Three years ago I wrote a brief review on Gris. A short little indie developed by Nomada Studio. In it I talked about how the game was art and that I recommended it despite it not being so much of a video game. There’s not much gameplay to speak of and at no point could you possibly lose. However, it was proof that games can still be enjoyable without having to be these high octane experiences. That games could in fact be art, and that they’ve been art for a very long time. Gris was an achievement in both animation and how video games could handle animation. That this team of developers could transform an animated film into an interactive piece of media. That is why I gave the game the strong recommendation that I did back then. It’s not one of my favorite indie games, but it is one I have a lot of respect towards. Now more than five years later the team behind Gris decided to put out a new game titled Neva. A new linear visually stunning adventure carrying over a lot of the charm and beauty that made Gris so special. The twist is that Neva is a more action gameplay focused game than Gris. Introducing challenging segments like combat to spice up the experience every now and then in the hopes players won’t get bored much like some did with Gris.
I was pretty excited when Nomada Studio decided to announce their new game a while ago. I am someone who really liked Gris, and Neva was looking to be their most ambitious project to date. It seems like they learned a lot from Gris, the criticism they got from certain players, and used the money they made from Gris to expand. The art direction was more detailed than ever, and the way for which characters and objects flowed was more fluid. The soundtrack was more elegant, they’d be introducing combat like I mentioned, and platforming to test the player’s movement and traversal. Neva feels like what Nomada Studio originally wanted to do with Gris. Develop a painting you could play around with, but this time they had the money and resources for it. I’m not one to look up the cost for making a video game. Usually I care more about whether the end product was good, but I bet quite a bit of money went into making Neva. It’s been six years since Gris came out, so I know a lot of time went into planning out and developing this game. Crafting yet another artistic game.
Neva came out just about a month ago I’d say and while reception for it has been really positive I have not seen many people talk about Neva in the same way people discussed Gris back in 2018. I haven’t seen any major media outlets cover Neva. Even IGN, the guys who’ll give everything a 7 or 8 out of ten, haven’t written a review for Neva. Just recently the guys at Second Wind went and released their Bytesized review of the game, which is a bit late even for them. I’m shocked more people haven’t talked about Neva despite it being the successor to one of the most visually stunning indie games of 2018. Which is unfortunate, because Neva is an improvement from Gris in almost every single way and is easily one of the best games of 2024. In some ways I kind of want to blame Devolver Digital as to why Neva isn’t selling better. I love those guys, but they did not do a good job getting Nomada’s new workout there. That and this game came out a few days after Metaphor Refantazio released, so that was basically a bullet to the head for them. Yet, that’s the joy about indie games. It’s either you’re one of few people who pay attention to them more so than Triple A titles like me, and feel gleeful for playing them day one. That or you get to it years later to find out they are gems. Neva is beautiful and today we’re going to be discussing why it utterly deserves your attention.
Story
The game takes place many ages ago. In a vast world with wilderness as far as the eye can see. Beautiful landscapes tame the earth and with it come the creatures that roam this land. Tending to the wilds and making sure the peace is maintained. Secured so that all who live amongst these may stay in peace. Deer, cranes, bears, boars, squirrels, and the list goes on. The ones who truly protect the inhabitants of the wild though are the wolves, and there’s not many of them around. The wolves that are around are a small cub named Neva, and her big ferocious mother who is willing to fight anything that threatens to hurt her child. Living alongside them is Alba, a young woman who has lived with the wolves her whole life. We don’t really know much about Alba. Where she came from, who her parents were, or if there’s any other humans in this world. All we know is she lives amongst the animals, she respects nature, and is willing to fight alongside the wolves to protect the wilderness from dangerous forces. So basically this is Princess Mononoke, but without the raging samurai ravaging the land.
One day Alba and her wolf friends were traversing along a large grassy field when they noticed strange things occurring. Birds start falling from the sky and look as if they died mid-flight. They sprout into black roots and flowers, and anything those roots touch become dead alongside them. A dreadful feel floods the air and out comes a mass of corruption. Boiling, building, and trying to destroy everything around it. Alba pulls out her sword and prepares to fight the monstrosity. She slices through her foes with ease and tries to send it back to the hell for which it hailed from. It is too much and just when she is knocked out the mother wolf steps in. Tearing about the darkness until all cuts to black. Once Alba awakens she finds the corruption has dispersed, but the mother wolf lies lifeless beneath a tree that sprouted before them. She isn’t breathing. Not a single shed of life is seen, and Alba begins to mourn the loss of her friend. A family member who did what she could to protect her loved one. Neva comes along to mourn the death of her mother, and so Alba promises to get back at the monsters who’ve hurt them. A few months pass and Alba has prepared for a great journey. To travel to where the darkness hailed from and defeat it once and for all. Working alongside her is Neva, and together they will save the land so that no one should have to experience the same tragedy they went through. Into the fray they wander.
Gameplay
Neva is a pretty simplistic game to play similar to that of Gris. Your journey is quite linear and is divided into combat and platforming sections. Your character abilities include a three hit combo slash with your sword, a double jump, dodge roll, and midair dash that also provides invincibility frames like the dodge roll. These abilities are used quite well during platforming as you make tricky movements to get to where you need to be. Level design and mechanics occasionally will occasionally switch things up to change how you get to Point B, or add some puzzle elements to the platforming. For example there might be these blobs you have to hit to cause platforms to appear. Blocks you break, but reform with time which creates this ability to spawn and eliminate platforms. These holes for when you fall or dash into shoots you out one of the other holes on the screen. I don’t want to spoil too many of the late game sections seeing how this is a short game, but it’s the variety in ideas that prevent Neva from getting old or repetitive too quickly. A flaw I know a few critics had with Gris when it originally released back in 2018. Platforming isn’t the only thing that’s varied as combat likes to change things up with the type of enemies and arenas you end up facing off in. Across the three to four hours this game takes place you’ll fight a lot.
During the first hour or so enemy variety is quite limited, but overtime you face off against new foes. Flying enemies, guys who like to throw stuff at you, big burling blokes who like to slam down on you, and the occasional boss fight. Those bosses can be especially tough as they have multiple phases and will change up their strategies to get the edge on you. One mechanic that makes the combat of Neva unique is how health recovery works. You have three hit points and when they are all gone it’s game over. However, you can recover lost health if you manage to get six hits on an enemy without getting hit again. Health recovery can be increased twice as fast if you manage to hit two enemies at once. This mechanic pushes you to play diligently and quickly understand how enemies function. To get the advantage, find an opening point, and punish them for their mistakes when they did so to you. Health can also be recovered at checkpoints, but they are often spread apart and lie outside of arenas. Over time your wolf friend Neva will grow, and they will assist you in combat. Biting down on enemies or you being able to launch at distanced foes. Use them whenever you can as they can help out a lot during stressful situations. Besides that there’s not much else for me to discuss. Neva is a simplistic yet fun game to play. Let’s just hope you can cut down the darkness of the land and grow alongside the one you call sister.
Thoughts
It’s a miracle Neva exists. Gris from what I assume was already difficult to animate and produce, and seeing Nomada Studio do it again and on a larger scope is mesmerizing. Neva is yet again a testament to what these developers can do. Transform what is essentially an animated film, what feels like an art exhibit at times, into an interactive form of media. Neva is astounding through its visuals, music, presentation, pacing, and simplistic game design. It is a masterpiece and is easily one of the best games of 2024. The combat is simplistic and you can’t do any fancy combos like in other action games, but it’s the simplicity and setup of encounters that makes it great. It knows when to throw new enemy types at you, how to introduce them, and spice things up either with throwing different enemies alongside them or using the environment against you. Maybe you’ll fight the flying enemies on platforms you must hop between, or the platforms start shifting up and down so trying to land hits on foes at different altitudes is difficult. Maybe you’ll fight two of the burly blokes at once, and they keep teleporting around so keeping an eye on them is a real challenge. I like the healing system because it allows you to keep going and basically says, “Hey, you screwed up but you have the chance to redeem yourself.” Neva can get tricky, but I wouldn’t say it got frustrating. Everything is fair and as long as you pay attention you learn quickly.
Platforming is great too as it makes great use of your limited abilities and expands upon them by using fun level mechanics. It’s very much a good platformer as it is a combat game. It follows the same rules great platformers like Shovel Knight and Celeste do by building a lot from a little. Levels are well paced and know how to break up the monotony by either switching up the type of activity you are doing or presenting you with a beautiful cinematic backdrop or sequence. I think we can all agree the main selling point for Neva, much like Gris, is going to be its visuals and art direction. This is the prettiest game I’ve played all year. It’s vibrant colors all meshing together to create some of the most believable environments I’ve seen in a game this year. What makes it more amazing is that it is all animated. Perfectly and fluently. What I probably miss the most is the sky in this game. Not as detailed as the world, but I love how it’s colored and portrays the changes in the world. The seasons, where you are, and how it progresses alongside the story. The soundtrack is amazing and is probably my favorite of 2024. Knowing when to be elegant and feel emotional at just the right times.
I really enjoyed the story despite it being simplistic, and the game does that thing where instead of telling the story it shows it. Neva is already pretty well animated and it’s able to communicate its visuals without speaking a word. Without spoilers, the ending is perfect as it shows how life goes on despite the losses we may go through. How everybody will go through it at some point, and we all must trek on despite it all. It kind of reminded me of Princess Mononoke, which a lot of you are going to be very surprised to hear that I watched recently. Just a few weeks before having played this game. Wouldn't be surprised if Nomada Studio took heavy inspiration from Ghibli during the development of this game. I thought it was a really good movie. Probably one of my top five Studio Ghibli films. Well done and shows Ghibli isn’t just for younger audiences. This, Graveyard of The Fireflies which I also need to see, and The Boy and The Heron show Studio Ghibli is willing to tell bold and mature narratives. That animation is also for adults. I don’t want this to turn into a film review because I specialize in games, but just know if you enjoyed Neva then I highly recommend that movie as well.
Neva is a masterpiece of simplicity and presentation. My only complaints are that the game is short and there’s not many reasons to go back besides to get the collectibles if you’re a completionist. That requires you to replay almost every level entirely with a guide. Even then Neva is worth your time and money. Twenty dollars is gonna seem like quite a bit for a game like Neva, but trust me it’s a better and more fulfilling product than Gris. Huge recommendation by me and I hope by the end of this year Nomada will get a couple of award nominations for the stunning piece of art they’ve made. In the end I am going to have to give Neva a 9.5/10 for being absolutely superb.
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