First impressions of No Law: Neon Giant aims for cyberpunk greatness with its upcoming title

"But how many people are working on this?" was the only thing I managed to say as Neon Giant's co-founders and No Law's directors, Arcade Berg and Tor Frick, wrapped up the demo they'd been guiding me through at the Krafton stand at Gamescom for nearly an hour. It was my last appointment at the show this year and, honestly, I didn't know what to expect before heading into the demo room. Of course, their previous work, The Ascent, is a great calling card and very well known, and the truth is I quite liked it; but their proposal for an immersive, first-person cyberpunk RPG was a risky one. Before we began, all I could think was: would it remind me too much of other similar titles? Would it be a soulless clone, ready to fill that void until CDPR releases its sequel? Let me pose these questions at the start of this preview, just as they crossed my mind at the time, because this will be the last time I compare No Law to other titles in the genre. Because what a surprise.

No Law is a story set in a dystopian, futuristic city in which you play as Grey Harker, a muscular ex-soldier who has completely withdrawn from life in his bleak world and lives solely for his plants. But after unwittingly becoming embroiled in a series of mysterious events of which he has no recollection, Grey decides to knock on every door necessary to discover who has set him up... or simply to put an end to this madness.

If we were to look for another meaning behind the game's title, 'No Law' signifies 'freedom' rather than 'no rules'. The game is described as an "immersive open-world first-person shooter and RPG", but its true strength lies in offering absolute freedom to shape your own gameplay experience from the very first minute, and the demo was quite revealing in this respect. I was given a short mission in which Grey had to reach the home of a supposed informant who holds crucial information about the people who have got us into this situation. Until we got there, we had complete freedom to move around the city of Port Desire.

Neon Giant wants to ensure that everyone feels comfortable playing the game, so the game's HUD gives you directions on where to go... or not. With a single menu option, you can disable all visual aids and rely solely on the address you've been given to try and get there on your own. Every street in No Law has its own individual name, numbering, and characters set within it. It's about creating a city from the very foundations up, and then breathing real life into it. There are signs with directions, and there are neighbourhoods with different atmospheres. "No loading times, no cheating: all the locations are real", Berg, the game's creative director - who is controlling the demo with the controller - tells me. It's not as big as Night City (apologies for the reference), but it certainly feels much more immersive. Not just because of how it's built, but because of how it reacts to your presence.

Suddenly, Grey walks into a random shop on a sunny street packed with people walking, chatting, or simply going about their lives. As he crosses the threshold, a classic "ding-dong" rings out, announcing our arrival. At that moment, I see that the character crouches down and that this alert trigger can be collected and used, for example, to craft a proximity bomb. Doing so now would provoke a confrontation with the shopkeeper, and the same would happen if we took something from the shelf and left the premises without paying for it. "But it's an option; it's there in case you want to play it that way", they assure me.

Even the city itself changes at night. The rain muffles your footsteps if you approach stealthily. Grocery shops close at night, whilst cafés and brothels open. Life in the city takes on a new hue with the neon lights and the relative darkness. And then we move on to explore the rest of the shop.

Before we continue, let me clarify that Neon Giant, at least so far, has stated that they have not used AI in the development of No Law. The moment you realise this, and see that the more than a thousand product labels - complete with descriptions, logos and so on for every single item in the game, from a sheet of paper to a bottle of shampoo in this shop or a can of fizzy drink - have been created individually and by hand, that's when your mind is blown and you wonder how on earth they've managed to pull something like this off; it's taken four or five years of development. What's more, every object has its own physics and reacts depending on whether you pick it up and put it in your inventory, throw it away, or break it. The game ensures that in those shops there'll be fewer cans of fizzy drink on the shelves, or that if you even get violent and kill the shopkeeper, that shop will remain closed the following day. Forever.

After this, we arrive at the target's location, but the informant we're looking for lives in a building taken over by a gang of criminals, and we also need a keycard and access codes to reach the flat. I won't go into too much detail, but the demo showed several different save files (with Grey having levelled up different progression skills, such as lockpicking in one, and the use of weapons and cybernetic enhancements in another) to show me that, whilst there's always the option of violence (using weapons also feels brilliant - 'heavy' - with the impacts ringing in your ears), the game offers plenty of options for achieving the objective. What's more, progression and the experience needed to level up aren't tied to how you achieve the objectives (you don't gain experience for picking a lock, for example), but rather to 'managing to get into' the location. This way, all players can progress at the same pace, regardless of whether they want to explore different options or take a quicker, more direct route. There are also dialogue options, environmental clues (such as finding the access password on a piece of paper hidden behind a picture frame), and plenty more like that. Once again, the concept of "freedom" is ever-present throughout the demo.

"But how many people are working on this?", I asked. "Well, we've recently increased the team to 24 people," confirms Berg, "but when we started, there were only twelve of us." Nothing I say now does justice to the genuine sense of fascination I feel about what Neon Giant is developing for next year; the timeframe they've set for the release of No Law on PC (Steam and the Epic Games Store), PS5, and Xbox Series.

Honestly, I didn't expect Gamescom to give me the biggest surprise of the show in my final hour covering the event, but that's the magic of the epicentre of the global gaming world. It always springs surprises on you. No Law is, for now, going on my 'must-plays of 2027' list, and I'll die on this hill defending it.