Neva wants to make you cry, and not in a cute Romcom kind of way. No, I’m talking full on blubbering and wailing here, the kind of sobbing ringing out at the end of screenings of Titanic back in 1997. So intent is the game on making you cry that it comes across as desperate, like one of the lesser Pixar movies. Too many cutscenes are weighed down by a desire to be emotionally charged, whilst numerous set pieces are leaden with clumsy and clunky emotional beats; it’s all a bit cringe-worthy, to be honest. But put aside the attempted tear-jerking, and what remains is an enjoyable action-adventure puzzle game.
Evil sentient pollution stuff is trying to corrupt the world, so it’s up to our hero Alba and her trusty mystical wolf-hound Neva to save the day. That’s basically the plot but do prepare yourself for lots of navel-gazing, pontificating, and shrill cries of ‘NEVA!!!’ along the way.
Played from a 2D perspective, Neva is gorgeous to behold. Slick, smooth animation, alongside a strong sense of awe-inspiring scale, brought back fond memories of Ico during my playthrough. The use of colours, of light, of depth, alongside jaw-dropping cinematography and innovative visuals, have resulted in one of the most beautiful video games I’ve ever played. From serene forests to misty mountain tops, Neva is a sumptuous visually experience. It isn’t all about the heavenly vistas, though, relishing in getting creepy and grotesque. Stand out moments involve Neva clambering over a vast nightmarish structure made out of carcasses, or plunging into the deep dark depths of hell itself. No matter the scenery, it’s eye-poppingly pretty.
Unfortunately, on occasion, Nomada Studios forgets that you do need to be able to see what’s going on when you play a video game. So intent are they to pull back the camera to give you a sense of scale that you can often hardly see Alba – pretty problematic during particularly tricky platforming sections. There are also many moments when the studio floods the screen with resplendent rays of gorgeous lighting, but you can’t actually see the precarious platforms you are meant to be landing on. So, it looks great, but plays poorly during these pretty yet anger-provoking moments, a shame when the platforming is so rock-solid and enjoyable elsewhere.
The game also really pushes its luck with the number of times it requires you to run from left to right whilst a grand-sum of absolutely nothing happens. The dreary duration of these walkathon sections makes one think that they are only there to pad out the rather brief three-hour runtime.
Still, when Neva does get stuck into some actual gameplay, it’s great. Platforming – other than the aforementioned ‘not-being-able-to-see-what’s-going-on’ sections – is terrific, with tight and responsive controls. Combat is simple, yet chunky and satisfying. Boss battles are innovative and never outstay their welcome. The puzzles are undoubtedly the highlight, offering some surreal brain-benders that are fresh and unique to solve.
It’s just a shame that everything feels so fleeting. Take the puzzles, they are brilliant but underexplored – an interesting new approach is revealed that the game then promptly forgets about and moves on from. Sure, it leaves you wanting more, but in a “why did I only eat starters for dinner?” kind of way.
This applies to the entirety of the game, it’s fun and expertly crafted but over far too soon. With more killer and less running left to right filler, this could have been a classic. As it is, it’s only good enough. Now that really is something to cry about.
