Point-and-click adventure games never really recovered from their peak of relevance, have they? They still exist. Plenty of people still play and enjoy them, and new ones are still being made that take the genre into new and exciting places. But ever since the days of LucasArts and Sierra On-Line, they’ve never really hit the same wide audience that once ate these games up like hotcakes. Maybe all the genre needs is a fresh bit of energy to get people interested again.
Developed and self-published by Starblade Games, Neo Junk City introduces some variety into the point-and-click genre. It does so by incorporating not only diverting paths and some light role-playing elements but also additional game modes that break up the routine of pointing and clicking.
Following the debut of the game’s demo ahead of its full release, you can now try Neo Junk City for yourself. Does this experiment in genre-melding justify a full purchase in the future, though? Or does this demo not bode well for the full game releasing later in the year?
Dystopia Never Looked So Good
It’s the deep future. Specifically, a crummy version of the deep future. In the dystopian Drowned City, murder is as common as illegal street racing and shootouts in the streets. As Buster 09, one of the latest law enforcement androids made to patrol the streets, you find yourself tasked with solving the sudden murder of your own creator. The catch? You’re the one who seemingly pulled the trigger, with no recollection of the events that led to such a terrible crime.
The demo gives you the game’s first entire chapter to play around with, and I feel that it sets up the world fairly well. A brief tutorial section establishes your relationship with the core mystery in addition to explaining the game’s mechanics. The mystery itself is interesting, and the few characters you get to converse with do a decent job of explaining the world and its numerous movers and shakers. I felt invested in what was going on, and I was admittedly a little upset when the demo ended just as quickly as it got started. But that’s a good thing.
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Presentation-wise, it looks wonderful. Its color palette pops in every area you visit, bursting with neons and pastels and the occasionally harsh, thick black outlines. It’s a real treat. I was reminded of Dead Estate in some ways, and sure enough, Neo Junk City has a modest presence on Newgrounds in the form of teaser videos, preview artwork, fan art, and more. There’s certainly that fun, slightly offbeat vibe that you’d find on modern-day Newgrounds in the demo’s numerous conversations and interactive moments. The music was fine as well, though it’s hard to judge its overall quality in such a short time.
If I had any nitpicks, the game’s UI elements seemed a little buggy at points. Opening a dialogue tree with someone or getting details about an object you can interact with hides your cursor. But it doesn’t actually disable the cursor. Examining an item found on a dead body, for instance, led to me frantically flipping the body’s vest open and shut every time I wanted to hurry the description text along by clicking. I also noticed that I could highlight the game’s three menu buttons at the bottom of the screen during these moments as well. This is far from a serious issue—a non-issue, really—but it’s still something that stood out to me.
Playing Neo Junk City
Neo Junk City‘s gameplay certainly stood out to me as well. At its core, this is a point-and-click adventure game, meaning you’ll spend the majority of your time wandering around detailed environments, grabbing items, interacting with the local populace, and solving puzzles of all kinds. Your accrued items can sometimes be combined with each other to form something new or be used for different interactions with the game’s numerous characters. It’s pretty simple so far compared to some of the more infamously-difficult point-and-click games of the past.
Thankfully, Neo Junk City puts its own unique spin on things by occasionally giving you some agency in how to solve problems. The game utilizes a series of “dynamic interaction icons” that allow you to make different decisions at key points, in addition to facilitating item examinations and NPC discussions. You’re given one of these key decisions in the demo, even. Without spoiling anything, you’re presented with a Princess Bride scenario in which there’s a perceived right and wrong answer. You can choose either one, sure, but you can also attempt two unique ways to circumvent the situation entirely. It’s really interesting, and I hope this leads to more complex interactions in the future.
But things get really interesting when you look at the other two game modes. Neo Junk City features two alternate gameplay modes in addition to its point-and-click elements: shooting and driving.
Being a law enforcement officer (on the wrong end of the law, at that), you’re naturally going to have to unload on some nefarious evildoers in your journey to clear your name. Whenever talking things out just isn’t an option, you’re thrust into a brand-new screen, viewed from the eyes of Buster 09 herself, as you take shots at (almost) anything that moves. Click on enemies to blow them up, click on their oncoming projectiles to avoid damage, and delay firing your gun to charge a more powerful shot.
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These are. . . fine. At first, I thought maybe stumbling into the wrong person or going down a certain story path would trigger these sequences, but they seemingly occur without warning in specific areas. At least, that’s the impression so far. Throughout the climax of the demo, where you’re traversing the lair of a mysterious criminal tied to your case, you’ll stumble across these sections like random encounters in a role-playing game.
For me, it was a coin flip on whether or not I was annoyed or engaged in these sections. I’m just trying to look around my surroundings, and all of a sudden, I have to mash my mouse button to take down half a dozen enemies attacking me at once. It’s at least somewhat challenging. Your more powerful shot takes a significant amount of time to build up, and enemies often fling several projectiles your way at once, demanding that you time out your attacks carefully. You can even take down multiple enemies with a single charged attack if you hit them at just the right spot. Health items can be found in the environment to keep you going throughout these sections, as well as currency to purchase other useful trinkets.
As for the driving, it’ll certainly ring some familiar bells if you’ve played Cruis’n USA or similar titles. I was only able to experience it once towards the beginning of the demo, specifically in the tutorial, but it’s arguably the most visually impressive mode in the game. But there’s just not enough here in the demo for me to really give a verdict on. Weaving in between cars and watching my vehicle flip uncontrollably if I got too reckless was admittedly pretty entertaining, though.
Should You Play Neo Junk City?
Neo Junk City reminds me of Iconoclasts—a game that, despite rubbing quite a few people the wrong way with its overabundance of combat, cartoony visuals and gags, and weirdly wordy and depressing story beats, left a tangible impact on me. It was built from the ground up under the vision of a single developer, warts, and all. I can sufficiently say that there isn’t anything quite like the Iconoclasts‘ sum of different parts. In a way, I almost feel the same for Neo Junk City so far.
It’s way too early to say whether or not Neo Junk City will meet the expectations its initial demo sets up. Given that the game’s release is towards the end of the year as well, it’s just as early to say whether or not it’ll fully reflect what the end product brings to the table. But I’m optimistic.
With just about a year’s worth of time between the demo and the full game to go, there’s plenty of room to really nail down what works in Neo Junk City. I’d ultimately say keep an eye on this game for what’s to come. There are plenty of fun ideas going on here, and with a bit more refinement, I think they’ll definitely form something really special towards the end of 2025.
Neo Junk City is coming in Q4 2025 on Steam.
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