Neon Giant, the Swedish studio behind The Ascent, revealed NO LAW at The Game Awards 2025. This first-person open-world shooter RPG is set in the cyber-noir city of Port Desire and is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, published by KRAFTON.
NO LAW is a first-person open-world shooter RPG developed by Swedish studio Neon Giant and published by KRAFTON. Revealed as a world premiere at The Game Awards 2025, the game is set in the fictional cyber-noir city of Port Desire and is currently in development for PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A specific release date has not been confirmed, but a 2026 launch is expected. Neon Giant is working with a team of just 24 developers, a remarkably small squad for a project of this ambition.
What Kind of Game Is NO LAW?
NO LAW marks a dramatic shift from Neon Giant’s debut title, The Ascent, which was an isometric action RPG released in July 2021. This time, the studio is building a first-person shooter RPG with immersive sim elements, drawing on the team’s extensive FPS background. Neon Giant co-founders Arcade Berg and Tor Frick have worked on franchises including Bulletstorm, Far Cry 3, and the modern Wolfenstein series.
“First-person is our DNA,” Frick told GameStar. “The Ascent was actually the experiment. Now, going back to first-person gives us a certain kind of confidence because, at the very least, we know we can deliver a tight gunplay experience. It’s what we’ve been doing for 25 years.” The game is built on Unreal Engine 5, leveraging Nanite and Lumen for dense visual fidelity and dynamic lighting. NO LAW is a purely single-player experience with no multiplayer or co-op component.
Port Desire: A Dense Cyber-Noir City
The game takes place in Port Desire, a lawless port city built into cliffs overlooking the sea. Ruled by crime syndicates, gangs, and a corrupt mayor’s militia, Port Desire stands apart from typical cyberpunk metropolises by embracing visual contrast. Alongside dark alleys and neon-soaked bars, the city features rooftop gardens with real greenery, colourful plazas, and unexpected pockets of calm.
Neon Giant is prioritising density over scale. Port Desire is not a sprawling GTA or Cyberpunk 2077-sized map. Instead, it is described as compact but packed with life. The studio has confirmed over 3,000 dynamic NPCs populating the city, a day-night cycle, and dynamic weather systems. The environment has been largely hand-crafted with minimal procedural generation, according to the developers. District design varies significantly: tight, vertically stacked slums reward patience and stealth, while open thoroughfares let firefights spill into the streets.
Who Is Grey Harker?
Players step into the boots of Grey Harker, an ex-military veteran who left active service after sustaining near-fatal injuries. Seeking a quiet life tending plants in Port Desire, Harker is violently drawn back into conflict when his peace is shattered. Leaning on his black-ops training and custom hardware, he sets out to reclaim what was stolen from him and confront the city that wronged him.
The narrative features multiple endings, and the path between start and finish changes based on how you play. Neon Giant has confirmed that story-critical characters can be killed and the game will still be completable. “Our game has a beginning and an end. Actually, it has multiple endings. But the path between those two points can be very different depending on how you play,” Frick explained.
How Does Combat and Player Agency Work?
NO LAW draws heavily from the immersive sim tradition of games like Deus Ex, Prey, and Dishonored. The core design philosophy is that there is no wrong way to play. Neon Giant provides tools and systems; the player decides how to solve every problem.
The available approaches include:
- Direct combat: Heavy weapons, explosives, and full-frontal chaos for players who want to go loud.
- Stealth: Manipulate patrol routes, disable security systems, and find vertical paths above the streetline.
- Hacking: Use a cyberdeck to infiltrate digital systems and bypass obstacles electronically.
- Investigation: Gather intelligence that unlocks new dialogue options, including bribery and blackmail.
An experience-point and skill-tree system lets players invest in the playstyle they prefer. “We never tell you which route to take,” Berg told PC Gamer. “We say that the player can never play the game wrong.” However, Neon Giant stopped short of confirming a full pacifist playthrough is possible, noting that the game is fundamentally a story of vengeance.
A World That Reacts to Your Choices
Enemy AI in NO LAW responds to sounds, sightlines, and pressure. Two players who approach the same scenario differently will see the world react in distinct ways. Berg described the system to GameSpot: “We’re not framing the game’s reactions to a player’s choices as ‘choosing stealth’ or ‘choosing shooting’; it’s more about the impact of those choices on the city. Was there collateral damage? Were there explosions? Even if you play stealth and shoot an exploding barrel, it’s still loud.”
Mission outcomes feed back into the narrative. Instead of binary dialogue choices, the world observes your behaviour. “You come back after completing a mission and the mission giver goes like, ‘Yeah, that wasn’t very smooth.’ They’re responding to how you actually played it,” Berg explained. Even in a lawless city, there are limits: killing civilians indiscriminately triggers a force called the Peacekeepers. “They’re not the police, but they will stop you.”
How Does NO LAW Compare to Cyberpunk 2077?
Comparisons to CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 emerged immediately after the reveal trailer. The aesthetic similarities are obvious, but Neon Giant has been clear about the differences. Port Desire is deliberately smaller and more intimate than Night City. The 24-person team at Neon Giant is a fraction of the hundreds who worked on Cyberpunk 2077. The studio describes its approach as “density over scale,” focusing on systemic depth and hand-crafted detail rather than sheer geographic size.
Neon Giant also confirmed that generative AI is not being used in the production of NO LAW. “We build the games the way we want to build them. That’s why we started the studio,” Frick told PC Gamer. “Every artist will make a strong imprint on the world. Every designer, every programmer, will have a very, very big impact on the game.”
Platforms, Languages, and Release Window
NO LAW is confirmed for PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The Steam page is already live with a wishlist option. The game supports 9 languages: English with full audio and subtitles, plus French, Italian, German, and Spanish (among others) with interface and subtitle support. It carries a Mature rating for frequent violence and gore, drug and alcohol use, and occasional nudity or sexual themes.
System requirements have not been finalised beyond a DirectX 12 requirement. No exact release date has been set, but multiple sources and the publisher’s own communications point to a 2026 launch window. The most recent developer interviews, published as recently as June 2026, still describe the game as in active development with new details being shared regularly.
What Players Are Asking About NO LAW
Is NO LAW connected to The Ascent?
No. NO LAW is an entirely new intellectual property. It shares no story, universe, or gameplay framework with The Ascent. While The Ascent featured a sci-fi world populated with aliens, NO LAW presents a more grounded, noir-influenced cyberpunk setting. The only connection is the development team itself.
Will the open world feel empty with such a small team?
Neon Giant has addressed this directly by emphasising that Port Desire is compact by design. Rather than stretching content across a massive map, the studio is concentrating on vertical level design, layered interiors with vents and service corridors, and systemic NPC behaviour. The confirmed 3,000-plus dynamic NPCs and hand-crafted environments suggest the team is betting on quality per square metre rather than total landmass.
Is there a multiplayer mode?
No. NO LAW is exclusively single-player. Neon Giant has confirmed this was a deliberate creative decision from the start, allowing the team to focus entirely on narrative depth, player agency, and systemic world reactions.
When exactly does it release?
No firm date has been announced. The publisher KRAFTON and Neon Giant have indicated a 2026 target, but no month or quarter has been specified. Given that system requirements remain undisclosed and the latest interviews describe active development, a late 2026 or even early 2027 release remains possible.
NO LAW is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious indie-scale projects in the cyberpunk genre. With its immersive sim roots, reactive world systems, and a studio pedigree rooted in some of the best FPS franchises of the past two decades, it has earned its place on wishlists. If you are looking for game accounts, digital products, or e-pins across a wide range of titles, GamerMarkt’s Steam account marketplace offers a secure platform for buyers and sellers.
