YMMV / Neon White

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Green honestly sounds disappointed should White choose to write him into the Book of Life and forgive him, initially taking the same outraged tone he does if White writes him into the Book of Death. Is it him realizing in that moment that he does deserve to be punished to some degree, or him believing White to have shown weakness? Additionally, The Stinger shows him acting much more affable and composed compared to how callous he is in all the previous flashbacks. Was he a decent man who became consumed by hatred, or was he just better at hiding his true callous nature when he was alive?
  • God choosing not to write White's name in the Book of Life in the Book of Death ending. Was it him just being an Ungrateful Bastard, who couldn't overlook a relative sin even in the face of all that White had done for him, or was there some deeper reason for why writing Green's name in the Book of Death would condemn White? The fact that God's reasoning is obscured by him being The Unintelligible does not help matters.
• Awesome Music: The soundtrack is by far one of the highest points in the game, being entirely composed by Machine Girl to keep in line with the game's fast paced action. Highlights include Glass Ocean, Virtual Paradise, Vanglorious Chorus, Cloud Nine, Hellion, Fight or Flight and House of Cards.
• Breather Level: The first few stages of Mission 11 sees the player getting to grips with the Book of Life Soul Card which allows them to teleport and instantly-kill enemies, and the first few stages are just a case of pointing from target to target.
  • Most sidequest levels are significantly easier than the regular levels the player will have completed to unlock them. Most notably the player's time isn't ranked (though it contributes to their global ranking) and there aren't any collectables, meaning the player only needs to worry about surviving to the end.
  • Sacrifice is sandwiched between Marathon and Absolution, Yet it’s one of the more slow-paced and straightforward levels of the game, with not even a gift to collect. Justified, as this level is meant to be more of an emotional moment instead of a genuine challenge.
• Broken Base: If there's one hotly contentious topic regarding the game, it's the ending. While a sizable portion of the players took offense to the good ending essentially requiring an abuse victim to forgive their abuser, there still is a just-as sizable contingent that argue that the purpose of forgiving Green wasn't to absolve him of his wrongdoing but so that White could finally let go of his guilt and hatred. Furthermore, those in favor of the endings argue that White writing Green's name into the Book of Death was too grave a sin for God to ignore as White had essentially passed judgment on a sinner in God's stead. Violet being forgiven by God and allowed to ascend remains a sticking point, however.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Green is interested in White to a disturbing degree to the extent that he refers to White specifically as "my White" at multiple points. To hammer in the subtext, Violet, who is actually in love with Green, plots to kill White for 'stealing' Green from her. Then there's the unlockable flashback where Green wrestles White while completely shirtless... Purely one-sided of course, as White can't stand him.
• Glurge: The emphasis the game places on forgiving your abuser and the fact that failing to do so nets you a worse ending did not go down well for some players, given that in real life some people cannot and should not be made to feel like they have to forgive the people who harmed them. To elaborate, Green trained White as a killer and groomed him into his obedient lackey, manipulating him into leading his friends to their deaths on a pointless suicide mission. White is nonetheless expected to forgive Green and give him eternal peace, otherwise he'll be denied it himself despite saving the world and freeing God from imprisonment and will have to wait without his teammates in the featureless void of Sheol for the next Day of Judgment.
  • The game does discuss this near the final levels, with White bringing up that whatever he did wouldn't change Green anyway; and Red emphasizes that it's more about White forgiving himself for accepting Green's abuse for so long and let go of the guilt, where Green decided to lead everyone to their deaths over hatred he couldn't let go of. However, it still makes no attempt at justifying why God singles White out in the Book of Death ending, considering Violet didn't have intentions of forgiving Green after his betrayal.
• Narm Charm: Those who enjoy the game's dialogue, which is heavy with both old and new memes as well as general pop culture references, cite the sincere love for the surrounding internet culture it is derived from as the reason why it isn't a pure example of pandering to youth culture.
• Play the Game, Skip the Story: While the game's story (especially the ending) has become controversial among players for various reasons, the speedrun-style gameplay has been universally praised.
• That One Achievement: Earning any of the Marathon achievements in Hell mode are the ultimate test of skills, patience and free time. You have to play an entire set of levels, one after another, with a single life. If you die, it's back to the beginning! The ones for Red, Violet and Yellow are short and might only take around 15-20 minutes if you get them right, but then you have White and Mikey's levels. 96 levels, the entire game's length, on a single life! White's forces you to use the regular skills from every level, while Mikey's uses the Bazooka with Grappling Hook; doesn't change the fact that you will have to replay the game 4 times at minimum (Heaven and Hell versions), one for each achievement you want to unlock.
• That One Sidequest: If there's one sidequest chain that players consistently got roadblocked by, it's Green's. The first three challenges to unlock his memories aren't so bad, but the last one is a platforming gauntlet that happens to come at the very end of Marathon, and failing the challenge means you have to play the whole level all over again.

---