This is the two hundred third entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our two hundred third random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality promises a virtual world to battle in, but does not seem to actually exist in the real world. It’s Neon Valley: Revenge, by Melloe, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

3rd/1st person online multiplayer shooter

As is often the case with online multiplayer games, it seems that the servers for Neon Valley: Revenge have shut down and it’s no longer possible to play.

Upon launching Neon Valley: Revenge, I was greeted with the screen shown at the top of this post, asking for my name and email. This gave me pause, but fortunately I have a dummy email account for situations like this. After passing that screen, however, I saw the loading screen below which just endlessly cycled through various tips but never went anywhere.

As far as I can tell, the game is no longer playable. The latest updates on the itch.io page are from four years ago at the time of writing, and the link labelled “website” is broken. The page offers a ton of detail on what the game was supposed to be, however, acting as something of a game manual that describes each aspect, complete with animated gifs showing the action. It seems to have been a third person multiplayer shooter with optional first person modes, set in a virtual world where contestants do battle in various arenas. There are some cool ideas, like the third person view actually being from drone cameras that can be shot, forcing that player into first-person view for a while. There also seems to be a large emphasis on fancy movement, like wall jumping and sliding.

If player reviews on the page are anything to go by, however, Neon Valley: Revenge was in a rough state and still considered to be an early access version. Now it seems the solo developer has abandoned the project. It is still offered for sale for some reason, but I don’t recommend picking it up since it doesn’t work anymore.

Oh well, time to move on to other picks. That’s 203 down, and only 1538 to go!