For those out there with even the faintest pulse on the indie gaming scene, Nomada Studio, developers of Gris, need no introduction. Having made their debut with what arguably ranks as one of the most beautiful games ever made, Nomada cemented themselves as a studio to watch with a creative confidence that took the experience of loss and constructed a dazzling audio-visual spectacle out of it. But I’ll level with you here – for all the emotional turmoil and gut-wrenching mood Gris successfully conveyed, its intentionally gentle mechanics lacked much in the way of actual stakes and resulted in an experience that was stunning to behold but, for me at least, not always engaging to play. I respected it more than I liked it, in a sense, but ironically knew that no matter what this studio made in the future, I would be absolutely paying attention.
Fast forward almost six years, and Nomada’s next project is finally here. And to the shock of absolutely no one, it’s an artistic marvel from beginning to end. But does Neva have much to offer beyond its stunning presentation? Let’s find out.
While it might be obvious to some, it’s worth mentioning that Neva and Gris are totally unrelated, and playing the former in no way requires knowledge of the latter. Neva, has you playing as Alba, a woman who, in the first few minutes of the game, becomes bonded to an adorable wolf pup after facing a monstrous, invasive darkness that threatens to take over the land. Its story is told with no words other than the variety of ways that Alba can say the pup’s name, which is – yep, you guessed it – Neva.
And while Neva (the game) gets a ton of things very, very right, its single greatest strength is its adorable namesake. In just the opening minutes of the game, Neva’s personality absolutely shines – she’ll bounce around in delight after clambering up a ledge following an especially tricky jump, she’ll chase butterflies and gleefully leap for them without a care in the world, she’ll whimper and bark when she’s scared or defensive, and above all, her fantastic animations and interactions with Alba simply radiate the joys of a playful, doting puppy. I mean, really, where have games like this been? With the ubiquitous presence of popular cat games on Steam like Stray, Little Kitty Big City and a literal trilogy of Cat Quest games, you’d think a dog lover or two would decide it’s their time to shine. Well, better late than never I guess, as Nomada Studio has done just that, and you can bet your bosom I got the achievement for being affectionate with Neva as soon as I was able. Because she’s a good girl and deserves all the pets. Â
As you progress through each of the game’s seasons, starting with the summer, Neva will noticeably grow and Alba’s relationship with her will evolve accordingly. I don’t want to spoil anything that would be better found out for yourself, so I’ll only say that the way Nomada Studio chose to depict Neva’s progression through life in such a way that would add to the game’s mechanics, taking her from a precocious cub to a genuine asset in combat, is one of the most brilliant cases of ludonarrative harmony I’ve ever seen. Neva is not an RPG and there’s no traditional progression to speak of – rather, it chooses to evolve itself in direct parallel with its plot, resulting in a game that not only bursts with fantastic ideas, but builds upon itself in ways that feel both tightly constructed and irresistibly fun.
Neva has much more to offer on the gameplay front than Gris did, and manages to strike a balance between platforming, puzzle-solving, combat and narrative that feels consistently engaging and sometimes awe-inspiring. And it does this while remaining relatively simple mechanically speaking, and instead focusing its energy on creating interesting gameplay scenarios and unique enemy encounters that often surprised me with their ingenuity. Alba comes equipped with a double jump and dash, not unlike most other platformers, but the platforming here is far from trivial – in fact, a few sequences were genuinely pretty tough, taking me a few tries to confidently get through. Those who aren’t into platforming will be happy to note, though, that not only are the most challenging bits relegated to the discovery of optional collectibles, but upon starting Neva you can choose between adventure mode and story mode, the latter of which will make combat and platforming easier while removing death as a consequence altogether. So, if you preferred the more relaxed, low-stakes nature of Gris, you’re pretty much covered here with the ability to cater to that exact type of experience.
I loved how demanding adventure mode sometimes was, though. I never got stuck or ended up repeating a sequence dozens of times – this isn’t a soulslike, after all – but adventure mode required a level of attention and dexterity that gave it the stakes I always wished that Gris had. I haven’t talked about the combat yet, so let’s cover that – Alba has a basic attack, a downward stabbing attack that can be activated in midair, and a dodge. She also, eventually, has the ability to summon Neva both in platforming and combat sequences to destroy environmental obstacles or attack enemies on your behalf, but that’s really it as far as combat mechanics. And yet, this simplicity is no liability – despite not even having a heavy attack to work with, enemies are designed to use Alba’s entire move set, platforming included and require genuine focus to dodge their more devious and unpredictable attack patterns.Â
While Neva’s gameplay was thankfully no slouch in any department, let’s talk about the game’s most obvious asset – I mean, you see it, right? Just look at it. This game. Looks. Incredible. Gris was already an artistic powerhouse and Neva’s mix of vibrant, colorful, detailed environments and minimalistic geometry never fails to be a sight to behold. Environments brim with life at every turn, from waterfalls, butterflies and sunbeams shining through forest canopies, and some areas even show the creatures of the malignant darkness just going about their business in creepy, instinctive fashion. And that’s one part I want to drive home about Neva in case the trailers give you the wrong impression – the art style is phenomenal throughout, but this is no cozy game. In fact, some sequences of Neva took me to such bizarrely hellish corners of its world that its tone shifted toward the horrific not unlike games such as Inside or Inmost or… other… creepy games that happen to start with In.Â
It does a great job of weaving between themes both dark and charming but doesn’t hold back on either. And thankfully, a riveting soundtrack is always there to appropriately back the mood, but anybody who played Gris isn’t surprised by that either. Anybody who wants to play Neva on the Steam Deck will be happy to know that it’s Verified and runs like a dream without a single stutter or frame rate drop to be found, at least from what I personally noticed, and I do tend to be quite sensitive to these things.
So far it would seem like Neva was everything I hoped it would be, and for a while I was confident this would be high on my list of top games of the year. However, a few minor problems and one quite major one does drag it down in ways that are disappointing to report. For one, enemy attack patterns frequently require some trial and error to properly read and would often result in getting hit with something that couldn’t be reasonably predicted. Thankfully, it takes three hits to kill Alba and require a restart, and even these can be quite forgiving since you can regenerate them by getting a handful of successful swings in on enemies. It rarely became frustrating, but on occasion getting hit with something seemingly unpredictable would be a bit of a bummer. Equally minor but mildly annoying was Alba’s walking speed, which consistently felt a tad too slow and made me want to dodge-roll forward a bunch just to get to the next area a little bit faster.
But these are minor quibbles at best and nothing that would have drastically impacted Neva’s quality in my eyes. What did affect it, unfortunately, was the ending, which felt abrupt and emotionally unsatisfying.  I spent this 4–5-hour journey bonding with Neva and aiming for my relationship with her to leave on a note that would resonate. I wanted it to do justice to all the characters and world-building that came before it, but instead got an ending that felt more like the developers ran out of budget. Really, I’m almost never one to complain that a game is too short, and length isn’t really the problem here. It just feels like a chunk of the game is missing, and without spoiling anything, I think I can see what the developers were going for in the final cutscene, but the way it lands is a bit confusing and just wasn’t a satisfying conclusion for me. Your mileage may definitely vary here, but the ending left me cold and feels like it doesn’t do justice to the epic nature of what led up to it.
I don’t want to sound too bitter though – Neva is an incredibly worthwhile experience and certainly one of the most gorgeous games of 2024, with plenty to love both artistically and mechanically to satisfy any fans of Gris or action platformers in general. Even if its conclusion brings it down a notch, Neva is an incredibly impressive work of art, and one that deserves to be experienced.
GREAT
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