With a deep background in rhythm games, I got a peek at Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield and found myself aching to play it. Pulled in by the futuristic theme and the prospect of an easy clear of my most proficient genre, I dove in gleefully. While the game spins a take on what Bit Trip Runner made famous, I had to make an immediate comparison to a minigame in Pummel Party (itself a take on a Fusion Frenzy minigame) where I manage to never hit an obstacle, much to the chagrin of my friends watching them flying across the screen at me.

The setting of Never Yield, which appends the creator’s name ahead of it like PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds, sees a cyberpunk-esque Detroit come to life with vibrant colors and dystopian undertones. Speaking of color, my laptop’s keyboard powered by SteelSeries’ per-key RGB, lit up to coincide with the game. This is the first game I’ve encountered with this feature. I had fun taking advantage of Razer’s Chroma lighting dynamically with Overwatch, so it’s a welcome feature.

In Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield, you are tasked with avoiding obstacles as you run from point A to point B in a level at a consistent pace. On the first two difficulties, the screen slows down when approaching said obstacles to assist the player in getting the timing just right. As a weathered rhythm gamer, the slowdown actually became a detriment in its extremity on the easiest difficulty, so I coped with the meager slow-mo on normal difficulty.

To tell the truth, I fired up Never Yield a little tipsy the first time and found myself frustrated at not being able to clear a particular obstacle. The challenge in question wasn’t in finding which button to press, the problem was requiring pixel-perfect timing. There’s no leeway here, which thrills the perfectionist gamers whilst driving the one-and-dones crazy. The collision detection, the most important mechanic in this game, is fairly spot-on; I never felt that I missed an obstacle I should have cleared.

Once I was able to give it another go, I sped through the initial section of the game with little trouble. Outlining the obstacles with the color associated with the key, having the keyboard flash that color, and providing a small but effective window of slowdown, made for a breeze through the levels. The visuals in the background were a reward for persisting through everything in my way, and I’m sure it makes Never Yield just as fun to watch as it is to play.

The length of Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield is a point of contention. Marketed as “the length of an action flick,” one can clear the game in under two hours. Thankfully, the game is well-priced at a mere 12 dollars. It’s a stellar first effort from Aerial_Knight, who could very well have a promising future as a game dev, especially if his visions are seen through like they were in Never Yield. Runner and rhythm gamers will thoroughly enjoy this joint, especially with its modest price tag!

A PC review copy of Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield was provided by Headup Games for this review.

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Aerial Knights Never Yield

$11.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Bangin' Soundtrack
• Feels Great When Mastered

Cons

• A Struggle to Pick Up
• Stilted Animations