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19 results for “robfields”
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I guess I should also say that this is @robfields from Twitter, which I'm still going to maintain.
As for an #introduction, I'm an arts leader by day, and have an interest in all things arts & culture, museums, leadership & productivity. I'm a former music and culture writer. I'm working on becoming a better photographer, and I shoot with #Fujifilm cameras (mostly the #XPro2, but I also own an #XT10).
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I guess I should also say that this is @robfields from Twitter, which I'm still going to maintain.
As for an #introduction, I'm an arts leader by day, and have an interest in all things arts & culture, museums, leadership & productivity. I'm a former music and culture writer. I'm working on becoming a better photographer, and I shoot with #Fujifilm cameras (mostly the #XPro2, but I also own an #XT10).
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I guess I should also say that this is @robfields from Twitter, which I'm still going to maintain.
As for an #introduction, I'm an arts leader by day, and have an interest in all things arts & culture, museums, leadership & productivity. I'm a former music and culture writer. I'm working on becoming a better photographer, and I shoot with #Fujifilm cameras (mostly the #XPro2, but I also own an #XT10).
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Ok, Samara Joy. I think that's two for her tonight.
#Grammys2023 -
Yep. That #PassportBros stuff was, and is, always suss. ht @wise_diva
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RT @TLActivist
#PassportBros still wilding. You can’t really make buying love from women from lesser established countries look cool. It actually shows a good measure of why the women from home want zero parts of you. 😆😆😆
https://twitter.com/TLActivist/status/1621165370307641346 -
Yep. That #PassportBros stuff was, and is, always suss. ht @wise_diva
---
RT @TLActivist
#PassportBros still wilding. You can’t really make buying love from women from lesser established countries look cool. It actually shows a good measure of why the women from home want zero parts of you. 😆😆😆
https://twitter.com/TLActivist/status/1621165370307641346 -
Historians, pundits & sportscasters love to look at key moments & say “that was the turning point” – but can we identify these moments in our lives as we live them? Art Advisor Rob Fields & I discuss this & other topics on episode 33 of #YoureOnMuteThePodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-33-rob-fields/id1746606151?i=1000687133983
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Historians, pundits & sportscasters love to look at key moments & say “that was the turning point” – but can we identify these moments in our lives as we live them? Art Advisor Rob Fields & I discuss this & other topics on episode 33 of #YoureOnMuteThePodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-33-rob-fields/id1746606151?i=1000687133983
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Clive Rosfield was originally going to be named Cleve Rockfield until I threatened to sue.
#CliveRosfield #FinalFantasy #FinalFantasyXVI #FFXVI #FF16 #SquareEnix #videogames
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Clive Rosfield was originally going to be named Cleve Rockfield until I threatened to sue.
#CliveRosfield #FinalFantasy #FinalFantasyXVI #FFXVI #FF16 #SquareEnix #videogames
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@ManWithPez Maybe their Renfields had the same effect? 🤷🏻♀️🤪 #KungFuSat 🧛🏻🇭🇰 #7GoldenVampires
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#HappyFathersDay to the Older!Rosfield Brothers, (Daddy) Elwin and Uncle Byron :D
[Almost] also celebrating its 1st anniversary as well -
CW: Long thread/24
Despite this, the Fed has a substantial cheering section for continued interest rates, composed of the ultra-rich and their lickspittle Renfields. While the specifics are quite modern, the underlying dynamic is as old as civilization itself.
Historian #MichaelHudson specializes in the role that debt and credit played in different societies.
24/
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Decibels Decoded: The Brutal Logic of the Logarithmic Scale
2,208 words, 12 minutes read time.
The electromagnetic spectrum is a violent, unforgiving landscape where signals die in the dirt or soar across the vacuum of space based on the math you choose to ignore. Most people live their lives in a comfortable, linear world where two plus two equals four and an inch is always an inch, but the moment you key a mic, that world burns down. In the realm of Amateur Radio, we deal with power levels that don’t just fluctuate; they explode and collapse across a scale so vast it would make a standard accountant’s head spin. We are forced to use the decibel not because it is elegant or academic, but because it is the only weapon sharp enough to cut through the astronomical differences between a whisper of thermal noise and the roar of a kilowatt amplifier. If you tried to track the gain and loss of a signal using standard linear multiplication, you would be buried under a mountain of zeros before you even reached the feedline. The decibel is our survival kit, a logarithmic shorthand that tames the chaotic physics of RF into something a man can actually use to build a station that works.
The Linear Trap and the Death of Scalability
When you look at a signal traveling from a transceiver through a length of coax, out an antenna, and across a thousand miles of ionosphere, you aren’t just looking at a slight change in voltage. You are witnessing a total transformation of energy that spans twelve orders of magnitude, a range that renders linear numbers completely useless for anyone trying to get a job done. If we measured signal strength in watts alone, we would be forced to compare 0.000000000001 watts of received signal against 1,500 watts of transmitted power, a mental exercise that serves no one but the masochist. The linear scale is a trap for the small-minded because it fails to account for how energy actually behaves in the physical world, where losses don’t subtract—they divide. By shifting our perspective to the logarithmic scale of the decibel, we turn these impossible multiplications into simple addition and subtraction, allowing an operator to see the truth of their system without getting lost in the weeds of scientific notation. It is about stripping away the fluff and looking at the ratio, the raw relationship between what you have and what you started with, which is the only thing that matters when the skip is in.
Biology and the Weber-Fechner Reality
The reason the decibel feels “unnatural” to the uninitiated is that it mirrors the harsh reality of our own senses rather than the artificial tidiness of a ruler. Humans don’t perceive the world linearly; we are wired by evolution to detect changes in intensity based on ratios, a phenomenon known in the cold halls of science as the Weber-Fechner Law. If you are standing in a dark room and someone lights a single candle, the change is massive, but if you are standing under the midday sun and they light that same candle, you won’t see a damn thing. Our ears and eyes work on a logarithmic curve to keep us from being overwhelmed by the environment, and radio waves follow that same brutal logic as they propagate through space. By using decibels, we are finally aligning our technical measurements with the physical way the universe handles energy and the way our biological hardware interprets it. It is a recognition that a 3dB increase—a doubling of power—is the smallest change that actually moves the needle in a meaningful way for the human ear or a sensitive receiver.
The Physics of Propagation and the Inverse Square Law
The universe does not hand out signal strength for free, and it certainly does not surrender it in a straight line. As a radio wave leaves your antenna and expands into the void, it spreads its energy across the surface of an ever-growing sphere, a physical reality dictated by the Inverse Square Law. This means that if you double the distance between your station and the receiver, you aren’t just losing half your strength; you are spreading that same power over four times the area, effectively gutting your signal. Trying to track this degradation using linear percentages is a fool’s errand that leads to incomprehensible decimals and failed links. The logarithmic nature of the decibel allows us to visualize this geometric expansion as a steady, manageable rate of decline, turning the terrifying physics of spherical spreading into a simple subtraction problem. When you understand that every 6dB of loss represents a doubling of distance in free space, you stop guessing and start operating with the cold precision of someone who knows exactly where their signal is going to die.
Mastering the Rule of Threes and Tens
In the field, you don’t have time to pull out a scientific calculator and solve for base-10 logarithms while the band is opening and the pileup is screaming. You need a mental shorthand that works as fast as you do, and that is where the “Rule of 3s and 10s” becomes the ultimate field manual for the radio operator. It is a simple, visceral truth: a 3dB change is a doubling or halving of power, and a 10dB change is a ten-fold increase or decrease. If you add an amplifier that gives you 13dB of gain, you aren’t just guessing at the output; you know instantly that you’ve increased your power by ten times and then doubled it again, a total twenty-fold jump in raw force. This isn’t just math for the sake of math; it is the ability to look at a piece of coax with a 3dB loss rating and know exactly that half of your hard-earned power is being bled off as heat before it ever touches the air. Mastering these ratios allows you to see through the marketing lies of “high-gain” antennas and understand exactly what is happening to every milliwatt in your signal chain.
The Reference Point and the War for Ground Truth
A decibel on its own is a ghost—a ratio with no home and no meaning until you tie it to a concrete reference point. This is where the amateurs are separated from the experts, in the understanding of the suffixes that give the decibel its teeth and its utility in the real world. When we talk about dBm, we are tethering that ratio to a single milliwatt, creating an absolute scale that allows us to measure everything from the noise floor of a receiver to the output of a handheld. Without that “m,” you’re just talking about a change; with it, you’re talking about power you can feel. The same lethal precision applies to antenna gain, where dBi measures against an ideal isotropic radiator in free space, while dBd measures against a real-world dipole. If you don’t know which one you’re looking at, you’re flying blind and likely overestimating your station’s performance by 2.15dB. It is about demanding a ground truth in a world of relative numbers, ensuring that when you say your signal is “up 2 S-units,” you actually know the physical reality of the power hitting the other guy’s front end.
The S-Unit and the Lie of the Meter
Every operator has stared at an S-meter, watching that needle bounce as if it were a direct line to the truth, but most wouldn’t recognize the logarithmic violence happening behind the glass. In a properly calibrated receiver, a single S-unit represents a 6dB change in signal strength, which is a four-fold increase in power. When you tell a DX station they have gone from an S-7 to an S-9, you aren’t just giving them a polite compliment; you are telling them their signal power at your antenna has surged by a factor of sixteen. This is the logarithmic scale in its most practical, everyday application, yet it is where most people lose the thread of reality. The “S-9 plus 20” report isn’t just a bigger number—it is a staggering hundred-fold increase over the baseline S-9 signal. If you don’t respect the decibel, you don’t respect the massive energy required to punch through the noise floor when the ionosphere decides to stop cooperating. The meter is a logarithmic gatekeeper, and if you can’t read the code, you’re just looking at a moving needle without a clue of the raw wattage it represents.
Signal-to-Noise: The Only Metric That Survives
At the end of the day, raw power is a vanity metric if you can’t manage the ratio between your signal and the chaotic roar of the universe. This is the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and it is the final battlefield where the decibel proves its worth as a tactical tool. In a world of linear numbers, trying to calculate how much “clearer” a signal is when you reduce the noise floor by 3dB would be a nightmare of tiny fractions. In the logarithmic world, it is a simple subtraction that tells you exactly how much breathing room you’ve bought for your data or your voice. You don’t need a thousand watts if you have a clean 10dB SNR; you just need enough distance from the floor to be heard. This is why we obsess over low-noise amplifiers and high-gain Yagis—not for the sake of the numbers themselves, but because the logarithmic scale tells us exactly how much of a fighting chance we have against the static. It is the cold, hard math of survival in a medium that wants to swallow your signal whole.
The Technician’s Final Reckoning
Mastering the decibel is not a suggestion for the amateur radio operator; it is the fundamental requirement for anyone who wants to stop being a “black box” appliance operator and start being an engineer of the airwaves. The logarithmic scale is the only language that accurately describes the way energy moves, bleeds, and conquers the vacuum of space. It strips away the comfort of linear thinking and replaces it with a visceral understanding of ratios, forces, and the physical limits of our hardware. When you stop fearing the log and start using it to dissect your feedline loss, your antenna gain, and your receiver sensitivity, the entire hobby shifts from a series of mysteries into a calculated game of precision. You begin to see the spectrum for what it really is: a vast, logarithmic expanse where every 3dB is a hard-won victory and every 10dB is a total transformation of your reach. If you want to own the frequency, you have to own the math that defines it.
Call to Action
The electromagnetic spectrum doesn’t care about your feelings, and it certainly doesn’t care about your inability to do the math. You can keep twisting dials and hoping for the best, or you can finally weaponize the decibel to build a station that actually commands the airwaves. Every milliwatt you lose to a bad connector or a mismatched feedline is a failure of discipline, a surrender to the noise that separates the hobbyists from the elite operators.
It is time to take a cold, hard look at your signal chain and audit every inch of it with logarithmic precision. Get your hands on a quality SWR bridge, calculate your real-world line loss, and stop relying on the “black box” to save you. The skip is opening, the noise floor is rising, and the only thing standing between you and a successful contact is the math you choose to master. Gear up, run the numbers, and earn your place on the waterfall.
SUPPORTSUBSCRIBECONTACT MED. Bryan King
Sources
- The Decibel – American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
- NIST: SI Units and the Decibel
- ITU-R V.574: Use of the decibel and the neper in telecommunications
- FCC: Radio Frequency Safety and Power Calculations
- Microwaves101: The Decibel Encyclopedia
- Rohde & Schwarz: dB or not dB? (Application Note)
- NWS: Logarithmic Signal Processing in Radar Systems
- Analog Devices: Understanding dB, dBm, and dBW
- CISA: Emergency Communications System Lifecycle and RF Planning
- Electronics Notes: RF Logarithmic Units and Tables
- Keysight Technologies: Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Power Measurements
- RF Cafe: Decibel (dB) Reference and Equations
- Maxim Integrated: Glossary Definition of the Decibel
- ScienceDirect: Logarithmic Scales in Signal Processing
- AMSAT-UK: Understanding the Decibel Scale in Satellite Communications
- University of Toronto: Physics of the Decibel and Human Hearing
- Electronics Tutorials: Logarithms for Decibels in Electronics
- EE Times: The Decibel – The Handy Logarithm
- Repeater Builder: Engineering Guide to the Decibel
- Skyworks: RF Fundamentals and Logarithmic Power Control
- Anritsu: Difference Between dB and dBm
- Amphenol Procom: The Decibel in Radio Communication Systems
- Everything RF: Understanding dBm and Power Levels
- TAPR: Understanding dB, dBm, dBd, and dBi for Digital Radio
- Vias.org: Mathematical Definition of the Bel and Decibel
- Math Is Fun: Decibel Concepts Explained Simply
- All About Circuits: Decibels in AC Theory
- Mini-Circuits: Application Note on Signal Gain and Loss
- RF Design Guide: The Decibel Scale in RF Engineering
- METAS: Standard Logarithmic Units in Measurement
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.
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#10dBRule #3dBRule #AmateurRadio #amateurRadioTechnician #antennaGain #BelScale #coaxAttenuation #currentGain #dBScale #dBiVsDBd #dBmVsDBW #decibelConversion #decibels #dipoleGain #doublingPower #DXCommunication #electromagneticSpectrum #feedlineLoss #hamRadioMath #hamRadioTechnical #inverseSquareLaw #isotropicRadiator #logarithmicScale #logarithmicUnits #NoiseFloor #powerMeasurement #powerRatios #RadioElectronics #radioPropagationLoss #RadioWavePhysics #receiverSensitivity #RFEngineering #RFFieldStrength #RFGain #RFHarmonics #RFLinkBudget #RFPower #SMeterCalibration #SUnits #signalDegradation #signalPropagation #signalStrength #signalToNoiseRatio #SNR #stationOptimization #transmitterOutput #voltageGain #waveIntensity #WeberFechnerLaw -
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.
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