Neva could’ve stopped at just being a beautiful experience well worth your time, but the developers at Nomada pulled no punches in making it a video game well worth experiencing.
An impactful story.
A lush setting.
A beautiful art style.
A moving score.
Characters to grow an attachment towards.
Nomada Studio checked all the necessary boxes to make Neva another indie title that blurs the lines between video games and art, but it’s really the slightly stronger focus at making the game more than a walking simulator that makes the title all the more memorable.
Neva tells the story of Alba, a skilled swordswoman and warrior bound to the wolf cub Neva, who becomes orphaned after seeing her wolf parent succumb to a shadow like rot. Together, Alba and Neva embark on an adventure through their constantly decaying world, seeing their relationship grow as their surroundings change for the worse.
Based in Barcelona, the developers at Nomada Studio are mostly known for another indie darling in Gris, a game lauded for its impactful narrative, as well its beautiful setting, art style, and orchestral score. Sounds familiar, right? That said, is Neva more of the same? I’m not going to lie — I can’t answer that because I’ve never played it, but if Neva has done anything, it’s definitely given me a stronger desire to try Gris out.
At its core, Neva is a sidescrolling action platformer. Every level you play through in this four-to-five-hour adventure represents a different season of the year. For example, the first area takes place in the summer, so the majority of environments are naturally bright and under the sun. Neva is still a cub here in that first level, so as you make your way through the warm summer pasture, she’ll sometimes lag behind. Then you’ll play through fall where you’ll find all sorts of foliage and be treated to colder weather. At that time, Neva is older and with that a little more adventurous. She’ll stray off your beaten path and jump right into danger, and it’s something you just have to live with her doing. Before long, you’ll find yourself in the winter, and Neva is fully grown to the point where you can ride on her back as you traverse a world that looks so brisk, you’ll probably even feel cold.
Watching Neva grow throughout the game is definitely an experience. In addition to all the running around and platforming players will do, there’s a button that allows you to call out to and nurture Neva, who typically will appear from wherever she went as soon as you called her. If you’re near enough, you can pet her with the same button — because of course you can.
Neva‘s level design and art design come together to make quite an awesome marriage.
Still, we mentioned this is also an action platformer, so there is quite a bit of combat in the game. Luckily Alba is a skilled warrior equipped with a sword to take out the many dark beings that try to infest the worlds you explore. Making it more impressive is the combat is quite robust. Slicing down the enemies actually feels good, and it gets to a point where they really up the ante with the difficulty by giving the enemies more weapons to use against you in addition to more enemies that you can handle. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you can launch Neva at enemies to do your dirty work, so feeling your arsenal grow is just another example of how well the game paces you while also invoking the changes that need to occur to make the relationships and gameplay both evolve hand-in-hand.
From the story to combat, we move now towards the amount of puzzle solving there is in Neva. They’re all actually quite solid, with the greater majority of the puzzle solving really just being a test of how well you know the controls in addition to how much you’re paying attention to the world around you. As mentioned earlier, the platforming is pretty robust. You’ll be jumping, double jumping, and dashing your way to various platforms in no time, and then eventually get to a point where they really test your jumping prowess by throwing enemies at you that give you another jump and double jump to traverse through each section.
One of the more enjoyable platforming puzzles we came across was this section where you see a reflection of Alba on one part of the screen, while the side of the screen you’re actually in control of features no platforms near her. But if you progress simply by looking at the platforms in the reflection, you move forward that way. (There’s an example of this scenario in the screenshot below). This led to a lot of untimely deaths, by our own admission, but the cleverness was definitely something we had to highlight.
This was easily one of the most beautiful and interesting puzzle sequences I’ve ever experienced.
The best part is if any of it gets too challenging, and the game does feature its fair share (emphasis on the fair), you can tone the difficulty down to Story Mode where she can’t die during combat or platforming sequences, which is pretty ideal in case you really can’t get through some of the more difficult fights in the game. After all, this is supposed to be a cozy indie title about the dynamics of relationships and maturing, why be frustrated about shadows that keep killing you?
All that said, I did have some frustrations here and there, but I also have to admit that some of it might have come at the cost of my own impatience as well. While the game is only five hours, I kind of felt like it was a long five hours. There are two levels in the game that are significantly longer than others, and I eventually found myself just counting down the minutes until I’d be done. Another issue is a problem I constantly heard about with Gris. The game is a visual marvel. There’s no discounting its beauty, but there were several times I died because I thought I was jumping on a solid platform that ended up just being part of the background. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s actually there to traverse on because the game’s art style contributes so much to making it look as great as it looks.
Speaking of how great the game looks, I wanted to show some more love and respect here. It wasn’t mentioned in the review kit given to us, but it’s pretty clear that visual creatives had some inspiration from Studio Ghibli. The mystical spirit wolf Neva looked like a combination of both the wolves and the forest spirit in Princess Mononoke. Neva even had the horns to go with her. On top of that, most of the default enemies in the game were a spitting image of No Face from Spirited Away, while the wild boars the shadows took over were also reminiscent of the boars in Princess Mononoke and some of the larger beasts from Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind. If the character design wasn’t directly inspired by Studio Ghibli, then it was definitely inspired by what inspired Ghibli, so it’s really cool making these connections here.
I also wanted to take some time to talk about the visual way the game handles death. When anything dies in the game, plants and ivy grow out of the corpse. It’s something both off-putting and understandable. It’s disgusting yet beautiful. The overall message that life and death are natural parts of us hits strong, and I found this all the more captivating.
All this goes without saying I thought Neva was absolutely fantastic. The game proved to be a breath of fresh air especially over these last few weeks that saw the release of games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Metaphor: ReFantazio. So whether you’re looking for a great indie or an awesome palette cleanser, look no further than Neva. It makes you feel in ways you can’t even describe, and that’s a quality that makes Neva even more special with all the amazing things it has going for it.
Neva could’ve stopped at just being a beautiful experience well worth your time, but the developers at Nomada pulled no punches in making it a video game well worth experiencing. An impactful story. A lush setting. A beautiful art style….
Neva could’ve stopped at just being a beautiful experience well worth your time, but the developers at Nomada pulled no punches in making it a video game well worth experiencing.
An impactful story.
A lush setting.
A beautiful art style.
A moving score.
Characters to grow an attachment towards.
Nomada Studio checked all the necessary boxes to make Neva another indie title that blurs the lines between video games and art, but it’s really the slightly stronger focus at making the game more than a walking simulator that makes the title all the more memorable.
Neva tells the story of Alba, a skilled swordswoman and warrior bound to the wolf cub Neva, who becomes orphaned after seeing her wolf parent succumb to a shadow like rot. Together, Alba and Neva embark on an adventure through their constantly decaying world, seeing their relationship grow as their surroundings change for the worse.
Based in Barcelona, the developers at Nomada Studio are mostly known for another indie darling in Gris, a game lauded for its impactful narrative, as well its beautiful setting, art style, and orchestral score. Sounds familiar, right? That said, is Neva more of the same? I’m not going to lie — I can’t answer that because I’ve never played it, but if Neva has done anything, it’s definitely given me a stronger desire to try Gris out.
At its core, Neva is a sidescrolling action platformer. Every level you play through in this four-to-five-hour adventure represents a different season of the year. For example, the first area takes place in the summer, so the majority of environments are naturally bright and under the sun. Neva is still a cub here in that first level, so as you make your way through the warm summer pasture, she’ll sometimes lag behind. Then you’ll play through fall where you’ll find all sorts of foliage and be treated to colder weather. At that time, Neva is older and with that a little more adventurous. She’ll stray off your beaten path and jump right into danger, and it’s something you just have to live with her doing. Before long, you’ll find yourself in the winter, and Neva is fully grown to the point where you can ride on her back as you traverse a world that looks so brisk, you’ll probably even feel cold.
Watching Neva grow throughout the game is definitely an experience. In addition to all the running around and platforming players will do, there’s a button that allows you to call out to and nurture Neva, who typically will appear from wherever she went as soon as you called her. If you’re near enough, you can pet her with the same button — because of course you can.
Neva‘s level design and art design come together to make quite an awesome marriage.
Still, we mentioned this is also an action platformer, so there is quite a bit of combat in the game. Luckily Alba is a skilled warrior equipped with a sword to take out the many dark beings that try to infest the worlds you explore. Making it more impressive is the combat is quite robust. Slicing down the enemies actually feels good, and it gets to a point where they really up the ante with the difficulty by giving the enemies more weapons to use against you in addition to more enemies that you can handle. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you can launch Neva at enemies to do your dirty work, so feeling your arsenal grow is just another example of how well the game paces you while also invoking the changes that need to occur to make the relationships and gameplay both evolve hand-in-hand.
From the story to combat, we move now towards the amount of puzzle solving there is in Neva. They’re all actually quite solid, with the greater majority of the puzzle solving really just being a test of how well you know the controls in addition to how much you’re paying attention to the world around you. As mentioned earlier, the platforming is pretty robust. You’ll be jumping, double jumping, and dashing your way to various platforms in no time, and then eventually get to a point where they really test your jumping prowess by throwing enemies at you that give you another jump and double jump to traverse through each section.
One of the more enjoyable platforming puzzles we came across was this section where you see a reflection of Alba on one part of the screen, while the side of the screen you’re actually in control of features no platforms near her. But if you progress simply by looking at the platforms in the reflection, you move forward that way. (There’s an example of this scenario in the screenshot below). This led to a lot of untimely deaths, by our own admission, but the cleverness was definitely something we had to highlight.
This was easily one of the most beautiful and interesting puzzle sequences I’ve ever experienced.
The best part is if any of it gets too challenging, and the game does feature its fair share (emphasis on the fair), you can tone the difficulty down to Story Mode where she can’t die during combat or platforming sequences, which is pretty ideal in case you really can’t get through some of the more difficult fights in the game. After all, this is supposed to be a cozy indie title about the dynamics of relationships and maturing, why be frustrated about shadows that keep killing you?
All that said, I did have some frustrations here and there, but I also have to admit that some of it might have come at the cost of my own impatience as well. While the game is only five hours, I kind of felt like it was a long five hours. There are two levels in the game that are significantly longer than others, and I eventually found myself just counting down the minutes until I’d be done. Another issue is a problem I constantly heard about with Gris. The game is a visual marvel. There’s no discounting its beauty, but there were several times I died because I thought I was jumping on a solid platform that ended up just being part of the background. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s actually there to traverse on because the game’s art style contributes so much to making it look as great as it looks.
Speaking of how great the game looks, I wanted to show some more love and respect here. It wasn’t mentioned in the review kit given to us, but it’s pretty clear that visual creatives had some inspiration from Studio Ghibli. The mystical spirit wolf Neva looked like a combination of both the wolves and the forest spirit in Princess Mononoke. Neva even had the horns to go with her. On top of that, most of the default enemies in the game were a spitting image of No Face from Spirited Away, while the wild boars the shadows took over were also reminiscent of the boars in Princess Mononoke and some of the larger beasts from Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind. If the character design wasn’t directly inspired by Studio Ghibli, then it was definitely inspired by what inspired Ghibli, so it’s really cool making these connections here.
I also wanted to take some time to talk about the visual way the game handles death. When anything dies in the game, plants and ivy grow out of the corpse. It’s something both off-putting and understandable. It’s disgusting yet beautiful. The overall message that life and death are natural parts of us hits strong, and I found this all the more captivating.
All this goes without saying I thought Neva was absolutely fantastic. The game proved to be a breath of fresh air especially over these last few weeks that saw the release of games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Metaphor: ReFantazio. So whether you’re looking for a great indie or an awesome palette cleanser, look no further than Neva. It makes you feel in ways you can’t even describe, and that’s a quality that makes Neva even more special with all the amazing things it has going for it.
by Danreb Victorio
