Neon Giant’s debut project, The Ascent, dropped players into an isometric action game hosted by a neon world of crime and conspiracy. Today at The Game Awards, the Sweden-based studio announced its next adventure, No Law, a gritty first-person shooter that centers on one man’s quest for vengeance.
No Law follows Grey Harker, a retired military veteran living in another neon-soaked metropolis called Port Desire. He leaves active service for a life of peace, but one day he is attacked in his home, and he sets out to learn the truth behind the encounter.
Harker’s quest can be approached through a direct approach with guns blazing, or with a careful touch via stealth tactics. In an interview with GameSpot prior to the TGA reveal, Neon Giant co-founders Tor Frick and Arcade Berg spoke at length about how player choices are key to No Law–especially in how Port Desire reacts to those choices.
”We’re not framing the game’s reactions to a player’s choices as ‘choosing stealth’ or ‘choosing shooting;’ it’s more about the impact of those choices on the city,” Berg explains. “Was there collateral damage? Were there explosions? Even if you play stealth and shoot an exploding barrel, it’s still loud. People in other parts of the city will hear it and wonder what’s going on.”
”Port Desire is not a vast city, but it is dense,” Frick adds. “There is so much packed into this world, and everything in it is player-agency-driven. You can’t play the game wrong; what you do in this world is valid, no matter what.”
Fans of The Ascent may balk at the idea of a shift to a first-person perspective, but Berg says players shouldn’t worry. Many devs within Neon Giant, he explains, come from an FPS background, and it was The Ascent that served as a shift in their experiences.
”The Ascent had a lot of things we hadn’t worked with before; we hadn’t worked with isometric, we hadn’t worked with RPGs, and it was a ton of fun to figure out those challenges,” Berg says. “Now, going back to first-person gives us a certain kind of confidence in our abilities because, at the very least, we know we can deliver a tight gunplay experience. It’s what we’ve been doing for 25 years.”
No Law is due to launch on Xbox Series XS, PlayStation 5, and PC. No release timeframe was announced during the reveal. For more from The Game Awards, check out the full list of all winners and nominees.