Why you should play NEVA in 59 Seconds | REVIEW
85Few games have the power to elicit emotion without dialogue. Limbo, Inside, Journey, Hyper Light Drifter and of course Nomada’s debut title from 2019, Gris. The common thread with all of these games, is that they are all deeply emotional and are convey these untraditionally. Unsurprisingly, Neva is cut from the same cloth as these evocative titles.
Getting the bad news out of the way first, Neva is strikingly similar to Nomada Studios first title, Gris and the biggest change is the addition of combat, which is fairly simple and sometimes unfair, the margins for error in the platforming are extremely thin and Neva starts out quite slow.
The reasoning for starting with the bad news is because after coming to terms with the meaning of Neva, I began to second guess all of my criticisms. I contemplated if everything was allegoric and Nomada has earned this shadow of a doubt.
While the intentions of some mechanics will be pondered upon, Neva is a captivating platformer and though the experience is once again short, the playtime pales in comparison to the time it will remain with you.