Neva Reviews

Lovely game. Really good platforming and combat, and has a story mode if you aren't into that stuff, and just want to enjoy the art

This is the second release from this company. When I first started playing I thought it would be a simple parenting series, or an animal protection or environmental conservation theme. I didn't particularly like her at the time because she was really noisy, but as neva and I got to know each other and went through all kinds of dangers and difficulties together, I realised that he seemed to be another me, and the original me seemed to be very brave but also very weak. neva was like a good companion, from being timid to standing in front of me when we were facing difficulties together, and from weak to courageous, and step by step, she grew. Growing up. He and I are both getting better together, protecting our home together from the faceless woman, banishing the darkness little by little. It shows me the different beauties of nature in four seasons, summer, autumn, winter and spring, and makes me realise that protecting the environment and animals should start from me. Everyone is a part of nature, and ultimately must return to nature. In the last scene of the game, I was with Neva's child Bluman. I was thinking that I would have an adventure with the two of them, and when I saw that bluman was also timid like neva, hanging on the edge of the cliff, neva pulled him up, like I pulled him up then. It was like a legacy, I taught neva, neva taught her child, and then there was the final battle when I passed out again, but bluman protected her mum again like neva protected me then, and I realised how much we'd all suddenly grown. I cried for a while at neva's death because I felt that everything was back to being good again, but she went through so much hurt and pain but couldn't enjoy the goodness afterwards, and it suddenly hit me that we are so small, naturally, or how cruel the world can be, but her child passed on to her, so she stayed with me in a different way, and I'll always remember her, and she'll never leave me. With her passing, it's more like being one with bluman, we're back to when we first met, but everything is better now than it was then. It will eventually become a better us, me, neva and bluman, yes it's us, it's a better us! True story, from a girl who is new to video games.

A puzzle platformer absolutely ruined by nightmarishly bad combat design. Lovely story, lovely mood, excellent pacing and timing and everything. And then you have slog through just the worst fights, enemies who are invulnerable to hits because they have giant blocks on their face that you can't jump over or dodge around, and every fight just goes right back to "Stand around doing nothing until the invulnerable enemy shows his vulnerable side" and then you get to hit him once before the pattern starts over and you have to wait another 30 seconds to a minute before you can interact with anything again. Horrible. Horrible combat ruining an otherwise excellent experience.

While not a bad game, it does fall short of it's predecessor GRIS. A lot more action focused but not enough challenging and iterative to keep the combat not feel repetitive.

Perhaps many will disagree, but I have to say... this game is very shallow without much depth in the gameplay and its game mechanics, few puzzles, simplistic combat and little depth in the storyline along with totally weak bosses. The good thing is that the game design is beautiful with lovely artwork and soundtrack. 5/10

Neva doesn’t revolutionize the cinematic platformer, but it is a worthwhile experience. Aspiring parents will especially want to check this out. On top of the touching story, the platforming and combat ask for enough player input to not become a walking simulator snoozefest. This is what Gris and Inside should have been. Is it really too much to ask more from the player than just pushing the stick in one direction to solve repetitive puzzles with absurdly simple solutions? You are games, not art exhibits!

To me, the fact that I didn't really enjoy this game is more shocking and out of left field than any Luka to the LA Lakers trade could ever be... Nomada Studio's sophomore video game expands every aspect of their debut game, GRIS. The graphics are more colourful, layered, and gorgeous, the soundtrack is just as great, the set pieces are grander, the scale is bigger, the imagery more evocative, and all of this is even mixed with combat sections. So why the hell did I not enjoy this game? Well, for starters, I found the combat to be way too plentiful for how basic it is. You have a 3-hit combo, a dodge, and after a certain section, you gain the ability to use Neva as a long-range projectile, and that's about it. It is very shallow, and I feel like the game would be better paced if the number of encounters was halved. Secondly, and I believe most importantly, unlike GRIS or Inside, I have no notion of what is even happening in this game or how to interpret the imagery in any meaningful way. [spoiler] After seeing a shadowy plague of sorts kill the parent of a little wolf named Neva, you take her under your wings as you set off to, I guess, avenge her parent. On your journey, you see that the entire world is essentially falling into ruin, with animals and plants of all sorts being swallowed up and corrupted by the plague. [/spoiler] My issue with this setup is that as time passes and Neva grows up, the more enemies you kill, the more they actually evolve, so there's no real feeling of progression. At no point is there any semblance of an explanation of what I'm even fighting. Most of the enemies seem very human, and even when they're not, these humanoid creatures pray to gods and take control of different animals and even square rocks??? My point is that I can't really liken these enemies to anything (parasites, humanity, industrialisation, diseases, deforestation, winter, the Chernobyl disaster, the cycle of life, the grim reaper, rule 34) because none of those really make sense for how they are presented, so I never actually know what I'm fighting. And the game even ends with [spoiler] you killing the god of these creatures. Only for it to return in the epilogue somehow, just so you kill it again in a cutscene, but this time with the power of howling and nature, I guess? [/spoiler] So I guess I just feel like I spent 4 hours playing a gorgeous game, yet nothing really drew me into it, so most of the time I was just pretty bored. And after the credits rolled, I really didn't get much out of it except for "nature beautiful, anything that harm nature bad". Maybe that seems like a shallow and borderline dismissive interpretation to most, but that is how I feel. And with how remarkably gorgeous this game is and how much love was clearly put into it, I wish I felt differently. 5/10

Even more beautiful than Gris, though less conceptual. Every frame could be a wallpaper (especially the last chapter)

I loved most of the game, though I didn't feel like it was tightly written or delivered as Gris, or as emotionally affecting. But I was really having a great time, and enjoying it a lot. The ending of the game is incredibly fucking lame, and deeply disappointing, especially considering how effective the rest of the game is. [spoiler] At the beginning of the game, we, the player character, watch Neva's mother die, and end up adopting Neva. Neva is with us throughout most of the game, though there are sections where she's not present, or where we have to solve a puzzle to help her come along, pretty standard. The final section of the game is played entirely without Neva until the very end where Neva shows up to help us defeat the final boss. howling her into becoming living plants.[/spoiler] [spoiler] After you defeat the final boss with Neva's help, you get a short cutscene of Neva seemingly defeating the boss for good, though you don't kill the boss as you have every other. This leaves the door open for the boss to return. All good. There is then a (seemingly brief) time skip to what seems to be either Spring or Summer. You are with Neva and her puppy Brume (spelling?) and you waltz around for a little bit, can find a collectable, and then carry on with both Neva and Brume. Until control is wrestled away from you for another cutscene in which you are knocked unconscious but the final boss, who then stabs Neva with her sword. Neva tries to howl the boss away, and is unsuccessful. Brume then attacks, and howls with Neva, and together they turn her into a tree. I am perfectly fine with a sad ending. I am perfectly fine with a melancholy ending. I'm delighted for a beloved title character to die in a heroic or otherwise emotionally affecting way. What I'm not fine with is this very strange "you won! Oh, whoops, you didn't! Now this character is dead in a cutscene months after the fight you just had with this boss." It feels incredibly weird and cheap? It completely took me out of Neva's death scene, and the triumphant music playing over the whole thing felt like a joke.[/spoiler] I would recommend this game, but I'm really disappointed with what I consider to be a nearly game ruining ending. If the ending had been delivered even slightly differently it would have easily had me bawling my eyes out. But as is, it felt distracting, ill-conceived, and incredibly contrived.

"From the creators of Gris" is enough of a reason to recommend Neva, in all honesty. This game is an elegy for what is lost, a testament to what can still be found between despair & hope, all while exploring the essence of parenthood in a world that is filled with both ethereal beauty & haunting horrors. While the gameplay of Neva may lack depth, its true strength lies in its artistic expression. This truly is one of the most beautiful & emotional journeys you will get to experience while playing a game!