• Price: $49.99 USD (currently on sale for $44.99 until January 22nd)
• Developer: AmuLit (Voltage Inc.)
• Publisher: Voltage Inc.
• Release Date: December 25, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by Voltage Inc. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: rated T for “Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs and Alcohol.” Sex work, sexual assault, torture, dismemberment, murder, attempted suicide, discrimination

An otome that tells the story of a nationwide mafia conflict, Neon Clash -Echoes of the Lost- first caught my attention with its breathtaking art. Said to take inspiration from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it tells the story of Kroa, the only remaining member of the Liu mafia family.

Kroa was raised away from her family, as her parents were the heads of the Liu family and wanted to keep her safe from those who would use her against them. On her twelfth birthday she was supposed to finally meet her parents, but on that fateful night no one came, as the Liu family was completely annihilated.

Now in her early twenties, Kroa has been alone for a long time; the uncle who raised her had been hunted down and murdered as well, leaving her with no one. With the Zhuo family running the country from the shadows, everyone is doing what they can to survive in a world where poverty, drugs, and violence are widespread.

One day Kroa has the misfortune of encountering some thugs from the Zhuo family, who attack her because they think she’s part of a local gang. As she prepares to die, Kroa is rescued by a handsome man with silver hair.

Upon arriving at a safe location, the man kneels before Kroa and tells her that he’s been searching for her for years, not even knowing if she was still alive. His name is Lowd, and he is the only survivor from the massacre at the Liu family’s base. He’s never lost hope that someday she would return to revive the Liu family and take revenge on Biying Zhuo, the man responsible for her family’s deaths.

Unfortunately for Lowd, Kroa is not terribly enthused about the idea (at first). She’s seen what happens to those who defy the Zhuo family, and thinks that going up against them would be pointless. But then something happens that pushes Kroa past her breaking point, and she tells Lowd that she’ll accept her status as head of the Liu family.

“If all that awaits [me] is a future of dying in the gutter, then I want to turn my life into something meaningful.”

Reviving the Liu family will be easier said than done, considering that they’re essentially starting from zero. They need to find trustworthy individuals to join the family, acquire some weapons, establish a base, and remove the Zhuo family from Taozhe, the city where the Liu family had lived.

Fights between mafia factions usually involve a lot of guns, and there are definitely firearms in this game. But they also added “frayglyphs” to the mix, which are special tattoos that give their owners powers. If someone possesses a frayglyph it usually belongs to one of three types, such as speed or strength.

Kroa, however, has a special frayglyph that gives her the power of psychometry, meaning that she can see echoes of memories from the people who had touched an object. It’s not useful in combat, instead giving the Liu family an advantage in intelligence gathering.

That’s not to say that Kroa is incapable of fighting, though; when they first meet Lowd observes that “the way [she] handled [herself] back there is something only someone who’s survived hell can do.” She has a gun that was passed down from her ancestors, and she’s capable of using it.

I liked how Kroa and her re-established Liu family don’t start out with much, and they aren’t perfect, overpowered warriors. Kroa and her new “capos” have no idea how to run a mafia family, and their only source of information on the subject is Lowd, who actually grew up in the original Liu family base.

Under Kroa’s leadership the new Liu family succeeds in regaining control of Taozhe, but as they begin to make alliances and interact with other more experienced mafia families they’ll face many setbacks. Some of their cherished allies will die as the family does their best to expand. (I did wish some of the deaths could’ve been avoided in a separate route.)

But in a world dominated by the mafia, it definitely made sense to have so many pointless deaths. Having worked as a courier before, Kroa had to outrun the mafia as she delivered packages with (unknown) shady contents. She is street smart and wary, but at the same time she’s a human with emotions who makes mistakes like anyone else.

I was pleased that they didn’t write Kroa as this cold crime boss who knew exactly what to do all the time and could easily set her emotions aside. Yet she’s still a fairly strong and capable heroine despite her flaws and inexperience as a mafia boss.

There were a few plot points that I found predictable, and I wanted to know more about the Yellow Flags, Kroa’s gun, and Nullification. I also wish that the female characters (besides Kroa) had more screen time. But overall I enjoyed the story, which I found more believable due to the Liu family’s occasional failures as they found their footing in the mafia world. I also appreciated the perspective changes between Kroa, the love interests, and members of the other mafia families.

I’d say that most of the game consists of a common route of sorts; it’s not formatted like a traditional otome that splits into routes for the individual love interests. I was a little disappointed about this decision because additional routes could have added more depth to the relationships and story. Instead, we get epilogue chapters of sorts for the love interests that can be accessed via the chapter select system after completing the True Ending of the main story.

There are 4 love interests in Neon Clash, and we get to see Kroa interact with each of them in the main story. Two of the love interests, Lowd and Hiyok, are capos of the Liu family, while Maslo and Mun belong to other families. As a result, Kroa trusts Lowd and Hiyok a lot more from the start.

Hiyok, the cheerful red-haired love interest, is probably my favorite even before seeing his “ending.” He’s very loyal and sweet to Kroa. I absolutely loved how often Kroa mentally compares Hiyok to a dog, and even Hiyok himself comes out and acknowledges the apt comparison. It’s hilarious. One of my favorite aspects of his character is the way that he recognizes that Kroa is both beautiful and strong. The only thing I didn’t like was his reliance on alcohol.

I also liked Lowd overall. He’s a pretty boy for sure, but he’s a very competent and loyal second to Kroa, even if he refuses to be acknowledged as an “underboss.” It’s interesting to see how the pair’s views on their mafia roles differ.

Lowd’s ending is pretty awkward, and I didn’t love how possessive he became, but the confession scene is one of the funniest I’ve ever seen. The dynamic between Lowd and Hiyok was also really entertaining throughout the main story. For a game with such dark themes there are some surprisingly funny moments here and there.

Maslo is another pretty boy, and I thought that he and Kroa had a lot in common. In my opinion he would be the best love interest for Kroa after Hiyok even though I wasn’t entirely satisfied with his ending with her.

Mun was probably my least favorite out of the love interests. He’s admittedly very handsome and competent, but I didn’t care for the way he did things. Despite this, I still thought his ending was the second best after Hiyok’s because it seemed more romantic than the endings for the other two characters.

Overall I was happy with the love interest options. I will say that it’s a little disappointing that they didn’t give us Rin as an option (and perhaps Yulong). The decision to not have a common route that splits into longer love interest routes may prove to be controversial, but I think they did a pretty good job of integrating the love interests into scenes where they could bond with Kroa in the main story.

After each chapter you’ll earn coins if you get a good Boss Grade based on the decisions you made. These coins can then be used in the Extras section to unlock content in the Secret Information section, which includes facts about each mafia family and “CCTV footage” with bonus scenes. I did wish that there were more bonus scenes for the other mafias, as they only had 1 each compared to the 7 for the Liu family.

There are a decent amount of typos in the script, but other than that I liked the writing and felt like they did a good job with the translation. I appreciated their use of different similes and metaphors.

Sometimes there was phrasing that seemed to stem from Japanese concepts, such as what “color” the future will be, or when Kroa sees someone so beautiful that “…even the moon would hide behind the clouds in embarrassment.” (From 羞花閉月, I assume?) But I still got the general meaning behind everything.

It was also cool to see how even the title and lyrics of the opening theme song (“Shangri-La”) tied into the concepts in the story. That song is so catchy, and the singer’s voice really reminded me of some Persona songs. And sure enough, Shihoko Hirata sang the lyrics for the songs on many different Persona albums, in addition to even if TEMPEST (another otome by Voltage).

The soundtrack for Neon Clash was composed by Shunsuke Tsuchiya, who also composed the music for otome games Bad Apple Wars and even if TEMPEST, in addition to SRPG Stella Glow, which had one of my favorite soundtracks ever. I’ve now added the Neon Clash soundtrack to that list, as the songs in this game are just so energetic and fun.

The game excels in the art department as well. Everything is so eye catching, from the character designs to their clothing to the backgrounds. Small details such as the artwork on display or even an adorable umbrella stand made me smile.

Neon Clash -Echoes of the Lost- isn’t a traditional otome, and even though I would have liked it to have more romance, I think it still does a lot right. If you’re okay with the more violent themes listed further above and enjoy stories full of action, betrayal, loss, and romance, this might be an otome you can’t refuse! 😉