Today, developer Rob Shields announced Neon Wasteland, an original animated comic book and video game.

The following elevator pitch of Neon Wasteland is provided:

Hack the metaverse on your transforming cyberbike to help Rabbit recover her identity from the corrupt corporations that stole it. Rabbit, the leader of the Gutter Punks, needs your help to jack into the grid and get out with her neo cortex still in tact. Using her trusty cyberbike, a few choice lines of code and the ability to rewind time, Rabbit can take on anything the meta cops throw at her but there is something sinister lurking behind the scenes that could De-Rezz Rabbit for good if she isn't careful.

The game is said to feature eight game worlds with eight playable characters. In each world there is three levels. In Level 1, each world plays as a runner (seen in announcement trailer).  In Level 2, each world players as a shooter (the developer says "think Gradius"). In Level 3, each world plays as an action platformer (think Metroidvania). Level 1 and 2 contain minibosses, while level 3 features a proper boss battle. All of the bosses are said to be unique.

The twist with Neon Wasteland, as mentioned above, is not only is it planned to be a game, but it will also feature a 24 issue tie-in animated comic book that "tells an entirely unique story." And of course, there is a synthwave soundtrack.

The game launched on Steam Greenlight today, which for those that don’t know is a system that enlists the community’s help in picking some of the new games to be released on Steam and also helps developers get some spotlight for their game, as well as on Patreon. Normally, we see projects like this appear on Kickstarter for funding, but Shields decided to take his solo-effort to Patreon, citing that "unlike Kickstarter which can take years to deliver rewards," Patreon allows you to see development every month. You can check out the Patreon, which includes a demo of the game (and more information), here.

It's currently unclear what platforms Neon Wasteland is in development for, but at the very least we know it's being developed for PC. Below, you can check out the game's announcement trailer: