XBOX REVIEW | Neva

Neva is the second title by Nomada Studios, known for indie darling GRIS. You’ll frequently find GRIS on “best indie games ever” lists and rightfully so: it’s beautiful and plays like an artwork in motion. But somehow it didn’t quite have the same impact on me as it did on most other people. I think the main reason for that is that it tried to evoke emotions, but I find that hard to achieve without an interplay between different characters. and that’s exactly where Neva succeeds.

Things I liked!

• Gorgeous | Neva have I seen a game where it’s so easy to snap a random screenshot at any moment and it would make for a great poster to hang on your wall. It’s stunningly beautiful and isn’t afraid to zoom in or zoom out during a level to let the player take it all in. There is a soft pastel colour palette used that makes the game feel gentle and soothing, even though the theme can get a little gruesome with the “bad guys” taking over various wildlife.

• The sound | WHAT A SOUNDTRACK! Just have a listen at the short clip below, it felt like playing through the most epic scenes of a Disney movie. It envokes emotion and adventure like no other. I might just like the soundtrack even more than I enjoyed the visual splendour. [Here is the Spotify playlist by its composer Berlinist]

• Smooth platforming, not too much focus on puzzles | You can double jump and dash + use Neva as a summon later on in the game to help you trigger certain objects. The main path is pretty straightforward and I didn’t feel as lost as I did in GRIS where I was constantly feeling some kind of FOMO about potentially missing collectables. Neva feels more streamlined and only really requires some platforming skill when going for optional collectables.

• Your loyal puppy grows up | It’s so wholesome to see the interaction between the main character and your antlered wolf growing from season to season from a small white puppy to a giant wolf you can ride on and which helps you in combat. They trust each other fully and are in perfect sync with each other and it’s just so fulfilling to see. While the ending is a bit sad at first, you soon realize the cyclical nature of the game and kind of want to play it again, albeit with one small change (I was disappointed a little they didn’t fully lean into this by changing the name each time, but also don’t want to spoil too much here)

• Perfect length | Neva does not overstay its welcome and each season/chapter brings just enough new features to keep it fresh. I beat Neva in around 4h30 and played one additional hour to unlock some achievements I had missed, but it was a perfect runtime for a game in this genre. I doubt I’ll go for 100% or 1000G though, because I don’t feel like following a guide just to find all collectables or optional activities for achievements like smashing all statues.

Mixed & disliked!

• Backtracking for missed collectables | I like to 100% my games and Neva has no skill-based achievements, so that should be very doable. But there are a lot of “woops” moments where you’re on route to collect a flower you have missed and then you jump down too soon and have to restart the level again. Neva does have various points per season where you can load from, but nevertheless, I did get frustrated a couple of times when trying to find them and it was enough for me to quit trying.

• Simple combat | There is just one simple attack button, but for me this isn’t really a huge downside. I’m just listing it as I can see people reading some pitches online like “It’s GRIS but with combat” and overvaluing the amount of action in the game. I still liked the boss-fights, but mostly for their visual splendour, not so much for how they were designed.

• No voice acting | Well, there is “Neva” and another name I’ll not mention to avoid any spoilers that you can shout whenever you want, but that’s the full extent of hearing voices. The game doesn’t really need this though, so again bringing it up more as a warning in case that’s an important aspect for anyone else reading this, but I didn’t mind. My wife did go crazy from me spamming the “yell Neva!” button, and when she asked me to stop, I would just press the button again: “Neva!”

How long did I play the review before publishing? 5h30
How long to beat the story? 4h
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 13/18 – 550/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | ~5h if you follow a guide
You’ll love this game if you like these | GRIS, The Artful Escape

CONCLUSION

Score: 88/100 – Neva is a short emotional adventure with canvas-worthy art design and a beautiful soundtrack that I instantly added to my spotify playlist. The platforming gameplay is tight, the combat is simple yet satisfying and the relationship between you and your titular antlered wolf pet feels incredibly wholesome.

Should you pass on this one? The thought should Neva cross your mind!

Prefer to see Neva in action? We’ve got you covered with the first 2 chapters: