothered me the most, is that the system overwrites its parameters after every ending you achieve (whether its the true end or sad end). What I mean is that after achieving, say, the“true ending”, the next time you restart the game from the very beginning, all your save files from the previous run become defunct, and are replaced by the new current progress in your present gameplay.
I think this is probably because of the game’s linear storyline, but as a completionist, it was kind of frustrating to unlock all the endings without having to restart from the very beginning of each chapter, or at worst, from the prologue. It became a nightmare to skip through scenes just to unlock different bad endings while trying different combinations of choices in the process. At the very least, the True End was easy to achieve all thanks to the love catch system.
PROS:
- Heroine name customizable
- SHOP – The boss’s grade points you collect can be spent here
- “Secret Information” in the EXTRA section –this is where all the short stories that you’ve bought from the shop are located.
- Terminology – the game’s glossary.
- Chapter Intermission
- Underground Newspaper – will show up after finishing a chapter.
- MAPS – shows which family rules over each territory.
- CHAPTER Select
- Love Catch System
- Skip READ and AUTO function
- Quick Save/Quick Load
- CG Library
- Movie Library
CONS:
- No heroine side sprite image
- Unvoiced Heroine
- SKIP Read’s fastest setting is slow.
- Lingering voice lines, even if you’ve skipped the character’s lines
- No Skip to Next Choice function
- No Flowchart
- No Sound Library
- Typos
- Parameters reset after every ending achieved.
Localization
The translations also seem pretty good. Since the theme involves the mafia and a lot of morally gray characters, there are naturally lots of coarse language thrown around which I think fits the game’s theme overall. Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos throughout the game. Not that they ruined gameplay, They didn’t bother me, but they’re definitely present, nonetheless.
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPA6yvkZMbg
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I think my overall gameplay lasted about 40 hours total. This includes trying to unlock all the endings in the game and playing all the CCTV short stories in the “EXTRA” section. I was also playing blind, my switch docked, and was on auto mode most of the time. Technically, with a walkthrough and without auto-mode, you could finish the game in less than 40 hours.
AmuLit’s Linear Storytelling is back!
To start with, yes, Neon Clash unfortunately has a linear structure, similar to Even if Tempest and RBL. There are no separate branching routes for the guys. Instead, it plays out as one main story, with each chapter highlighting a specific LI.
Personally, I feel like the way these segments advanced wasn’t jarring or disjointed like in RBL, its predecessor. Each chapter introducing an LI flows smoothly within the story, and the MC’s bonding with her love interests doesn’t come off as forced (at least to me). The story kind of just naturally melds together without trying to shove anything in, if that makes sense. With that said, in my opinion, the linear structure actually worked pretty well here because of the game’s setting and how fast-paced all of the events unfolded.
As for how the heroine spends time from one LI to another, her relationships in the main story remain fairly ambiguous. There’s definitely some romantic pining going on, but they mostly come from the LIs’ side (kind of like how they do it in reverse harem animes). The heroine does emotionally acknowledge her budding feelings for an LI in every chapter, but the game somehow found a cheat code to progress the story without locking the romance into one specific guy. Shockingly enough, it made sense to me and worked well in favor of the overall narrative.😳
⬇️ Read spoilers if you’re curious about what I mean.Around the end of Chapter 2 (Lowd’s segment), Maslo approaches Kroa and teaches her how to use her psychometry in reverse. Instead of reading emotions from objects, Kroa learns to store her own emotions into her gun, Dilu. This way, she can transfer all her strong feelings of love, romance, grief, regrets, sorrow to Dilu, and fully step into her role as a mafia boss and endure the territorial power struggles against her rivals without anything weighing her down.
I know it sounds goofy to dump your feelings into a gun lol. But I thought it was actually a pretty crafty way to move the story forward without making Kroa’s interactions with the LIs feel weird or awkward. She also makes it a point in the game to make sure that before her “budding feelings” develop further, she gets rid of them and entrusts them all to Dilu.
Being the head of the Liu family comes with a lot of consequences, so before any lingering emotions weigh her down, she chooses to do away with them. This is especially crucial given the many mistakes she makes throughout the story. In Chapter 2, she jumps out of formation to protect Lowd, which leads to the death of one of her capos, Zhia. Another instance where entrusting her feelings to Dilu becomes vitally relevant is during Mun’s chapter. As her most formidable foe, facing him head-on requires her to completely forget her personal feelings for him.
So yeah, in a way, this cheat sheet actually works really well in the narrative. I was very satisfied with how it was handled.
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms But Make it Mafia
For CN media aficionados, if it isn’t obvious, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost is actually heavily inspired by the famous Luo Guanzhong novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was reading the director’s commentary on the game, and they mentioned that Satoshi Nohara, the producer, the staff themselves, and even the seiyuus were big fans of the series. Ngl, I think it’s kinda brilliant how they were able to interlace the power struggle theme from RoTK into a modern-day mafia story. I was also a fan of the series, (well, mostly the 2010 tv series and the old TRPG lol)😅 and I think the devs really drew a lot of inspiration from the original source and incorporated it beautifully into this game.
Even the game’s worldview, where you can see Kumyo’s map and how it shows which bases belong to which family as well as which family captured which bases after every chapter ending, draws heavily from RoTK, and I thought this was really clever!
I also loved how they adapted the Triad/Chinese mafia-gang style in the story, where the mafia is less formal, less rigid, and more chaotic compared to the American-Italian style mafiosos. I grew up watching HK cinema, and if you’re like me and loved gangster movies like Young and Dangerous, you will absolutely enjoy the intense, hard-hitting action-packed style that Neon Clash delivers. So yeah, this game was right up my alley, so to speak.
I feel like the producer’s vision was perfectly realized by the director, the scenario writer, and the rest of the staff. From reading the team’s commentaries, it’s clear that everyone was highly coordinated, and you can really see that synergy reflected throughout the game!
An Action-Packed Storyline with Multi-Faceted Characters
Plotwise, the tension in this game was insane. Our main characters go through relentless hardships, one after another. I was totally shook how vivid and strong their motivations felt (as if I was there with them lol). I spent the whole time gritting my teeth, wondering what would happen next? How are they going to make their next move? The story itself really felt like an intense battle of divide and conquer all the way up to the very end.
Whenever Kroa and the gang survived and achieved their goals (even for just a brief moment), I couldn’t help but smile and cheer with them. And whenever they suffered a loss, I cried right along with them too. It’s kind of amusing how invested I got in the story, now that I think about it!😅
This title is also pretty fast-paced. While the action-packed scenes in the story take place months apart chronologically, the game’s structure delivers them back-to-back, which kept the story momentum high, sometimes leaving you gasping for air.🤣(laughs)
I think I also liked the fact that, despite the storm of tragedy and chaos unfolding, the game still gives you enough breathing room to process things before throwing you into another spiral. What’s especially nice is that every conflict is born from a character’s own choices and missteps, so the chaos didn’t feel like some sort of arbitrary monkey wrench thrown into the plot for shock value. Most of the tragedies happen within reason and fit naturally into the narrative, so I was pretty satisfied with this aspect of the story. Also, keep in mind that since the story revolves around a modern-day mafia theme, the game can get pretty graphic and violent. So if these things make you queasy, please check the content warnings above.
The side characters were also a lot of fun. I had my favorite picks like R, Rin, the Shelby twins, Yulong, Shao Feng, Yona, and a whole lot of others. Gonglu was a piece of sh*t, but I have to admit, I was kind of infatuated with him at some point. (cackles).🙈
Just look at that sassy, scheming grin of his!😭It’s also really hard not to like any of the LIs, as they’re all so distinctively well-written. This game turned me into a filthy box-pusher (hako-oshi) all over again, because I genuinely mean it when I say I’m down bad for every single love interest. I was so sure my top pick was Lowd after finishing all the romance endings, but as I’m writing this review, I keep brainrotting over Maslo. His story in the game was kind of shafted, which is a pity, but there’s just something about him that I’m really drawn to (maybe its his sexy neck frayglyph tattoo, who knows). 😏🤭So I guess, if I had to choose at gunpoint, I’d be rallying behind my beautiful DJ pink-kun!
You already have my heart, bb!😌As for the romance, the confession scenes in the Happy Ends were all pretty silly, dumb, and hilarious, but I somehow inhaled every single one of them because I was STARVED for romance the entire time. After all the hurdles, and hardships these characters went through, they absolutely deserved to let loose and just be silly and dumb for once.
Having said that, if anything, what this title could’ve really benefited from, was more romance scenarios. I’m not saying there’s none because I think the romance in the individual “Happy Ends” was really good food (delicious, even). After all, the scenario is by the writer of Cupid Parasite, so you can definitely pick up their signature flair for spicing things up. However, the length of the epilogues just felt far too short to showcase an utterly satisfying fluff. I wanted more. More fluff and more spice! 😭 Maybe a fandisk could scratch this itch… please, Voltage, I beg!
Do I recommend this game? YES.
I…..really….. loooooved this game.😭 I realized I was also the target audience for this title. The ending was so satisfying to me, that I can overlook a few exposition issues because of it. It’s not often that I finish a title and sigh, “Man, that was great,” but that’s exactly how I felt after finishing Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. I don’t claim this title is flawless or perfect, but everything about it, from the beautiful cyberpunk Chinese aesthetics, the intense power struggle plotline, the modern-day mafia action-packed scenarios, to the exhilarating main characters that I’ve grown to love and care for, keeps calling me back every time. I’m honestly really shocked at how much this title has wormed its way into my top favorites.How I wish I could forget this game so I could re-experience all the positive restlessness and edge-of-your-seat milliseconds I spent on it all over again. 😭 It was hell and back, peak! I was thoroughly entertained until the very last roll of credits, so yeah, this is an easy recommendation from me.
This title is currently on a 10% release month discount, so I don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve already bought sets of merch for this title, and I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last time I spend on it. If you care about peak storytelling and peak characters, absolutely play Neon Clash, by all means necessary.
#AmuLit #NeonClash #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLost #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLostReview #NeonClashReview #nintendoSwitch #OtomeGameReview #VoltageInc
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Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost Review (Nintendo Switch)
Release Date: December 25, 2025 (North America)
Developers: Voltage Inc.
Publishers: Voltage Inc.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)STORY
Kumyo: The land of neon lights and fleeting pleasures.
A land where if you don’t step on others to get to the top, you’ll only sink to the bottom. Effort means nothing. Charity? Forget about it.
Kroa is an underground courier at the bottom of the barrel. In order to survive life in Kumyo, the youth have turned to the mafia life to fight for power. The mafia is a violent criminal organization shunned by the public. However, there was one family both respected by fellow mafioso, and adored by the general public.
Their name was the Liu family.
11 years ago, the Liu family was exterminated.But once the sole surviving member, Gante Lowd, crosses paths with the rightful heir, Liu Kroa, the wheel of fate begins to turn once more.
ART AND MUSIC
Director:Ichika ShiinaArtist:Takao (Overall character design), Kuroyoki(Chibi)BG Artist:Studio COCOLOScenario:Ririka YoshimuraOST:Shihoko Hirata (OP & ED theme, lyrics)BGM/Soundtrack:Shunsuke Tsuchiya (BGM, OP Composer)Concept, Producer:Satoshi NoharaI love Neon Clash’s overall visual aesthetic. The artwork is beyond beautiful and I am completely enamored with the game’s art style. The CGs especially, are insanely pretty! All the while being very emotional and very impactful! On top of that, the LIs have multiple sprite variations, and their outfits are really stunning. We have none other than the Japanese illustrator, Takao to thank for all of Neon Clash’s gorgeous glory, which appears to be their first full otome game project. I sincerely hope they’ll have more otome projects in the future because their art style to me, is crazy gorgeous!
As for the game’s staff, the writing team is led by Ririka Yoshimura, who is widely known for also being the lead scenario writer for Cupid Parasite and Despera Drops. The game’s overall director is Ichika Shina, an in-house director for Voltage Inc.
Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost also has one of the most banger OPs this year. The OP theme, Shangri-La, was by far one of my favorite otome OST of 2025. I also really enjoyed how vibrant the BGMs are in this game; I think they mesh pretty well with the neon Chinese aesthetic of this title, which I’m really loving btw. The game’s BGMs are by Shunsuke Tsuchiya of Procyon Studio, who also composed for Even if Tempest, Black Wolves Saga, KgK, and a few other otome game OSTs in the past.
Voice Acting
Yuichiro Umehara as “Gante Lowd” – Alfred (Mistonia’s Hope), Paschalia (Radiant Tale), Serge (Genso Manege), Kohei Minato (Sympathy Kiss), Benkei (Birushana), Canus Espada (Café Enchanté), Enishi (Jack Jeanne), Demento (Period Cube), Shingen Takeda (IkeSen), Sage (Nekopara Catboys Paradise), Rain (Shiro to Kuro no Alice), Oochidori (Touken Ranbu)
Shunichi Toki as “Sun Maslo” – Hibiki (9RIP), Dahut (Virche Evermore), Leo (Piofiore), Yakumo (Dairoku), Hibie (Winters Wish), Matsui Go (Touken Ranbu), Mousse Atlas (IkeRev), Yuki Rurikawa (A3!)
Jun Fukuyama as “Sodyk Mun” – Ascot (Mistonia’s Hope), Karatachi (Illusion of Itehari), Mizuchi (Hana Awase), Tomomori (Birushana), Vyn Richter (Tears of Themis), Mozu (BUSTFELLOWS), Goro Fujita (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Liberta (Arcana Famiglia), Rin (Togainu no Chi), Aido (Vampire Knight), Tokiwa Etsuya (Dairoku), Goke Kanimitsu (Touken Ranbu)
Ryota Suzuki as “Zhang Hiyok” – Lucas (Mistonia’s Hope), Ash (Despera Drops), Koyo (9RIP), Ginnosuke (Him, the Smile and bloom), Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kiito Minorikawa (Jack Jeanne), Trey Clover (TWST), Ink (Gunka Haita Neko), Caster (FGO), Mizuro Tamaki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Takeo Otsuka as “Mazho Meqrin” – Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries), Elbert Greetia (IkeVil), Sunday (HSR), Luke (Chaos Zero Nightmare), Miyabi (UN:Logical), Katsu (Shinjuku Rashoumon), Yuen Hu (Shinjuku Soumei), Kanata (Angelique Lumenarise), Remnan (Gnosia), Joshua Rosfield (FF16)
Yusuke Kobayashi as “Shelby Zhiho” – Flynn (The Red Bell’s Lament), Tomonari (Winters Wish), Hira (Dairoku), Byleth (FE Engage, 3H), Shinano Toushiro (Touken Ranbu), Suwon (Yona of the Dawn), Yuli Norbert (MidCin), Manai Tomoki (Sweet Clown), Xavier (Love and Deepspace), Ugetso (Utakata no Uchronia), Kiyoshi Kurotani (Persona 5), Senku Ishigami (Dr. Stone)
Hana Shimano as “Shelby Zhia” – Himari Kino (Whisper Me a Love Song), Mako Kawai (Food for the Soul)
Kazuyuki Okitsu as “Yuan Gonglu” – Ankou (Virche Evermore), Yoji Kobase (Sympathy Kiss), Atsushi Daikoku (B-PROJECT), Tsukuyomi (Olympia Soiree), Epilogi (Café Enchanté), Hachisuka Kotetsu (Touken Ranbu), Dante (Jack Jeanne), Ray (EPHEMERAL), Kuya (NU Carnival), Kyrie (Ozmafia!!), Keith Knight (Iris School of Wizardry)
Shinnosuke Tachibana as “Shao Feng” – Himeutsugi (Hana Awase), Seiya (9RIP), Koizumi Yakumo (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Camu (Despera Drops), Xiaolei (Battlefield Waltz), Henri (Piofiore), White Mask (Bad Apple Wars), Kousei (Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku), William Rex (IkeVil), Koryu Kagemitsu (Touken Ranbu), Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)
Eiji Takeuchi as “R” – Riley Randolph (Mistonia’s Hope), Hitoya Amaguni (Hypnosis Mic), Sumio (Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master), Rafa (Borderlands 4), Hide (Nioh 2), Nobutaka Osanai (Tokyo Revengers), Takefumi Kawada (The Devil is a Part-timer)
Kazuhiro Yoshimura as “Xiadun Jue” – Shioji (Illusion of Itehari), Oleander (The Red Bell’s Lament), Alest (Radiant Tale), Minegeshi (Collar x Malice), Ten (Cafe Enchante), Maki (Side Kicks!), Souji Kamishiro (Suika Niritsu), Pepe (Bustafellows)
Haruki Ishiya as “Yunzi Yulong” – Toichi Nagayama (Jack Jeanne), Jiro (Hypnosis Mic), Roger Ward (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Toru (Slow Damage), Louis (FE Engage), Sebek Zigvolt (TWST), Makoto Shizuo (Prince of Stride), Haku (Gunka o Haita Neko), Mikado (On Air!)
Taishi Murata as “Kyochu Yona” – Kaina (Olympia Soire), Idaeus Glodell (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Tokugawa Iemitsu (Ken ga Kimi), Takeshi Efuku (Prince of Stride), Seth Hyde (IkePri),
CAST AND CHARACTERS
With Neon Clash being AmuLit’s third otome console game installment, it has become clearer to me that the studio really does have its own distinct narrative formula. If you’ve played their previous two titles, Even if Tempest and The Red Bell’s Lament, you’ll notice a similar structure shared with Neon Clash, where in the story progresses in a largely linear fashion, and the romance endings only unlock after the main story has been cleared.
That said, this title does not have any branching individual routes in the way conventional console otome games do. Instead, the romance endings only become available after you’ve completed the TRUE Ending of the game. Each chapter has the heroine spending time with a specific love interest:
- Chapter 2: Lowd
- Chapter 3: Maslo
- Chapter 4: Mun
- Chapter 5: Hiyok
- Chapter 6: is the final chapter that wraps up the story and leads into the endings.
In a way, this format kinda plays out similarly to how Chinese mobile otome games structure their stories (think Tears of Themis, LaDs, MLQC, etc.), where there’s one overarching main story and each chapter is dedicated to a particular love interest.
As for how the story benefits from this type of formula, it certainly depends on the kind of narrative the writers present in the main game. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of how it played out in The Red Bell’s Lament, but I did enjoy the same formula in Even if Tempest. With Neon Clash, I think this approach works well here too, especially given how impressively fast-paced and eventful the main story is. I’ll save more of my detailed thoughts for my “overall impressions” section below, so please keep reading!😁
Walkthroughs:
Note: The CGs shown below are promotional images for the game, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. All spoiler-related content in this review will be hidden behind a spoiler drop-down, that you can choose to view at your own discretion.
⬇️ Click to view Content Warnings Violence, gun violence, public shooting, murder, mass murder, death, blood, decapitation, discrimination against other nationalities, class system, marginalization, poverty, sexual assault, manipulation, gaslighting, drug abuse, drug addiction, kidnapping, abduction, alcohol abuse.GANTE LOWD
- god bless the hot loyal mafioso priest 🙏📿
- Lowd in a nutshell… 🤭🤭🤭
A mafioso through and through who was adopted and raised by the original Liu family. He works as a priest in a church in Taozhe, with hopes to one day rebuild the Liu family.
I love Lowd! And Umehara seems to have nailed this character down to a T. What a perfect match! Lowd also became one of my fav LIs in the game, and one I’ll probably think of fondly from now on.🥺 He was such a great character and love interest. The man stayed steadfast and loyal until the very end. It actually hurts how unwavering his devotion to the heroine is.😭 Through all the hardships, he remained by her side, for better or worse. I really don’t have any qualms or complaints about this LI.
After finishing all the romance endings in this title, I also think Lowd had the best romantic relationship with Kroa. Personally, I found their chemistry as a couple the most convincing and satisfying. I’m still brainrotting over his romance ending as we speak! I needed more chapters!
⬇️ SpoilersOH MAAAHH LOWWWD!🥵🥵🥵 I am down bad for this man.
I think out of everyone’s romance endings, Lowd’s felt the most natural and intimate. And perhaps this is because of how closely he and Kroa bonded during Chapter Two. It was also the only chapter where the heroine openly admits that she’s in love with someone before entrusting her feelings to her gun, Dilu. While she does something similar with the other LIs, she usually refers to those emotions as “budding feelings.” With Lowd, however, she literally jumped in front of a bullet for this man.
With Dilu nullifying at the end, it makes sense that the most impactful “romantic” feelings she carries are tied to Lowd. After all, he was the very first man she ever developed genuine feelings for. And let’s be real, among everyone Lowd was the one who remained steadfastly by her side the entire time. He never strayed, never did anything to hurt her (whether intentionally or accidentally), never manipulated her, and never forced her feelings. He was also never intrusive, and consistently respected her both as a woman and as the head of the Liu family.
Also, the love endings were all so random, dumb, and silly…but I absolutely ate all the fluff up. After everything they’ve been through, they deserve to just lay back and be dumb and silly for once. 😭
On a different note, I was reading Umechan’s commentary about Lowd, and was kinda shocked that he’s also a Romance of the 3Kingdoms nerd and was even basing Lowd’s character on Guan Yu from the series. He mustve felt giddy having to voice a character inspired by his own fav character from the show.lol So that was a nice little fun fact. I also felt like he did such an amazing job as Lowd, and I really couldn’t imagine anyone more suitable for the role.
SUN MASLO
- not a shota 👀😏🤭
- when that maslo beat drops…
Maslo is the boss of a small-time mafia from the countryside. He’s a friendly guy, and the last sort of person you’d expect to be leading a criminal organization. Aside from being part of the mob, he’s active as a popular DJ and song-writer.
Oh my beautiful pink boy! I am also down bad for Maslo… him, his character design and his designated BGM. (laughs) 🤣 Sometimes I intentionally leave the game idle just to listen to his dj vice track, lmao. But on a more serious note, Maslo was a really interesting character, no? And I can’t help but feel like the game could have done so much more with him if he had a proper individual route. In fact, this applies to all of the LIs. There was just so much untapped potential for us to explore more of them in greater depth, if their routes were longer.
Maslo and Kroa’s interactions in chapter three, I have also really enjoyed,🥹and his romance ending had one of the most beautiful CGs in the game. Although, I have to say, it’s his sad ending that completely cemented him as my new oshi.👀
⬇️ SpoilersI just feel like the writers probably had Maslo’s route skeletally structured around him being the designated yandere of the story. However, because of the game’s linear storyline, they scrapped this off and held back! My poor boy! 😭 I really think he didn’t get to shine as much as he deserved because of “plot”. As much as I’m enjoying the game overall, this is kind of the downside of games having linear plotlines; the character depth usually gets shoehorned.
Regardless, I still absolutely love Maslo. I was a bit miffed that his romance ending felt like an exposition dump of his backstory, but that beautiful kiss CG under the sakura tree compensated for it, so I guess its’ all good.(cackles) 😂 I also wanted to get a spicy CG of him and Kroa, making out backstage of his club and I can’t help but feel like we were really robbed of that visually!😭😭😭 His happy end was the only one that did not get a “bed ending” lmao although his sad ending compensated for that!😂 PLS I NEED A FANDISK! I BEG!
SODYK MUN
- the cleavage is doing crimes
- manipulation never looked this good
The boss of a huge mafia, Mun is considered the only one capable of competing with Biying. The public knows him as the young president of a big company, thanks to his many media appearances. Mun’s natural charisma tends to win him a lot of admirers.
Oh, Sodyk Mun… the man that you are… This is yet another straight-up “I can fix him” FukuJun character fresh outa the oven! Damn, what a smooooth guy. I was grinning the whole time playing Mun’s chapter (Chapter 4) in the game. The dude was just seductive, entrancing, smooth like butter. Though, I have to admit, playing his chapter also made me really nervous. It’s one of those instances where everything feels so right, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is… just off. Ha!🤣🤣🤣
I think Mun’s chapter was probably my favorite in the story. I can’t even allow myself to put the game down, his persuasive nature was literally working its way like cancer. The way his character was written, and how Fukuyama played this out was chef kiss, I have no words! I think Mun is going to be a fan favorite because, man oh man, how could anyone resist being completely swayed by this guy?
⬇️ SpoilersThe instant Mun suggested segregation with his class system BS, alarm bells started ringing in my head from all directions. My dude, NO!😭 How could anyone think segregation was a good idea? Even if he was preaching that it was the “best way” to maintain order in Kumyo, NO, NO, NO!!
Mun’s chapter I have to say was probably the one I had enjoyed the most because you can clearly see how deceptive and exceedingly manipulative he is, and I loved how vulnerable Kroa was here as well. She knew the man was making her dance around his palm, but she bit into the trap anyway. Her realization later that something was seriously wrong and that she needed to break free before Mun completely devours her whole and successfully makes her his pawn was such a good story climax.
I also loved the part where she starts noticing herself becoming like Mun while interacting with the Liu capos, and it takes Rin confronting her to snap her back to reality and see Mun’s true colors. That scene was absolutely peak!
If you think about it, Mun was the most dangerous and formidable enemy of the Liu family. The dude was a master manipulator! He manipulated everyone around him: his capos, the entire Sodyk family, the government officials in Kumyo, the police, and law enforcement. They all really believed he was the righteous man he made himself out to be. He even manipulated R, sending him to an early grave, and Zhiho, who ended up betraying the heroine and throwing a wrench into their infiltration plan.
On a side note, I can’t help but think that Mun and Kroa’s dynamic leans into the “lovers to enemies” trope where they start off as close, almost like lovers, and then fate throws them at each other’s throats. I’m really loving this trope in otome games lately! I usually only see it in reverse harem manga/manhwas so having this here was a nice touch.
ZHANG HIYOK
- resident himbo genki🥺
- golden retriever energy
A gangster from Taozhe. Hiyok is determined to protect the same Taozhe he was born and raised in, but in reality, his gang was only capable of recklessly, but unsuccessfully lashing back against the Zhuo family. When he downs a particularly strong alcohol, he becomes a whole different person, capable of taking down multiple men at once.
This game is now making a hako-oshi, because I also love Hiyok. The first time you’ll meet him, you can immediately sense just how precious and likable he is.🥺 Hiyok is another trusted and sworn comrade of our heroine, Kroa. Like Lowd, he is incredibly loyal and one of the Liu family’s strongest fighters. I’m a tad wistful though that his chapter only half-focused on him, especially since his final volumes were already converging with the main plot and heading toward the finale. I guess I just needed more fluff with this himbo.😭 On a different note, I wasn’t expecting his bad ending to turn out the way it did…but I kind of liked it. 😳👉👈
⬇️ SpoilersHe also keeps a diary! What a precious boy!😭
Kroa’s worries about Hiyok losing his feelings for her felt a bit anticlimactic, because in the end, he never really lost it. It was also pretty easy for her to win him back given Hiyok has always been fond of her. He even had a crush on her the first time they met.Still and all, I absolutely loved how she worked to get him to like her again in Hiyok’s “happy ending.” It was nice to see her making the first move in everything, and seeing Hiyok turn into this blushing, genki mess was adorable. I love their dynamic as well! So much!😭 Again, I feel robbed of fluff with this man because the romance was too short; just as the cute, fluffy stuff was starting, the chapter was already over. 😭
LIU KROA (Main Heroine)
- cunning mafia princess
- best girl!
I love Kroa. She’s now one of my favorite otoge heroines! This woman has serious balls of steel. I was a little wary of her at first, since she came across as somewhat idealistic in the common route, and I had my doubts whether she could truly pull off being the Liu family boss. But as the story progressed, I realized, wow this girl can actually walk the talk.
She’s certainly physically strong, highly skilled with a gun, and more than capable of holding her own during a shoot-out. But its actually her unwavering determination and her intrepid sense of taking risks that got me on her side of the camp. As a mafia boss, she will be pitted in situations where she has to make bold and risky decisions, not just for herself but for everyone in the Liu family. My anxiety was through the roof every time she was served yet another obstacle right after overcoming the last one. The girl seriously could not catch a break!😭 I was nervous for her all the freakin’ time, but her resilience was mighty impressive and very infectious. I could truly feel that she earned every ounce of respect her capos give her.
Kroa is also a very flawed heroine, and that’s one of the things I love most about her. She knows what she is capable of and uses her strengths wisely, but she’s also aware of her limits and what she can’t do on her own. She makes plenty of mistakes throughout the game, and sometimes her risky decisions put both herself and her comrades in danger. She beats herself up over those failures, but what’s remarkable is how she learns from them, rubs the dirt off her face, gets back on her feet, and pounces back harder and stronger every time.🤧 My girl!! 😭😭😭I loved how she was written to be very capable without ever feeling grossly overblown, if that makes sense? She’s not the kind of heroine who’s all mouth and no bite, she doesn’t talk a big game or rely on empty bravado. I really couldn’t stop rooting for her, just like her capos who believed in her as their boss.🥹 BEST GIRL!!
SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION
Before I get into the details of the game’s system, I just want to say in passing that the love catch for this title is so pretty! 😍 The butterfly animations were perhaps one of my fav design elements, aesthetically speaking, in this title.
As for the system itself, I think this is where most of my complaints lie. First of all, the font was rather tiny and not very visible, the kerning was also kind of awful and there was no way to adjust this. I play docked on my TV, so over time this became a non-issue for me. Next, and perhaps the thing that bothered me the most, is that the system overwrites its parameters after every ending you achieve (whether its the true end or sad end). What I mean is that after achieving, say, the“true ending”, the next time you restart the game from the very beginning, all your save files from the previous run become defunct, and are replaced by the new current progress in your present gameplay.
I think this is probably because of the game’s linear storyline, but as a completionist, it was kind of frustrating to unlock all the endings without having to restart from the very beginning of each chapter, or at worst, from the prologue. It became a nightmare to skip through scenes just to unlock different bad endings while trying different combinations of choices in the process. At the very least, the True End was easy to achieve all thanks to the love catch system.
PROS:
- Heroine name customizable
- SHOP – The boss’s grade points you collect can be spent here
- “Secret Information” in the EXTRA section –this is where all the short stories that you’ve bought from the shop are located.
- Terminology – the game’s glossary.
- Chapter Intermission
- Underground Newspaper – will show up after finishing a chapter.
- MAPS – shows which family rules over each territory.
- CHAPTER Select
- Love Catch System
- Skip READ and AUTO function
- Quick Save/Quick Load
- CG Library
- Movie Library
CONS:
- No heroine side sprite image
- Unvoiced Heroine
- SKIP Read’s fastest setting is slow.
- Lingering voice lines, even if you’ve skipped the character’s lines
- No Skip to Next Choice function
- No Flowchart
- No Sound Library
- Typos
- Parameters reset after every ending achieved.
Localization
The translations also seem pretty good. Since the theme involves the mafia and a lot of morally gray characters, there are naturally lots of coarse language thrown around which I think fits the game’s theme overall. Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos throughout the game. Not that they ruined gameplay, They didn’t bother me, but they’re definitely present, nonetheless.
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPA6yvkZMbg
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I think my overall gameplay lasted about 40 hours total. This includes trying to unlock all the endings in the game and playing all the CCTV short stories in the “EXTRA” section. I was also playing blind, my switch docked, and was on auto mode most of the time. Technically, with a walkthrough and without auto-mode, you could finish the game in less than 40 hours.
AmuLit’s Linear Storytelling is back!
To start with, yes, Neon Clash unfortunately has a linear structure, similar to Even if Tempest and RBL. There are no separate branching routes for the guys. Instead, it plays out as one main story, with each chapter highlighting a specific LI.
Personally, I feel like the way these segments advanced wasn’t jarring or disjointed like in RBL, its predecessor. Each chapter introducing an LI flows smoothly within the story, and the MC’s bonding with her love interests doesn’t come off as forced (at least to me). The story kind of just naturally melds together without trying to shove anything in, if that makes sense. With that said, in my opinion, the linear structure actually worked pretty well here because of the game’s setting and how fast-paced all of the events unfolded.
As for how the heroine spends time from one LI to another, her relationships in the main story remain fairly ambiguous. There’s definitely some romantic pining going on, but they mostly come from the LIs’ side (kind of like how they do it in reverse harem animes). The heroine does emotionally acknowledge her budding feelings for an LI in every chapter, but the game somehow found a cheat code to progress the story without locking the romance into one specific guy. Shockingly enough, it made sense to me and worked well in favor of the overall narrative.😳
⬇️ Read spoilers if you’re curious about what I mean.Around the end of Chapter 2 (Lowd’s segment), Maslo approaches Kroa and teaches her how to use her psychometry in reverse. Instead of reading emotions from objects, Kroa learns to store her own emotions into her gun, Dilu. This way, she can transfer all her strong feelings of love, romance, grief, regrets, sorrow to Dilu, and fully step into her role as a mafia boss and endure the territorial power struggles against her rivals without anything weighing her down.
I know it sounds goofy to dump your feelings into a gun lol. But I thought it was actually a pretty crafty way to move the story forward without making Kroa’s interactions with the LIs feel weird or awkward. She also makes it a point in the game to make sure that before her “budding feelings” develop further, she gets rid of them and entrusts them all to Dilu.
Being the head of the Liu family comes with a lot of consequences, so before any lingering emotions weigh her down, she chooses to do away with them. This is especially crucial given the many mistakes she makes throughout the story. In Chapter 2, she jumps out of formation to protect Lowd, which leads to the death of one of her capos, Zhia. Another instance where entrusting her feelings to Dilu becomes vitally relevant is during Mun’s chapter. As her most formidable foe, facing him head-on requires her to completely forget her personal feelings for him.
So yeah, in a way, this cheat sheet actually works really well in the narrative. I was very satisfied with how it was handled.
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms But Make it Mafia
For CN media aficionados, if it isn’t obvious, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost is actually heavily inspired by the famous Luo Guanzhong novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was reading the director’s commentary on the game, and they mentioned that Satoshi Nohara, the producer, the staff themselves, and even the seiyuus were big fans of the series. Ngl, I think it’s kinda brilliant how they were able to interlace the power struggle theme from RoTK into a modern-day mafia story. I was also a fan of the series, (well, mostly the 2010 tv series and the old TRPG lol)😅 and I think the devs really drew a lot of inspiration from the original source and incorporated it beautifully into this game.
Even the game’s worldview, where you can see Kumyo’s map and how it shows which bases belong to which family as well as which family captured which bases after every chapter ending, draws heavily from RoTK, and I thought this was really clever!
I also loved how they adapted the Triad/Chinese mafia-gang style in the story, where the mafia is less formal, less rigid, and more chaotic compared to the American-Italian style mafiosos. I grew up watching HK cinema, and if you’re like me and loved gangster movies like Young and Dangerous, you will absolutely enjoy the intense, hard-hitting action-packed style that Neon Clash delivers. So yeah, this game was right up my alley, so to speak.
I feel like the producer’s vision was perfectly realized by the director, the scenario writer, and the rest of the staff. From reading the team’s commentaries, it’s clear that everyone was highly coordinated, and you can really see that synergy reflected throughout the game!
An Action-Packed Storyline with Multi-Faceted Characters
Plotwise, the tension in this game was insane. Our main characters go through relentless hardships, one after another. I was totally shook how vivid and strong their motivations felt (as if I was there with them lol). I spent the whole time gritting my teeth, wondering what would happen next? How are they going to make their next move? The story itself really felt like an intense battle of divide and conquer all the way up to the very end.
Whenever Kroa and the gang survived and achieved their goals (even for just a brief moment), I couldn’t help but smile and cheer with them. And whenever they suffered a loss, I cried right along with them too. It’s kind of amusing how invested I got in the story, now that I think about it!😅
This title is also pretty fast-paced. While the action-packed scenes in the story take place months apart chronologically, the game’s structure delivers them back-to-back, which kept the story momentum high, sometimes leaving you gasping for air.🤣(laughs)
I think I also liked the fact that, despite the storm of tragedy and chaos unfolding, the game still gives you enough breathing room to process things before throwing you into another spiral. What’s especially nice is that every conflict is born from a character’s own choices and missteps, so the chaos didn’t feel like some sort of arbitrary monkey wrench thrown into the plot for shock value. Most of the tragedies happen within reason and fit naturally into the narrative, so I was pretty satisfied with this aspect of the story. Also, keep in mind that since the story revolves around a modern-day mafia theme, the game can get pretty graphic and violent. So if these things make you queasy, please check the content warnings above.
The side characters were also a lot of fun. I had my favorite picks like R, Rin, the Shelby twins, Yulong, Shao Feng, Yona, and a whole lot of others. Gonglu was a piece of sh*t, but I have to admit, I was kind of infatuated with him at some point. (cackles).🙈
Just look at that sassy, scheming grin of his!😭It’s also really hard not to like any of the LIs, as they’re all so distinctively well-written. This game turned me into a filthy box-pusher (hako-oshi) all over again, because I genuinely mean it when I say I’m down bad for every single love interest. I was so sure my top pick was Lowd after finishing all the romance endings, but as I’m writing this review, I keep brainrotting over Maslo. His story in the game was kind of shafted, which is a pity, but there’s just something about him that I’m really drawn to (maybe its his sexy neck frayglyph tattoo, who knows). 😏🤭So I guess, if I had to choose at gunpoint, I’d be rallying behind my beautiful DJ pink-kun!
You already have my heart, bb!😌As for the romance, the confession scenes in the Happy Ends were all pretty silly, dumb, and hilarious, but I somehow inhaled every single one of them because I was STARVED for romance the entire time. After all the hurdles, and hardships these characters went through, they absolutely deserved to let loose and just be silly and dumb for once.
Having said that, if anything, what this title could’ve really benefited from, was more romance scenarios. I’m not saying there’s none because I think the romance in the individual “Happy Ends” was really good food (delicious, even). After all, the scenario is by the writer of Cupid Parasite, so you can definitely pick up their signature flair for spicing things up. However, the length of the epilogues just felt far too short to showcase an utterly satisfying fluff. I wanted more. More fluff and more spice! 😭 Maybe a fandisk could scratch this itch… please, Voltage, I beg!
Do I recommend this game? YES.
I…..really….. loooooved this game.😭 I realized I was also the target audience for this title. The ending was so satisfying to me, that I can overlook a few exposition issues because of it. It’s not often that I finish a title and sigh, “Man, that was great,” but that’s exactly how I felt after finishing Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. I don’t claim this title is flawless or perfect, but everything about it, from the beautiful cyberpunk Chinese aesthetics, the intense power struggle plotline, the modern-day mafia action-packed scenarios, to the exhilarating main characters that I’ve grown to love and care for, keeps calling me back every time. I’m honestly really shocked at how much this title has wormed its way into my top favorites.How I wish I could forget this game so I could re-experience all the positive restlessness and edge-of-your-seat milliseconds I spent on it all over again. 😭 It was hell and back, peak! I was thoroughly entertained until the very last roll of credits, so yeah, this is an easy recommendation from me.
This title is currently on a 10% release month discount, so I don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve already bought sets of merch for this title, and I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last time I spend on it. If you care about peak storytelling and peak characters, absolutely play Neon Clash, by all means necessary.
#AmuLit #NeonClash #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLost #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLostReview #NeonClashReview #nintendoSwitch #OtomeGameReview #VoltageInc
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Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost Review (Nintendo Switch)
Release Date: December 25, 2025 (North America)
Developers: Voltage Inc.
Publishers: Voltage Inc.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)STORY
Kumyo: The land of neon lights and fleeting pleasures.
A land where if you don’t step on others to get to the top, you’ll only sink to the bottom. Effort means nothing. Charity? Forget about it.
Kroa is an underground courier at the bottom of the barrel. In order to survive life in Kumyo, the youth have turned to the mafia life to fight for power. The mafia is a violent criminal organization shunned by the public. However, there was one family both respected by fellow mafioso, and adored by the general public.
Their name was the Liu family.
11 years ago, the Liu family was exterminated.But once the sole surviving member, Gante Lowd, crosses paths with the rightful heir, Liu Kroa, the wheel of fate begins to turn once more.
ART AND MUSIC
Director:Ichika ShiinaArtist:Takao (Overall character design), Kuroyoki(Chibi)BG Artist:Studio COCOLOScenario:Ririka YoshimuraOST:Shihoko Hirata (OP & ED theme, lyrics)BGM/Soundtrack:Shunsuke Tsuchiya (BGM, OP Composer)Concept, Producer:Satoshi NoharaI love Neon Clash’s overall visual aesthetic. The artwork is beyond beautiful and I am completely enamored with the game’s art style. The CGs especially, are insanely pretty! All the while being very emotional and very impactful! On top of that, the LIs have multiple sprite variations, and their outfits are really stunning. We have none other than the Japanese illustrator, Takao to thank for all of Neon Clash’s gorgeous glory, which appears to be their first full otome game project. I sincerely hope they’ll have more otome projects in the future because their art style to me, is crazy gorgeous!
As for the game’s staff, the writing team is led by Ririka Yoshimura, who is widely known for also being the lead scenario writer for Cupid Parasite and Despera Drops. The game’s overall director is Ichika Shina, an in-house director for Voltage Inc.
Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost also has one of the most banger OPs this year. The OP theme, Shangri-La, was by far one of my favorite otome OST of 2025. I also really enjoyed how vibrant the BGMs are in this game; I think they mesh pretty well with the neon Chinese aesthetic of this title, which I’m really loving btw. The game’s BGMs are by Shunsuke Tsuchiya of Procyon Studio, who also composed for Even if Tempest, Black Wolves Saga, KgK, and a few other otome game OSTs in the past.
Voice Acting
Yuichiro Umehara as “Gante Lowd” – Alfred (Mistonia’s Hope), Paschalia (Radiant Tale), Serge (Genso Manege), Kohei Minato (Sympathy Kiss), Benkei (Birushana), Canus Espada (Café Enchanté), Enishi (Jack Jeanne), Demento (Period Cube), Shingen Takeda (IkeSen), Sage (Nekopara Catboys Paradise), Rain (Shiro to Kuro no Alice), Oochidori (Touken Ranbu)
Shunichi Toki as “Sun Maslo” – Hibiki (9RIP), Dahut (Virche Evermore), Leo (Piofiore), Yakumo (Dairoku), Hibie (Winters Wish), Matsui Go (Touken Ranbu), Mousse Atlas (IkeRev), Yuki Rurikawa (A3!)
Jun Fukuyama as “Sodyk Mun” – Ascot (Mistonia’s Hope), Karatachi (Illusion of Itehari), Mizuchi (Hana Awase), Tomomori (Birushana), Vyn Richter (Tears of Themis), Mozu (BUSTFELLOWS), Goro Fujita (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Liberta (Arcana Famiglia), Rin (Togainu no Chi), Aido (Vampire Knight), Tokiwa Etsuya (Dairoku), Goke Kanimitsu (Touken Ranbu)
Ryota Suzuki as “Zhang Hiyok” – Lucas (Mistonia’s Hope), Ash (Despera Drops), Koyo (9RIP), Ginnosuke (Him, the Smile and bloom), Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kiito Minorikawa (Jack Jeanne), Trey Clover (TWST), Ink (Gunka Haita Neko), Caster (FGO), Mizuro Tamaki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Takeo Otsuka as “Mazho Meqrin” – Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries), Elbert Greetia (IkeVil), Sunday (HSR), Luke (Chaos Zero Nightmare), Miyabi (UN:Logical), Katsu (Shinjuku Rashoumon), Yuen Hu (Shinjuku Soumei), Kanata (Angelique Lumenarise), Remnan (Gnosia), Joshua Rosfield (FF16)
Yusuke Kobayashi as “Shelby Zhiho” – Flynn (The Red Bell’s Lament), Tomonari (Winters Wish), Hira (Dairoku), Byleth (FE Engage, 3H), Shinano Toushiro (Touken Ranbu), Suwon (Yona of the Dawn), Yuli Norbert (MidCin), Manai Tomoki (Sweet Clown), Xavier (Love and Deepspace), Ugetso (Utakata no Uchronia), Kiyoshi Kurotani (Persona 5), Senku Ishigami (Dr. Stone)
Hana Shimano as “Shelby Zhia” – Himari Kino (Whisper Me a Love Song), Mako Kawai (Food for the Soul)
Kazuyuki Okitsu as “Yuan Gonglu” – Ankou (Virche Evermore), Yoji Kobase (Sympathy Kiss), Atsushi Daikoku (B-PROJECT), Tsukuyomi (Olympia Soiree), Epilogi (Café Enchanté), Hachisuka Kotetsu (Touken Ranbu), Dante (Jack Jeanne), Ray (EPHEMERAL), Kuya (NU Carnival), Kyrie (Ozmafia!!), Keith Knight (Iris School of Wizardry)
Shinnosuke Tachibana as “Shao Feng” – Himeutsugi (Hana Awase), Seiya (9RIP), Koizumi Yakumo (Meiji Tokyo Renka), Camu (Despera Drops), Xiaolei (Battlefield Waltz), Henri (Piofiore), White Mask (Bad Apple Wars), Kousei (Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku), William Rex (IkeVil), Koryu Kagemitsu (Touken Ranbu), Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)
Eiji Takeuchi as “R” – Riley Randolph (Mistonia’s Hope), Hitoya Amaguni (Hypnosis Mic), Sumio (Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master), Rafa (Borderlands 4), Hide (Nioh 2), Nobutaka Osanai (Tokyo Revengers), Takefumi Kawada (The Devil is a Part-timer)
Kazuhiro Yoshimura as “Xiadun Jue” – Shioji (Illusion of Itehari), Oleander (The Red Bell’s Lament), Alest (Radiant Tale), Minegeshi (Collar x Malice), Ten (Cafe Enchante), Maki (Side Kicks!), Souji Kamishiro (Suika Niritsu), Pepe (Bustafellows)
Haruki Ishiya as “Yunzi Yulong” – Toichi Nagayama (Jack Jeanne), Jiro (Hypnosis Mic), Roger Ward (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Toru (Slow Damage), Louis (FE Engage), Sebek Zigvolt (TWST), Makoto Shizuo (Prince of Stride), Haku (Gunka o Haita Neko), Mikado (On Air!)
Taishi Murata as “Kyochu Yona” – Kaina (Olympia Soire), Idaeus Glodell (Metaphor: ReFantazio), Tokugawa Iemitsu (Ken ga Kimi), Takeshi Efuku (Prince of Stride), Seth Hyde (IkePri),
CAST AND CHARACTERS
With Neon Clash being AmuLit’s third otome console game installment, it has become clearer to me that the studio really does have its own distinct narrative formula. If you’ve played their previous two titles, Even if Tempest and The Red Bell’s Lament, you’ll notice a similar structure shared with Neon Clash, where in the story progresses in a largely linear fashion, and the romance endings only unlock after the main story has been cleared.
That said, this title does not have any branching individual routes in the way conventional console otome games do. Instead, the romance endings only become available after you’ve completed the TRUE Ending of the game. Each chapter has the heroine spending time with a specific love interest:
- Chapter 2: Lowd
- Chapter 3: Maslo
- Chapter 4: Mun
- Chapter 5: Hiyok
- Chapter 6: is the final chapter that wraps up the story and leads into the endings.
In a way, this format kinda plays out similarly to how Chinese mobile otome games structure their stories (think Tears of Themis, LaDs, MLQC, etc.), where there’s one overarching main story and each chapter is dedicated to a particular love interest.
As for how the story benefits from this type of formula, it certainly depends on the kind of narrative the writers present in the main game. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of how it played out in The Red Bell’s Lament, but I did enjoy the same formula in Even if Tempest. With Neon Clash, I think this approach works well here too, especially given how impressively fast-paced and eventful the main story is. I’ll save more of my detailed thoughts for my “overall impressions” section below, so please keep reading!😁
Walkthroughs:
Note: The CGs shown below are promotional images for the game, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. All spoiler-related content in this review will be hidden behind a spoiler drop-down, that you can choose to view at your own discretion.
⬇️ Click to view Content Warnings Violence, gun violence, public shooting, murder, mass murder, death, blood, decapitation, discrimination against other nationalities, class system, marginalization, poverty, sexual assault, manipulation, gaslighting, drug abuse, drug addiction, kidnapping, abduction, alcohol abuse.GANTE LOWD
- god bless the hot loyal mafioso priest 🙏📿
- Lowd in a nutshell… 🤭🤭🤭
A mafioso through and through who was adopted and raised by the original Liu family. He works as a priest in a church in Taozhe, with hopes to one day rebuild the Liu family.
I love Lowd! And Umehara seems to have nailed this character down to a T. What a perfect match! Lowd also became one of my fav LIs in the game, and one I’ll probably think of fondly from now on.🥺 He was such a great character and love interest. The man stayed steadfast and loyal until the very end. It actually hurts how unwavering his devotion to the heroine is.😭 Through all the hardships, he remained by her side, for better or worse. I really don’t have any qualms or complaints about this LI.
After finishing all the romance endings in this title, I also think Lowd had the best romantic relationship with Kroa. Personally, I found their chemistry as a couple the most convincing and satisfying. I’m still brainrotting over his romance ending as we speak! I needed more chapters!
⬇️ SpoilersOH MAAAHH LOWWWD!🥵🥵🥵 I am down bad for this man.
I think out of everyone’s romance endings, Lowd’s felt the most natural and intimate. And perhaps this is because of how closely he and Kroa bonded during Chapter Two. It was also the only chapter where the heroine openly admits that she’s in love with someone before entrusting her feelings to her gun, Dilu. While she does something similar with the other LIs, she usually refers to those emotions as “budding feelings.” With Lowd, however, she literally jumped in front of a bullet for this man.
With Dilu nullifying at the end, it makes sense that the most impactful “romantic” feelings she carries are tied to Lowd. After all, he was the very first man she ever developed genuine feelings for. And let’s be real, among everyone Lowd was the one who remained steadfastly by her side the entire time. He never strayed, never did anything to hurt her (whether intentionally or accidentally), never manipulated her, and never forced her feelings. He was also never intrusive, and consistently respected her both as a woman and as the head of the Liu family.
Also, the love endings were all so random, dumb, and silly…but I absolutely ate all the fluff up. After everything they’ve been through, they deserve to just lay back and be dumb and silly for once. 😭
On a different note, I was reading Umechan’s commentary about Lowd, and was kinda shocked that he’s also a Romance of the 3Kingdoms nerd and was even basing Lowd’s character on Guan Yu from the series. He mustve felt giddy having to voice a character inspired by his own fav character from the show.lol So that was a nice little fun fact. I also felt like he did such an amazing job as Lowd, and I really couldn’t imagine anyone more suitable for the role.
SUN MASLO
- not a shota 👀😏🤭
- when that maslo beat drops…
Maslo is the boss of a small-time mafia from the countryside. He’s a friendly guy, and the last sort of person you’d expect to be leading a criminal organization. Aside from being part of the mob, he’s active as a popular DJ and song-writer.
Oh my beautiful pink boy! I am also down bad for Maslo… him, his character design and his designated BGM. (laughs) 🤣 Sometimes I intentionally leave the game idle just to listen to his dj vice track, lmao. But on a more serious note, Maslo was a really interesting character, no? And I can’t help but feel like the game could have done so much more with him if he had a proper individual route. In fact, this applies to all of the LIs. There was just so much untapped potential for us to explore more of them in greater depth, if their routes were longer.
Maslo and Kroa’s interactions in chapter three, I have also really enjoyed,🥹and his romance ending had one of the most beautiful CGs in the game. Although, I have to say, it’s his sad ending that completely cemented him as my new oshi.👀
⬇️ SpoilersI just feel like the writers probably had Maslo’s route skeletally structured around him being the designated yandere of the story. However, because of the game’s linear storyline, they scrapped this off and held back! My poor boy! 😭 I really think he didn’t get to shine as much as he deserved because of “plot”. As much as I’m enjoying the game overall, this is kind of the downside of games having linear plotlines; the character depth usually gets shoehorned.
Regardless, I still absolutely love Maslo. I was a bit miffed that his romance ending felt like an exposition dump of his backstory, but that beautiful kiss CG under the sakura tree compensated for it, so I guess its’ all good.(cackles) 😂 I also wanted to get a spicy CG of him and Kroa, making out backstage of his club and I can’t help but feel like we were really robbed of that visually!😭😭😭 His happy end was the only one that did not get a “bed ending” lmao although his sad ending compensated for that!😂 PLS I NEED A FANDISK! I BEG!
SODYK MUN
- the cleavage is doing crimes
- manipulation never looked this good
The boss of a huge mafia, Mun is considered the only one capable of competing with Biying. The public knows him as the young president of a big company, thanks to his many media appearances. Mun’s natural charisma tends to win him a lot of admirers.
Oh, Sodyk Mun… the man that you are… This is yet another straight-up “I can fix him” FukuJun character fresh outa the oven! Damn, what a smooooth guy. I was grinning the whole time playing Mun’s chapter (Chapter 4) in the game. The dude was just seductive, entrancing, smooth like butter. Though, I have to admit, playing his chapter also made me really nervous. It’s one of those instances where everything feels so right, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is… just off. Ha!🤣🤣🤣
I think Mun’s chapter was probably my favorite in the story. I can’t even allow myself to put the game down, his persuasive nature was literally working its way like cancer. The way his character was written, and how Fukuyama played this out was chef kiss, I have no words! I think Mun is going to be a fan favorite because, man oh man, how could anyone resist being completely swayed by this guy?
⬇️ SpoilersThe instant Mun suggested segregation with his class system BS, alarm bells started ringing in my head from all directions. My dude, NO!😭 How could anyone think segregation was a good idea? Even if he was preaching that it was the “best way” to maintain order in Kumyo, NO, NO, NO!!
Mun’s chapter I have to say was probably the one I had enjoyed the most because you can clearly see how deceptive and exceedingly manipulative he is, and I loved how vulnerable Kroa was here as well. She knew the man was making her dance around his palm, but she bit into the trap anyway. Her realization later that something was seriously wrong and that she needed to break free before Mun completely devours her whole and successfully makes her his pawn was such a good story climax.
I also loved the part where she starts noticing herself becoming like Mun while interacting with the Liu capos, and it takes Rin confronting her to snap her back to reality and see Mun’s true colors. That scene was absolutely peak!
If you think about it, Mun was the most dangerous and formidable enemy of the Liu family. The dude was a master manipulator! He manipulated everyone around him: his capos, the entire Sodyk family, the government officials in Kumyo, the police, and law enforcement. They all really believed he was the righteous man he made himself out to be. He even manipulated R, sending him to an early grave, and Zhiho, who ended up betraying the heroine and throwing a wrench into their infiltration plan.
On a side note, I can’t help but think that Mun and Kroa’s dynamic leans into the “lovers to enemies” trope where they start off as close, almost like lovers, and then fate throws them at each other’s throats. I’m really loving this trope in otome games lately! I usually only see it in reverse harem manga/manhwas so having this here was a nice touch.
ZHANG HIYOK
- resident himbo genki🥺
- golden retriever energy
A gangster from Taozhe. Hiyok is determined to protect the same Taozhe he was born and raised in, but in reality, his gang was only capable of recklessly, but unsuccessfully lashing back against the Zhuo family. When he downs a particularly strong alcohol, he becomes a whole different person, capable of taking down multiple men at once.
This game is now making a hako-oshi, because I also love Hiyok. The first time you’ll meet him, you can immediately sense just how precious and likable he is.🥺 Hiyok is another trusted and sworn comrade of our heroine, Kroa. Like Lowd, he is incredibly loyal and one of the Liu family’s strongest fighters. I’m a tad wistful though that his chapter only half-focused on him, especially since his final volumes were already converging with the main plot and heading toward the finale. I guess I just needed more fluff with this himbo.😭 On a different note, I wasn’t expecting his bad ending to turn out the way it did…but I kind of liked it. 😳👉👈
⬇️ SpoilersHe also keeps a diary! What a precious boy!😭
Kroa’s worries about Hiyok losing his feelings for her felt a bit anticlimactic, because in the end, he never really lost it. It was also pretty easy for her to win him back given Hiyok has always been fond of her. He even had a crush on her the first time they met.Still and all, I absolutely loved how she worked to get him to like her again in Hiyok’s “happy ending.” It was nice to see her making the first move in everything, and seeing Hiyok turn into this blushing, genki mess was adorable. I love their dynamic as well! So much!😭 Again, I feel robbed of fluff with this man because the romance was too short; just as the cute, fluffy stuff was starting, the chapter was already over. 😭
LIU KROA (Main Heroine)
- cunning mafia princess
- best girl!
I love Kroa. She’s now one of my favorite otoge heroines! This woman has serious balls of steel. I was a little wary of her at first, since she came across as somewhat idealistic in the common route, and I had my doubts whether she could truly pull off being the Liu family boss. But as the story progressed, I realized, wow this girl can actually walk the talk.
She’s certainly physically strong, highly skilled with a gun, and more than capable of holding her own during a shoot-out. But its actually her unwavering determination and her intrepid sense of taking risks that got me on her side of the camp. As a mafia boss, she will be pitted in situations where she has to make bold and risky decisions, not just for herself but for everyone in the Liu family. My anxiety was through the roof every time she was served yet another obstacle right after overcoming the last one. The girl seriously could not catch a break!😭 I was nervous for her all the freakin’ time, but her resilience was mighty impressive and very infectious. I could truly feel that she earned every ounce of respect her capos give her.
Kroa is also a very flawed heroine, and that’s one of the things I love most about her. She knows what she is capable of and uses her strengths wisely, but she’s also aware of her limits and what she can’t do on her own. She makes plenty of mistakes throughout the game, and sometimes her risky decisions put both herself and her comrades in danger. She beats herself up over those failures, but what’s remarkable is how she learns from them, rubs the dirt off her face, gets back on her feet, and pounces back harder and stronger every time.🤧 My girl!! 😭😭😭I loved how she was written to be very capable without ever feeling grossly overblown, if that makes sense? She’s not the kind of heroine who’s all mouth and no bite, she doesn’t talk a big game or rely on empty bravado. I really couldn’t stop rooting for her, just like her capos who believed in her as their boss.🥹 BEST GIRL!!
SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION
Before I get into the details of the game’s system, I just want to say in passing that the love catch for this title is so pretty! 😍 The butterfly animations were perhaps one of my fav design elements, aesthetically speaking, in this title.
As for the system itself, I think this is where most of my complaints lie. First of all, the font was rather tiny and not very visible, the kerning was also kind of awful and there was no way to adjust this. I play docked on my TV, so over time this became a non-issue for me. Next, and perhaps the thing that bothered me the most, is that the system overwrites its parameters after every ending you achieve (whether its the true end or sad end). What I mean is that after achieving, say, the“true ending”, the next time you restart the game from the very beginning, all your save files from the previous run become defunct, and are replaced by the new current progress in your present gameplay.
I think this is probably because of the game’s linear storyline, but as a completionist, it was kind of frustrating to unlock all the endings without having to restart from the very beginning of each chapter, or at worst, from the prologue. It became a nightmare to skip through scenes just to unlock different bad endings while trying different combinations of choices in the process. At the very least, the True End was easy to achieve all thanks to the love catch system.
PROS:
- Heroine name customizable
- SHOP – The boss’s grade points you collect can be spent here
- “Secret Information” in the EXTRA section –this is where all the short stories that you’ve bought from the shop are located.
- Terminology – the game’s glossary.
- Chapter Intermission
- Underground Newspaper – will show up after finishing a chapter.
- MAPS – shows which family rules over each territory.
- CHAPTER Select
- Love Catch System
- Skip READ and AUTO function
- Quick Save/Quick Load
- CG Library
- Movie Library
CONS:
- No heroine side sprite image
- Unvoiced Heroine
- SKIP Read’s fastest setting is slow.
- Lingering voice lines, even if you’ve skipped the character’s lines
- No Skip to Next Choice function
- No Flowchart
- No Sound Library
- Typos
- Parameters reset after every ending achieved.
Localization
The translations also seem pretty good. Since the theme involves the mafia and a lot of morally gray characters, there are naturally lots of coarse language thrown around which I think fits the game’s theme overall. Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos throughout the game. Not that they ruined gameplay, They didn’t bother me, but they’re definitely present, nonetheless.
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPA6yvkZMbg
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I think my overall gameplay lasted about 40 hours total. This includes trying to unlock all the endings in the game and playing all the CCTV short stories in the “EXTRA” section. I was also playing blind, my switch docked, and was on auto mode most of the time. Technically, with a walkthrough and without auto-mode, you could finish the game in less than 40 hours.
AmuLit’s Linear Storytelling is back!
To start with, yes, Neon Clash unfortunately has a linear structure, similar to Even if Tempest and RBL. There are no separate branching routes for the guys. Instead, it plays out as one main story, with each chapter highlighting a specific LI.
Personally, I feel like the way these segments advanced wasn’t jarring or disjointed like in RBL, its predecessor. Each chapter introducing an LI flows smoothly within the story, and the MC’s bonding with her love interests doesn’t come off as forced (at least to me). The story kind of just naturally melds together without trying to shove anything in, if that makes sense. With that said, in my opinion, the linear structure actually worked pretty well here because of the game’s setting and how fast-paced all of the events unfolded.
As for how the heroine spends time from one LI to another, her relationships in the main story remain fairly ambiguous. There’s definitely some romantic pining going on, but they mostly come from the LIs’ side (kind of like how they do it in reverse harem animes). The heroine does emotionally acknowledge her budding feelings for an LI in every chapter, but the game somehow found a cheat code to progress the story without locking the romance into one specific guy. Shockingly enough, it made sense to me and worked well in favor of the overall narrative.😳
⬇️ Read spoilers if you’re curious about what I mean.Around the end of Chapter 2 (Lowd’s segment), Maslo approaches Kroa and teaches her how to use her psychometry in reverse. Instead of reading emotions from objects, Kroa learns to store her own emotions into her gun, Dilu. This way, she can transfer all her strong feelings of love, romance, grief, regrets, sorrow to Dilu, and fully step into her role as a mafia boss and endure the territorial power struggles against her rivals without anything weighing her down.
I know it sounds goofy to dump your feelings into a gun lol. But I thought it was actually a pretty crafty way to move the story forward without making Kroa’s interactions with the LIs feel weird or awkward. She also makes it a point in the game to make sure that before her “budding feelings” develop further, she gets rid of them and entrusts them all to Dilu.
Being the head of the Liu family comes with a lot of consequences, so before any lingering emotions weigh her down, she chooses to do away with them. This is especially crucial given the many mistakes she makes throughout the story. In Chapter 2, she jumps out of formation to protect Lowd, which leads to the death of one of her capos, Zhia. Another instance where entrusting her feelings to Dilu becomes vitally relevant is during Mun’s chapter. As her most formidable foe, facing him head-on requires her to completely forget her personal feelings for him.
So yeah, in a way, this cheat sheet actually works really well in the narrative. I was very satisfied with how it was handled.
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms But Make it Mafia
For CN media aficionados, if it isn’t obvious, Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost is actually heavily inspired by the famous Luo Guanzhong novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was reading the director’s commentary on the game, and they mentioned that Satoshi Nohara, the producer, the staff themselves, and even the seiyuus were big fans of the series. Ngl, I think it’s kinda brilliant how they were able to interlace the power struggle theme from RoTK into a modern-day mafia story. I was also a fan of the series, (well, mostly the 2010 tv series and the old TRPG lol)😅 and I think the devs really drew a lot of inspiration from the original source and incorporated it beautifully into this game.
Even the game’s worldview, where you can see Kumyo’s map and how it shows which bases belong to which family as well as which family captured which bases after every chapter ending, draws heavily from RoTK, and I thought this was really clever!
I also loved how they adapted the Triad/Chinese mafia-gang style in the story, where the mafia is less formal, less rigid, and more chaotic compared to the American-Italian style mafiosos. I grew up watching HK cinema, and if you’re like me and loved gangster movies like Young and Dangerous, you will absolutely enjoy the intense, hard-hitting action-packed style that Neon Clash delivers. So yeah, this game was right up my alley, so to speak.
I feel like the producer’s vision was perfectly realized by the director, the scenario writer, and the rest of the staff. From reading the team’s commentaries, it’s clear that everyone was highly coordinated, and you can really see that synergy reflected throughout the game!
An Action-Packed Storyline with Multi-Faceted Characters
Plotwise, the tension in this game was insane. Our main characters go through relentless hardships, one after another. I was totally shook how vivid and strong their motivations felt (as if I was there with them lol). I spent the whole time gritting my teeth, wondering what would happen next? How are they going to make their next move? The story itself really felt like an intense battle of divide and conquer all the way up to the very end.
Whenever Kroa and the gang survived and achieved their goals (even for just a brief moment), I couldn’t help but smile and cheer with them. And whenever they suffered a loss, I cried right along with them too. It’s kind of amusing how invested I got in the story, now that I think about it!😅
This title is also pretty fast-paced. While the action-packed scenes in the story take place months apart chronologically, the game’s structure delivers them back-to-back, which kept the story momentum high, sometimes leaving you gasping for air.🤣(laughs)
I think I also liked the fact that, despite the storm of tragedy and chaos unfolding, the game still gives you enough breathing room to process things before throwing you into another spiral. What’s especially nice is that every conflict is born from a character’s own choices and missteps, so the chaos didn’t feel like some sort of arbitrary monkey wrench thrown into the plot for shock value. Most of the tragedies happen within reason and fit naturally into the narrative, so I was pretty satisfied with this aspect of the story. Also, keep in mind that since the story revolves around a modern-day mafia theme, the game can get pretty graphic and violent. So if these things make you queasy, please check the content warnings above.
The side characters were also a lot of fun. I had my favorite picks like R, Rin, the Shelby twins, Yulong, Shao Feng, Yona, and a whole lot of others. Gonglu was a piece of sh*t, but I have to admit, I was kind of infatuated with him at some point. (cackles).🙈
Just look at that sassy, scheming grin of his!😭It’s also really hard not to like any of the LIs, as they’re all so distinctively well-written. This game turned me into a filthy box-pusher (hako-oshi) all over again, because I genuinely mean it when I say I’m down bad for every single love interest. I was so sure my top pick was Lowd after finishing all the romance endings, but as I’m writing this review, I keep brainrotting over Maslo. His story in the game was kind of shafted, which is a pity, but there’s just something about him that I’m really drawn to (maybe its his sexy neck frayglyph tattoo, who knows). 😏🤭So I guess, if I had to choose at gunpoint, I’d be rallying behind my beautiful DJ pink-kun!
You already have my heart, bb!😌As for the romance, the confession scenes in the Happy Ends were all pretty silly, dumb, and hilarious, but I somehow inhaled every single one of them because I was STARVED for romance the entire time. After all the hurdles, and hardships these characters went through, they absolutely deserved to let loose and just be silly and dumb for once.
Having said that, if anything, what this title could’ve really benefited from, was more romance scenarios. I’m not saying there’s none because I think the romance in the individual “Happy Ends” was really good food (delicious, even). After all, the scenario is by the writer of Cupid Parasite, so you can definitely pick up their signature flair for spicing things up. However, the length of the epilogues just felt far too short to showcase an utterly satisfying fluff. I wanted more. More fluff and more spice! 😭 Maybe a fandisk could scratch this itch… please, Voltage, I beg!
Do I recommend this game? YES.
I…..really….. loooooved this game.😭 I realized I was also the target audience for this title. The ending was so satisfying to me, that I can overlook a few exposition issues because of it. It’s not often that I finish a title and sigh, “Man, that was great,” but that’s exactly how I felt after finishing Neon Clash: Echoes of the Lost. I don’t claim this title is flawless or perfect, but everything about it, from the beautiful cyberpunk Chinese aesthetics, the intense power struggle plotline, the modern-day mafia action-packed scenarios, to the exhilarating main characters that I’ve grown to love and care for, keeps calling me back every time. I’m honestly really shocked at how much this title has wormed its way into my top favorites.How I wish I could forget this game so I could re-experience all the positive restlessness and edge-of-your-seat milliseconds I spent on it all over again. 😭 It was hell and back, peak! I was thoroughly entertained until the very last roll of credits, so yeah, this is an easy recommendation from me.
This title is currently on a 10% release month discount, so I don’t know what else to tell you. I’ve already bought sets of merch for this title, and I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last time I spend on it. If you care about peak storytelling and peak characters, absolutely play Neon Clash, by all means necessary.
#AmuLit #NeonClash #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLost #NeonClashEchoesOfTheLostReview #NeonClashReview #nintendoSwitch #OtomeGameReview #VoltageInc
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Security Issues in Matrix’s Olm Library
I don’t consider myself exceptional in any regard, but I stumbled upon a few cryptography vulnerabilities in Matrix’s Olm library with so little effort that it was nearly accidental.
It should not be this easy to find these kind of issues in any product people purportedly rely on for private messaging, which many people evangelize incorrectly as a Signal alternative.
Later, I thought I identified an additional vulnerability that would have been much worse, but I was wrong about that one. For the sake of transparency and humility, I’ll also describe that in detail.
This post is organized as follows:
- Disclosure Timeline
- Vulnerabilities in Olm (Technical Details)
- Recommendations
- Background Information
- An Interesting Non-Issue That Looked Critical
I’ve opted to front-load the timeline and vulnerability details to respect the time of busy security professionals.
Please keep in mind that this website is a furry blog, first and foremost, that sometimes happens to cover security and cryptography topics.
Many people have, over the years, assumed the opposite and commented accordingly. The ensuing message board threads are usually is a waste of time and energy for everyone involved. So please adjust your expectations.
Art by HarubakiIf you’re curious, you can learn more here.
Disclosure Timeline
- 2024-05-15: I took a quick look at the Matrix source code. I identified two issues and emailed them to their
security@email address.In my email, I specify that I plan to disclose my findings publicly in 90 days (i.e. on August 14), in adherence with industry best practices for coordinated disclosure, unless they request an extension in writing.
- 2024-05-16: I checked something else on a whim and find a third issue, which I also email to their
security@email address. - 2024-05-17: Matrix security team confirms receipt of my reports.
- 2024-05-17: I follow up with a suspected fourth finding–the most critical of them all. They point out that it is not actually an issue, because I overlooked an important detail in how the code is architected. Mea culpa!
- 2024-05-18: A friend discloses a separate finding with Matrix: Media can be decrypted to multiple valid plaintexts using different keys and Malicious homeservers can trick Element/Schildichat into revealing links in E2EE rooms.
They instructed the Matrix developers to consult with me if they needed cryptography guidance. I never heard from them on this externally reported issue.
- 2024-07-12: I shared this blog post draft with the Matrix security team while reminding them of the public disclosure date.
- 2024-07-31: Matrix pushes a commit that announces that libolm is deprecated.
- 2024-07-31: I email the Matrix security team asking if they plan to fix the reported issues (and if not, if there’s any other reason I should withhold publication).
- 2024-07-31: Matrix confirms they will not fix these issues (due to its now deprecated status), but ask that I withhold publication until the 14th as originally discussed.
- 2024-08-14: This blog post is publicly disclosed to the Internet.
- 2024-08-14: The lead Matrix dev claims they already knew about these issues, and, in fact, knowingly shipped cryptography code that was vulnerable to side-channel attacks for years. See Addendum.
- 2024-08-23: MITRE has assigned CVE IDs to these three findings.
Vulnerabilities in Olm
I identified the following issues with Olm through a quick skim of their source code on Gitlab:
- AES implementation is vulnerable to cache-timing attacks
- Ed25519 signatures are malleable
- Timing leakage in base64 decoding of private key material
This is sorted by the order in which they were discovered, rather than severity.
AES implementation is vulnerable to cache-timing attacks
a.k.a. CVE-2024-45191
Olm ships a pure-software implementation of AES, rather than leveraging hardware acceleration.
// Substitutes a word using the AES S-Box.WORD SubWord(WORD word){unsigned int result;result = (int)aes_sbox[(word >> 4) & 0x0000000F][word & 0x0000000F];result += (int)aes_sbox[(word >> 12) & 0x0000000F][(word >> 8) & 0x0000000F] << 8;result += (int)aes_sbox[(word >> 20) & 0x0000000F][(word >> 16) & 0x0000000F] << 16;result += (int)aes_sbox[(word >> 28) & 0x0000000F][(word >> 24) & 0x0000000F] << 24;return(result);}The code in question is called from this code, which is in turn used to actually encrypt messages.
Software implementations of AES that use a look-up table for the SubWord step of the algorithm are famously susceptible to cache-timing attacks.
This kind of vulnerability in software AES was previously used to extract a secret key from OpenSSL and dm-crypt in about 65 milliseconds. Both papers were published in 2005.
A general rule in cryptography is, “attacks only get better; they never get worse“.
As of 2009, you could remotely detect a timing difference of about 15 microseconds over the Internet with under 50,000 samples. Side-channel exploits are generally statistical in nature, so such a sample size is generally not a significant mitigation.
How is this code actually vulnerable?
In the above code snippet, the vulnerability occurs in
aes_sbox[/* ... */][/* ... */].Due to the details of how the AES block cipher works, the input variable (
word) is a sensitive value.Software written this way allows attackers to detect whether or not a specific value was present in one of the processor’s caches.
To state the obvious: Cache hits are faster than cache misses. This creates an observable timing difference.
Such a timing leak allows the attacker to learn the value that was actually stored in said cache. You can directly learn this from other processes on the same hardware, but it’s also observable over the Internet (with some jitter) through the normal operation of vulnerable software.
See also: cryptocoding’s description for table look-ups indexed by secret data.
How to mitigate this cryptographic side-channel
The correct way to solve this problem is to use hardware accelerated AES, which uses distinct processor features to implement the AES round function and side-steps any cache-timing shenanigans with the S-box.
Not only is this more secure, but it’s faster and uses less energy too!
If you’re also targeting devices that don’t have hardware acceleration available, you should first use hardware acceleration where possible, but then fallback to a bitsliced implementation such as the one in Thomas Pornin’s BearSSL.
See also: the BearSSL documentation for constant-time AES.
Art by AJEd25519 signatures are malleable
a.k.a. CVE-2024-45193
Ed25519 libraries come in various levels of quality regarding signature validation criteria; much to the chagrin of cryptography engineers everywhere. One of those validation criteria involves signature malleability.
Signature malleability usually isn’t a big deal for most protocols, until suddenly you discover a use case where it is. If it matters, that usually that means you’re doing something with cryptocurrency.
Briefly, if your signatures are malleable, that means you can take an existing valid signature for a given message and public key, and generate a second valid signature for the same message. The utility of this flexibility is limited, and the impact depends a lot on how you’re using signatures and what properties you hope to get out of them.
For ECDSA, this means that for a given signature , a second signature is also possible (where is the order of the elliptic curve group you’re working with).
Matrix uses Ed25519, whose malleability is demonstrated between and .
This is trivially possible because S is implicitly reduced modulo the order of the curve, , which is a 253-bit number (
0x1000000000000000000000000000000014def9dea2f79cd65812631a5cf5d3ed) and S is encoded as a 256-bit number.The Ed25519 library used within Olm does not ensure that , thus signatures are malleable. You can verify this yourself by looking at the Ed25519 verification code.
int ed25519_verify(const unsigned char *signature, const unsigned char *message, size_t message_len, const unsigned char *public_key) { unsigned char h[64]; unsigned char checker[32]; sha512_context hash; ge_p3 A; ge_p2 R; if (signature[63] & 224) { return 0; } if (ge_frombytes_negate_vartime(&A, public_key) != 0) { return 0; } sha512_init(&hash); sha512_update(&hash, signature, 32); sha512_update(&hash, public_key, 32); sha512_update(&hash, message, message_len); sha512_final(&hash, h); sc_reduce(h); ge_double_scalarmult_vartime(&R, h, &A, signature + 32); ge_tobytes(checker, &R); if (!consttime_equal(checker, signature)) { return 0; } return 1;}This is almost certainly a no-impact finding (or low-impact at worst), but still an annoying one to see in 2024.
If you’d like to learn more, this page is a fun demo of Ed25519 malleability.
To mitigate this, I recommend implementing these checks from libsodium.
Art: CMYKatTiming leakage in base64 decoding of private key material
a.k.a. CVE-2024-45192
If you weren’t already tired of cache-timing attacks based on table look-ups from AES, the Matrix base64 code is also susceptible to the same implementation flaw.
while (pos != end) { unsigned value = DECODE_BASE64[pos[0] & 0x7F]; value <<= 6; value |= DECODE_BASE64[pos[1] & 0x7F]; value <<= 6; value |= DECODE_BASE64[pos[2] & 0x7F]; value <<= 6; value |= DECODE_BASE64[pos[3] & 0x7F]; pos += 4; output[2] = value; value >>= 8; output[1] = value; value >>= 8; output[0] = value; output += 3;}The base64 decoding function in question is used to load the group session key, which means the attack published in this paper almost certainly applies.
How would you mitigate this leakage?
Steve Thomas (one of the judges of the Password Hashing Competition, among other noteworthy contributions) wrote some open source code a while back that implements base64 encoding routines in constant-time.
The real interesting part is how it avoids a table look-up by using arithmetic (from this file):
// Base64 character set:// [A-Z] [a-z] [0-9] + /// 0x41-0x5a, 0x61-0x7a, 0x30-0x39, 0x2b, 0x2finline int base64Decode6Bits(char src){int ch = (unsigned char) src;int ret = -1;// if (ch > 0x40 && ch < 0x5b) ret += ch - 0x41 + 1; // -64ret += (((0x40 - ch) & (ch - 0x5b)) >> 8) & (ch - 64);// if (ch > 0x60 && ch < 0x7b) ret += ch - 0x61 + 26 + 1; // -70ret += (((0x60 - ch) & (ch - 0x7b)) >> 8) & (ch - 70);// if (ch > 0x2f && ch < 0x3a) ret += ch - 0x30 + 52 + 1; // 5ret += (((0x2f - ch) & (ch - 0x3a)) >> 8) & (ch + 5);// if (ch == 0x2b) ret += 62 + 1;ret += (((0x2a - ch) & (ch - 0x2c)) >> 8) & 63;// if (ch == 0x2f) ret += 63 + 1;ret += (((0x2e - ch) & (ch - 0x30)) >> 8) & 64;return ret;}Any C library that handles base64 codecs for private key material should use a similar implementation. It’s fine to have a faster base64 implementation for non-secret data.
Worth noting: Libsodium also provides a reasonable Base64 codec.
Recommendations
These issues are not fixed in libolm.
Instead of fixing libolm, the Matrix team recommends all Matrix clients adopt vodozemac.
I can’t speak to the security of vodozemac.
Art: CMYKatBut I can speak against the security of libolm, so moving to vodozemac is probably a good idea. It was audited by Least Authority at one point, so it’s probably fine.
Most Matrix clients that still depended on libolm should treat this blog as public 0day, unless the Matrix security team already notified you about these issues.
Background Information
If you’re curious about the backstory and context of these findings, read on.
Otherwise, feel free to skip this section. It’s not pertinent to most audiences. The people that need to read it already know who they are.
End-to-end encryption is one of the topics within cryptography that I find myself often writing about.
In 2020, I wrote a blog post covering end-to-end encryption for application developers. This was published several months after another blog I wrote covering gripes with AES-GCM, which included a shallow analysis of how Signal uses the algorithm for local storage.
In 2021, I published weaknesses in another so-called private messaging app called Threema.
In 2022, after Elon Musk took over Twitter, I joined the Fediverse and sought to build end-to-end encryption support for direct messages into ActivityPub, starting with a specification. Work on this effort was stalled while trying to solve Public Key distribution in a federated environment (which I hope to pick up soon, but I digress).
Earlier this year, the Telegram CEO started fearmongering about Signal with assistance from Elon Musk, so I wrote a blog post urging the furry fandom to move away from Telegram and start using Signal more. As I had demonstrated years prior, I was familiar with Signal’s code and felt it was a good recommendation for security purposes (even if its user experience needs significant work).
I thought that would be a nice, self-contained blog post. Some might listen, most would ignore it, but I could move on with my life.
I was mistaken about that last point.
Art by AJAn overwhelming number of people took it upon themselves to recommend or inquire about Matrix, which prompted me to hastily scribble down my opinion on Matrix so that I might copy/paste a link around and save myself a lot of headache.
Just when I thought the firehose was manageable and I could move onto other topics, one of the Matrix developers responded to my opinion post.
Thus, I decided to briefly look at their source code and see if any major or obvious cryptography issues would fall out of a shallow visual scan.
Since you’re reading this post, you already know how that ended.
Credit: CMYKatSince the first draft of this blog post was penned, I also outlined what I mean when I say an encrypted messaging app is a Signal competitor or not, and published my opinion on XMPP+OMEMO (which people also recommend for private messaging).
Why mention all this?
Because it’s important to know that I have not audited the Olm or Megolm codebases, nor even glanced at their new Rust codebase.
The fact is, I never intended to study Matrix. I was annoyed into looking at it in the first place.
My opinion of their project was already calcified by the previously discovered practically-exploitable cryptographic vulnerabilities in Matrix in 2022.
The bugs described above are the sort of thing I mentally scan for when I first look at a project just to get a feel for the maturity of the codebase. I do this with the expectation (hope, really) of not finding anything at all.
(If you want two specific projects that I’ve subjected to a similar treatment, and failed to discover anything interesting in: Signal and WireGuard. These two set the bar for cryptographic designs.)
It’s absolutely bonkers that an AES cache timing vulnerability was present in their code in 2024.
It’s even worse when you remember that I was inundated with Matrix evangelism in response to recommending furries use Signal.
I’m a little outraged because of how irresponsible this is, in context.
It’s so bad that I didn’t even need to clone their git repository, let alone run basic static analysis tools locally.
So if you take nothing else away from this blog post, let it be this:
There is roughly a 0% chance that I got extremely lucky in my mental
grepand found the only cryptography implementation flaws in their source code. I barely tried at all and found these issues.I would bet money on there being more bugs or design flaws that I didn’t find, because this discovery was the result of an extremely half-assed effort to blow off steam.
Wasn’t libolm deprecated in May 2022?
The Matrix developers like to insist that their new Rust hotness “vodozemac” is what people should be using today.
I haven’t looked at vodozemac at all, but let’s pretend, for the sake of argument, that its cryptography is actually secure.
(This is very likely if they turn out to be using RustCrypto for their primitives, but I don’t have the time or energy for that nerd snipe, so I’m not going to look. Least Authority did audit their Rust library, for what it’s worth, and Least Authority isn’t clownshoes.)
It’s been more than 2 years since they released vodozemac. What does the ecosystem penetration for this new library look like, in practice?
A quick survey of the various Matrix clients on GitHub says that libolm is still the most widely used cryptography implementation in the Matrix ecosystem (as of this writing):
Matrix ClientCryptography Backendhttps://github.com/tulir/gomukslibolm (1, 2)https://github.com/niochat/niolibolm (1, 2)https://github.com/ulyssa/iambvodozemac (1, 2)https://github.com/mirukana/miragelibolm (1)https://github.com/Pony-House/Clientlibolm (1)https://github.com/MTRNord/cetirizinevodozemac (1)https://github.com/nadams/go-matrixclinonehttps://github.com/mustang-im/mustanglibolm (1)https://github.com/marekvospel/libretrixlibolm (1)https://github.com/yusdacra/icy_matrixnonehttps://github.com/ierho/elementlibolm (through the python SDK)https://github.com/mtorials/cordlessnonehttps://github.com/hwipl/nuqql-matrixdlibolm (through the python SDK)https://github.com/maxkratz/element-webvodozemac (1, 2, 3, 4)https://github.com/asozialesnetzwerk/riotlibolm (wasm file)https://github.com/NotAlexNoyle/Versilibolm (1, 2)3 of the 16 clients surveyed use the new vodozemac library. 10 still use libolm, and 3 don’t appear to implement end-to-end encryption at all.
If we only focus on clients that support E2EE, vodozemac has successfully been adopted by 19% of the open source Matrix clients on GitHub.
I deliberately excluded any repositories that were archived or clearly marked as “old” or “legacy” software, because including those would artificially inflate the representation of libolm. It would make for a more compelling narrative to do so, but I’m not trying to be persuasive here.
Deprecation policies are a beautiful lie. The impact of a vulnerability in Olm or Megolm is still far-reaching, and should be taken seriously by the Matrix community.
Worth calling out: this quick survey, which is based on a GitHub Topic, certainly misses other implementations. Both FluffyChat and Cinny, which were not tagged with this GitHub Topic, depend a language-specific Olm binding.
These bindings in turn wrap libolm rather than the Rust replacement, vodozemac.
But the official clients…
I thought the whole point of choosing Matrix over something like Signal is to be federated, and run your own third-party clients?
If we’re going to insist that everyone should be using Element if they want to be secure, that defeats the entire marketing point about third-party clients that Matrix evangelists cite when they decry Signal’s centralization.
So I really don’t want to hear it.
CMYKatAn Interesting Non-Issue That Looked Critical
As I mentioned in the timeline at the top, I thought I found a fourth issue with Matrix’s codebase. Had I been correct, this would have been a critical severity finding that the entire Matrix ecosystem would need to melt down to remediate.
Fortunately for everyone, I made a mistake, and there is no fourth vulnerability after all.
However, I thought it would be interesting to write about what I thought I found, the impact it would have had if it were real, and why I believed it to be an issue.
Let’s start with the code in question:
void ed25519_sign(unsigned char *signature, const unsigned char *message, size_t message_len, const unsigned char *public_key, const unsigned char *private_key) { sha512_context hash; unsigned char hram[64]; unsigned char r[64]; ge_p3 R; sha512_init(&hash); sha512_update(&hash, private_key + 32, 32); sha512_update(&hash, message, message_len); sha512_final(&hash, r); sc_reduce(r); ge_scalarmult_base(&R, r); ge_p3_tobytes(signature, &R); sha512_init(&hash); sha512_update(&hash, signature, 32); sha512_update(&hash, public_key, 32); sha512_update(&hash, message, message_len); sha512_final(&hash, hram); sc_reduce(hram); sc_muladd(signature + 32, hram, private_key, r);}The highlighted segment is doing pointer arithmetic. This means it’s reading 32 bytes, starting from the 32nd byte in
private_key.What’s actually happening here is:
private_keyis the SHA512 hash of a 256-bit seed. If you look at the function prototype, you’ll notice thatpublic_keyis a separate input.Virtually every other Ed25519 implementation I’ve ever looked at before expected users to provide a 32 byte seed followed by the public key as a single input.
This led me to believe that this
private_key + 32pointer arithmetic was actually using the public key for calculatingr.The variable
r(not to be confused with big R) generated via the first SHA512 is the nonce for a given signature, it must remain secret for Ed25519 to remain secure.If
ris known to an attacker, you can do some arithmetic to recover the secret key from a single signature.Because I had mistakenly believed that
Credit: CMYKatrwas calculated from the SHA512 of only public inputs (the public key and message), which I must emphasize isn’t correct, I had falsely concluded that any previously intercepted signature could be used to steal user’s private keys.But because
private_keywas actually the full SHA512 hash of the seed, rather than the seed concatenated with the public key, this pointer arithmetic did NOT use the public key for the calculation ofr, so this vulnerability does not exist.If the code did what I thought it did, however, this would have been a complete fucking disaster for the Matrix ecosystem. Any previously intercepted message would have allowed an attacker to recover a user’s secret key and impersonate them. It wouldn’t be enough to fix the code; every key in the ecosystem would need to be revoked and rotated.
Whew!
I’m happy to be wrong about this one, because that outcome is a headache nobody wants.
So no action is needed, right?
Well, maybe.
Matrix’s library was not vulnerable, but I honestly wouldn’t put it past software developers at large to somehow, somewhere, use the public key (rather than a secret value) to calculate the EdDSA signature nonces as described in the previous section.
To that end, I would like to propose a test vector be added to the Wycheproof test suite to catch any EdDSA implementation that misuses the public key in this way.
Then, if someone else screws up their Ed25519 implementation in the exact way I thought Matrix was, the Wycheproof tests will catch it.
For example, here’s a vulnerable test input for Ed25519:
{ "should-fail": true, "secret-key": "d1d0ef849f9ec88b4713878442aeebca5c7a43e18883265f7f864a8eaaa56c1ef3dbb3b71132206b81f0f3782c8df417524463d2daa8a7c458775c9af725b3fd", "public-key": "f3dbb3b71132206b81f0f3782c8df417524463d2daa8a7c458775c9af725b3fd", "message": "Test message", "signature": "ffc39da0ce356efb49eb0c08ed0d48a1cadddf17e34f921a8d2732a33b980f4ae32d6f5937a5ed25e03a998e4c4f5910c931b31416e143965e6ce85b0ea93c09"}A similar test vector would also be worth creating for Ed448, but the only real users of Ed448 were the authors of the xz backdoor, so I didn’t bother with that.
(None of the Project Wycheproof maintainers knew this suggestion is coming, by the way, because I was respecting the terms of the coordinated disclosure.)
Closing Thoughts
Despite finding cryptography implementation flaws in Matric’s Olm library, my personal opinion on Matrix remains largely unchanged from 2022. I had already assumed it would not meet my bar for security.
Cryptography engineering is difficult because the vulnerabilities you’re usually dealing with are extremely subtle. (Here’s an unrelated example if you’re not convinced of this general observation.) As SwiftOnSecurity once wrote:
https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/832058185049579524
The people that developed Olm and Megolm has not proven themselves ready to build a Signal competitor. In balance, most teams are not qualified to do so.
I really wish the Matrix evangelists would accept this and stop trying to cram Matrix down other people’s throats when they’re talking about problems with other platforms entirely.
More important for the communities of messaging apps:
You don’t need to be a Signal competitor. Having E2EE is a good thing on its own merits, and really should be table stakes for any social application in 2024.
It’s only when people try to advertise their apps as a Signal alternative (or try to recommend it instead of Signal), and offer less security, that I take offense.
Just be your own thing.
My work-in-progress proposal to bring end-to-end encryption to the Fediverse doesn’t aim to compete with Signal. It’s just meant to improve privacy, which is a good thing to do on its own merits.
If I never hear Matrix evangelism again after today, it would be far too soon.
If anyone feels like I’m picking on Matrix, don’t worry: I have far worse things to say about Telegram, Threema, XMPP+OMEMO, Tox, and a myriad other projects that are hungry for Signal’s market share but don’t measure up from a cryptographic security perspective.
If Signal fucked up as bad as these projects, my criticism of Signal would be equally harsh. (And remember, I have looked at Signal before.)
Addendum (2024-08-14)
One of the lead Matrix devs posted a comment on Hacker News after this blog post went live that I will duplicate here:
the author literally picked random projects from github tagged as matrix, without considering their prevalence or whether they are actually maintained etc.
if you actually look at % of impacted clients, it’s tiny.
meanwhile, it is very unclear that any sidechannel attack on a libolm based client is practical over the network (which is why we didn’t fix this years ago). After all, the limited primitives are commented on in the readme and https://github.com/matrix-org/olm/issues/3 since day 1.
So the Matrix developers already knew about these vulnerabilities, but deliberately didn’t fix them, for years.
Congratulations, you’ve changed my stance. It used to be “I don’t consider Matrix a Signal alternative and they’ve had some embarrassing and impactful crypto bugs but otherwise I don’t care”. Now it’s a stronger stance:
Don’t use Matrix.
I had incorrectly assumed ignorance, when it was in fact negligence.
There’s no reasonable world in which anyone should trust the developers of cryptographic software (i.e., libolm) that deliberately ships with side-channels for years, knowing they’re present, and never bother to fix them.
This is fucking clownshoes.
If you’re curious about the cryptography used by other messaging apps, please refer to this page that collects my blogs about this topic.
#crypto #cryptography #endToEndEncryption #Matrix #sideChannels #vuln
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