Now that it has been recognised as a nominee in The Game Awards, we really need to talk more about Neva – the breathtakingly, heartbreakingly, earthshakingly beautiful game developed and published by Nomada Studio and Devolver Digital respectively, off the back of their previous partnership GRIS.
Let me get this out of the way early. Neva is phenomenal – and I don’t use that word lightly. A breath of fresh air in an otherwise oversaturated industry full of often stale ideas that are often just reskins of other reskins.
Neva is a sidescrolling platformer puzzle game with some combat elements, but that’s not really what the game is about. This is a story about the relationship between Alba (the player character) and Neva (her pet wolf).
Alba and Neva travel through seasons fighting off black blobs of blight that are killing everything they touch. It’s your job to purify the land, and in the process, you get to watch Neva grow from a lil’ pup into the biggest best girl. It’s very wholesome.
Neva will hit you where it hurts
Neva comes out of the gate swinging wild haymakers right at your feelings. Without any exaggeration, I was crying within the first two minutes of the game. The opening cutscene makes you care so damn much in such a short amount of time. From that point on, I was hooked.
I don’t want to give away spoilers, because this game needs to be played for the story, but by the end of it I sent a photo of myself with tears streaming down my face to my friend who recommended Neva to me – simultaneously cursing and thanking her.
I seriously can not glaze this game enough. It is so simple, but it plays in such a poignant and spectacular way. The art style is stunning (and goes to show why it got a nomination for the TGA category). Simple block colours make up the majority of the action, giving way to pastel watercolour painted vistas which are just so tastefully done – chef’s kiss.
Read: The Game Awards 2024 nominees have been revealed
The camera work adds to the art as well – being a platformer, you don’t control the camera, and Nomada do a fantastic job of making use of zooming out to make you feel small when they need you to, and cropping tightly around connect you to the world, environment, and Neva without using words, just art and camera tricks.
Speaking of words, the game only has two words of dialogue in it. One of which is, quite simply, “Neva”. There are two fucking words, and they alone are enough to make you weep like a little baby. The voice acting by Cristina Peña as Alba is drives a spear straight into your heart. She puts a truly wild amount of feeling into each line she delivers.
Have I mentioned how short the game is? It took me about three hours to finish, and while I am a speedrun god (Editor’s note: doubtful), I was playing through this at a nice leisurely pace because I loved being in the world they made. Take that as a positive or negative if you will, but it is possible to finish in one evening.
The combat is by far the biggest shortfall of the game. While it isn’t poorly designed, it just feels hollow and a little tacked on, perhaps to artificially increase the time the game takes. I struggled with one enemy once, before realising where its hitbox was, and from then I killed it without taking a hit. The combat isn’t bad, it’s just there. But enough about that one bad thing.
The sound and music… I cannot put into words how it made me feel. There is something poetic about the music. The way it swells and ebbs with combat, and the orchestral pieces that crescendo into big waves that crash down around you – it’s ineffable. Admittedly, I did have surround sound going (which I highly recommend for 𝒶𝓂𝒷𝒾𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒) but I don’t think it matters too much. The music and sound will give you a transcendent experience all the same.
I’ve gushed a lot over this game, and maybe I’m biased because I’m a dog owner, but I’ll leave you with this text message I sent to that same friend who recommended the game: “If Neva dies, I will kill myself.”
I think that any media that can make me invest that hard is worth a red hot go. You won’t be disappointed.
