It can be hard to verbalize what makes a game like Naiad special. Much like Journey, Abzu and a surprisingly meager handful of other notable titles before it, Naiad occupies a special niche in the gaming space that embraces mechanical minimalism in service of a deeply atmospheric experience that functions like playable artwork. And though parts of that experience aren’t always as smooth as its free-flowing motion would indicate, when Naiad is firing its cozy vibes on all cylinders, it becomes a journey you’re unlikely to soon forget.
In Naiad, you play as… let me check my notes here… oh yep, Naiad - a water nymph whose name’s most literal translation, as we learn early on, means “to flow”. The game’s solo developer clearly took their naming of the game to heart, as Naiad’s free-flowing movement feels effortlessly satisfying. Gliding through the water requires no real skill or learning curve, with controls existing only to move, submerge underwater to swim faster and avoid surface obstacles, charge a quick forward dash and sing to the flora and fauna surrounding you.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of the satisfaction you’ll get out of Naiad’s movement and overall vibe can be credited to its stunning presentation. Naiad’s environments are a kaleidoscope of vivid colors presented like a living, breathing watercolor painting. The surface of the water glistens as you glide along it, trees and bushes sway in the breeze, and a variety of frogs, fish, birds and other fauna follow you as you sing to them, functioning as collectibles by the time you exit each level. Every object in Naiad has a smooth physicality to it that makes bumping into it feel realistic without ever becoming an annoying obstacle, like lily pads you’ll brush aside as you swim past or floating logs, you’ll bump into that may be useful in solving a simple puzzle. But the way everything moves and sways and glistens just makes the whole thing feel so alive and like you’re one with nature.
The sound design is no slouch either, as not only does it have a soundtrack that ranges from very good to absolutely stunning – as in, I seriously would stop playing the game just to listen to the soundtrack at times – but the various chirps and ribbits of animals or babbling of brooks adds such a soothing feel to all of it that it can be hard not to feel at peace while you play. I won’t pretend this extends to the whole game, as there are some darker bits that confront the nasty juxtaposition between the fragility of nature and callous tendencies of human greed, but even so, the presentation of Naiad is consistently top tier in every aspect that matters. It also runs beautifully on the Steam Deck, which was my preferred way to play it with colors on the OLED version especially being a feast for the eyes.
Let’s talk about how Naiad plays though, as its gameplay is basic enough to not be too taxing while being more than a simple walking sim… err… swimming sim, I guess? In the course of your journey, which takes you to a variety of rivers, lakes, swamps, and even towns and cities, you’ll encounter a variety of basic puzzles that give Naiad’s abilities a gentle workout. Baby ducklings who’ve lost their mother may be trapped behind some small logs that you can move aside in order to lead the duckling back to mom with the sound of your song. Windmills that need to be activated in order to open the path forward might just need a dash or two under the water to get the current flowing quickly enough. And humans, thankfully not all of whom are bad, may need your help building a bridge or retrieving a lost canoe paddle in order to progress. Most of these puzzles get the job done by being simple enough to solve without much thought but engaging enough to ensure you’re doing more than just swimming through the duration of Naiad’s runtime.
That said, as the game went on, I found it hard not to be a little annoyed by some of the puzzles that were more obtuse in nature. I’m certainly not of the mind that a game as stylized as Naiad needs to adhere to a strict sense of realism, but having to bump into all of the purple flowers in a lake in order to break up a rocky path that was in my way just made seemingly no logical sense, sometimes leaving me stuck for a time having no idea what to do.
This issue was far more prevalent the more open Naiad’s levels got. While many of them tend to be very linear, a handful are more freeform and allow you to explore further through hidden underwater pathways or side areas where collectibles could be found. That’s fine in theory – but in practice it led to some confusion around objectives and navigation. In the spirit of keeping its user interface as minimal as possible, there’s never any tracking of objectives or hints on where you have to go. So, in the first of the aforementioned rock-destroying purple flower puzzles, I proceeded through the larger level without initially solving it, figuring I might find what I needed later on. Instead, I swam from one end of this level to the other repeatedly having no idea what to do, only to learn that some of the level’s later events just weren’t triggering yet because I hadn’t solved that first bit.
I wanted to love Naiad greatly, but in truth I kept bumping up against this sense of aimlessness and confusion that, occasionally at least, kind of ruined the vibe by bringing the pace to a grinding halt. And while it will only take you 4-6 hours to beat Naiad, depending on how long you spend swimming aimlessly to find your objective like I did, when all was said and done, I wished the experience was a little more compact. Journey and Abzu may be references I keep coming back to, but to me they’re the apex of this subgenre of playable, meditative artwork, and part of their strength is in their brevity. Each taking only about two hours to complete, it feels like they never waste a single moment, constantly ushering you toward something new and interesting to ensure the immersion never breaks. And while Naiad’s presentation leaves almost nothing to be desired, as a game it lacks this sort of restraint, frequently repeating objectives like the previously mentioned duck gathering and lacking the more focused direction that would elevate it from a solid wholesome experience to an absolute classic.
There is an overarching sort of story to Naiad, but I wouldn’t say it made an impression on me at all. I think the pacing probably didn’t help matters, but the small discoverable poems littered through its environments and couple of generic characters it introduces weren’t cohesive enough to pull me in. That’s not a requirement for this type of experience though, just something worth noting that felt like a missed opportunity. Far more effective were the smaller bits where Naiad’s role as protector of nature really shines, like fending off lumberjacks by sending over bees, helping a bear who can’t sleep from the noise of a nearby mining operation, and of course reuniting a whole bunch of ducks, arguably a few too many, with their mother.
Overall, when Naiad is doing what it does best, allowing you to explore charming, colorful, beautifully presented environments while completing low stress tasks, it’s everything it aims to be. I wish it was consistent enough to be worth calling a classic of the genre, but even with its handful of flaws it’s a really worthwhile experience, and one that fans of cozy, beautiful games will not want to miss out on.
GOOD
Comments