Neva Review

A Quick Yet Lasting Impression in a World of Decay

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Title: Neva

Release: October 15, 2024

Platform: PS5/4 PC Xbox X|S Switch

Developer: Nomada Studio

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Genre: Action Adventure Platformer

ESRB: E

Reviewed on: PC

Time Played: 3 Hours

Intro:

Where it starts

Alba lives in a beautiful forest with her wolf companions, enjoying nature and everything it has to offer, until one day a powerful Decay attacks, killing the wildlife and destroying the forest. After an intense battle, Alba and Neva are all that’s left behind. Now they must learn to work together as they make their way through the forest searching for the source of the decay.

Can the kids watch

There was no voice acting and the combat was very lowkey when it came to extreme violence. However, it can be very emotionally charged for everyone watching. Depending on how sensitive the audience is, there could be some strong emotions arising from events in the game.

Alba & Neva

It’s unclear what Alba does from day to day, but she can hold her own in a fight. Wielding a sword and abilities like double jumping and dodging she will fight waves of decay monsters in her adventure. Neva, always at her side, couldn’t do much at a young age, but as the story moved forward, so did her size and abilities, making her an essential member of the team with Alba.

Exploring the forest

The sections of the game were broken up into seasons starting in summer. As you progress the seasons and increase of decay change the environments, bringing new enemies and obstacles to overcome. Exploration would consist of solving puzzles and awakening old ruins before moving forward. The different areas held their own unique puzzles or activities, keeping progression fresh and interesting. In the beginning, while Neva was small and more of a hassle than anything. But as she got older, she was necessary to get through multiple puzzles as they got more complicated.

Combat

The combat was simple to figure out with just a few different actions you could take. Attack, jump, dodge, and heal. At the beginning of a fight, Alba had up to three charges she could spend to heal herself, recharging them with consecutive hits on enemies without taking damage. The most difficult part was timing the dodging of heavy attacks, especially on the bigger enemies

Collectibles

Hidden throughout the game were collectible items. They weren’t essential to completing the game, but if you want to get all of the achievements available you will need to hunt them down. If you don’t pay attention it could be very easy to miss a collectible, they almost blended into the background and it wasn’t in your face when you found one. Flowers bloom when you walk by or a bird flies off when you touch it, these are the collectibles you can hunt down.

Outro:

I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have about the game or my review, so leave me a message in the comments below. While you do that, let’s move on to my final thoughts and ratings.

Although short, Neva provided beautiful environments and simple gameplay, conveying powerful emotions without saying a single word. The cut scenes brought you right into it from the start. There were a couple situations or areas that could have used some explanation, like the old ruins needing powered up and moving the game forward, but you could create your own reasoning behind the unknown, even if you don’t the game was still enjoyable.

There were no skill trees or equipment to worry about, all of Alba’s skills were available from the start, with Neva adding some new moves as the game moved forward. It was all presented at a good pace so you won’t be overwhelmed with to much to keep track of. The only kind of mechanics that had no explanation were puzzles. Very few took a minute to figure out what needed to be done. Moving around and trying things brought a solution fairly quick.

I was initially unsure about the cost of the game considering how long it was going to be, but between the music, story, and graphics I felt like it was time and money well spent. Sadly, the only replay value the game has is the short playtime. It was great and may be worth revisiting after a while to experience it again, but consecutive playthroughs don’t feel like a good use of time.

And with that, I feel it’s about time we got these ratings underway.

The visuals were phenomenal. The environments were gorgeous and unique as the seasons passed, and the characters looked awesome, especially Neva. It’s an easy 5

The story was great. The way it was able to tell everything just using visuals and music was awesome. I’m giving it a 4

The gameplay, although simple, was well done. Not using the same puzzles throughout the game and adding more abilities as you progressed worked good, that’s another 4

Not a lot of replayability. It was short and I really enjoyed the game, but I don’t think I’ll be forgetting the experience anytime soon, nulling the point of a replay. It’s getting a 2

An absolute joy to play. Learning the moves of enemies in order to survive and figuring out the puzzles was very fun earning another 4.

Getting a 3.8 out of five for Neva, earning it a spot on the top shelf. An excellent indie that will only take a night to finish, but leaving an impression!