The peaceful life of young warrior Alba and her wolf friends is shattered when an ominous darkness descends, consuming everything it touches. Legions of slick, twisted creatures pour forth, corrupting all in their way.
True to their bravery, Alba and her wolf companion face these horrors head-on. Yet the darkness is relentless, and their resistance falls short.
Only the warrior and the little wolf cub survive this chaos, and now it’s Alba’s duty to protect her dear companion’s legacy. Here starts a journey of survival and healing as Alba and the orphaned cub, Neva, forge to survive amidst a world plunged into darkness.
The story of Neva is a relatively simple one. Divided by chapters, the plot gradually progresses alongside with the characters’ growth, both physical and emotional. The changes in the mood and a pace of the narrative are reflected in the seasons the chapters are named after. Starting from the calm summer, Alba and Neva adjust to a new reality and seek a safe place to stay. Neva is still an infant pup; formless monsters scare her, and Alba takes on a parent’s role, protecting the little cub.
Autumn brings melancholy as the world actively decays from corruption. By then, Neva grows stronger and a bit rebellious like a teen. She masters her natural abilities and attempts to be more independent, which causes troubles every now and again. Nevertheless, Alba and Neva learn to fight together, covering the weak sides of each other. They light the ancient altars that can resist the darkness, but their actions don’t stay unnoticed.
The winter greets them with the cold void. Nature is in an endless slumber; the lone survivors lurk around and hide, while the relationships of Alba and Neva are being tested. By this point, Neva is a young adult and can protect Alba as much as she had once been protected herself. They face overwhelming threats and meet another wolf of Neva’s kin. The sympathy between the two creatures inevitably leads to a moment when Alba has to accept that Neva grew up. It’s time to let her go. However, it’s not a goodbye.
The spring is a time of release and transformation. The darkness was defeated. Neva has grown into a majestic adult wolf and has the cubs of her own, while Alba still has a place in their family.
The game offers a very touching experience, even inspiring at times. It explores the themes of loss and growth, family and independence—in a few words, the “balance of existence.” Each thing and phenomenon has its opposite, and even when one dies, something new comes to the world. When it seems like the world is stuck in a circle of repeating events, our actions and endeavors can change its course to a new route.
The game shows it through the several endings, which depend on the player’s investment in the cleansing of the corruption. By the rules of Neva’s world, some magical flowers of light can cast away the darkness and help the nature to heal, weakening the leader of the dark forces. If the player takes time and explores every corner of Neva’s maps, lighting these flowers, it would lead to a better ending; otherwise, the game provides you with a bittersweet one.
However, this objective isn’t really clearly indicated. Perhaps the reason lies in the choice of narrative delivery. The story is told with no other words, but Neva’s name called out by Alba. Everything else is left for the player to interpret, and this is where a misunderstanding might lead to inconvenience. At some point it feels like the game punishes the player for wanting to find out what will happen next or for not being insightful enough. It’s easy to lose track of things in the beautiful environment and take the points of interest for another piece of the level design.
Inspired by the Studio Ghibli works, the world of Neva is mesmerizing. The multilayer parallax effect creates an illusion of depth and life in the environment. The monsters of the darkness resemble the No-Face from the Spirited Away, and they fit perfectly well in the general world picture. It’s a perfect example of the good work with the value keys and importance of the color schemes in a game’s graphics. The aesthetics of the levels reflect the mood of the chapters and seasons they are named after, working in constant symbiosis with the narrative.
The world is beautiful; no one can deny it. Yet at times the environment is overdone. It takes over the main spot, drawing all attention from the characters and even from the gameplay. Probably for about a third of their playthrough, players won’t even see the characters on the screen. Fog, darkness, bushes, rocks, and huge trees are placed on the front layer; all of it covers the character from the view. Thankfully, it happens mostly at moments of exploration, but it’s a very questionable decision to put a huge object that covers a good half of the screen at the first layer of the parallax scrolling.
This tendency stays through the whole game and soon gets annoying. When the white fog covers the whole screen or the huge trunk takes half of the space, important details get lost. And sometimes it even slightly interferes with the gameplay.
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- Can you find Alba and Neva?
At the very core of its gameplay, Neva is a rightful heir of Gris. It’s a platformer at its finest, full of jumping puzzles and creatively constructed obstacles. However, Neva has one major difference from its predecessor— there are two main characters. There are moments when Alba cannot progress without Neva’s help, making their bond essential to both the story and gameplay. As Neva grows, so does their arsenal of shared abilities, reinforcing the narrative through mechanics.
While this approach brings depth, it presents a minor challenge—controls. Playing with a keyboard can feel cumbersome, especially with the default Neva abilities hotkey mapping. These controls become more complex as new abilities unlock throughout the game, so it would be wise to consider reassigning keys right at the start. The game was clearly designed with a gamepad in mind, and the experience is far smoother and more intuitive when played with one.
Another significant addition to the gameplay is the combat system. Neva is a story of the warrior, and it wouldn’t be coherent without fighting. Though the combat mechanics are straightforward, they blend in pretty nicely. Common fights are easy, Boss fights can be challenging, but difficulty stays on a midcore level. Yet for those seeking an immersive experience without a punishing difficulty curve, there is a choice of two difficulty modes: Adventure and Story. The latter removes the risk of death, while the former offers a more challenging survival experience in a cruel fantasy world. In Story Mode, taking damage in combat won’t cause harm, and failed challenges will restart without penalty.
Another merit of Neva that deserves special recognition is its level design. What makes it stand out is its accessible approach—players are challenged without feeling overwhelmed. The gameplay doesn’t demand an extreme level of skill or practice from the very beginning. The layout and progression are well planned, gradually increasing in difficulty. It aligns seamlessly with the gameplay, consistently introducing new mechanics and allowing players enough time to master them. Jumping puzzles are balanced in frequency, ensuring a smooth flow through each level.
Together, all of this keeps the gameplay engaging yet mostly relaxing. My personal favorites were the mirror puzzles in the third chapter.
The only questionable thing is the collision of some objects. In chapter two, there is a level that features special gates that transfer the character from one side to another. Often It requires jumping though several of them in a row to reach the destination, and here comes the collision issue. At times, while visually the character should be passing though, it doesn’t actually happen. It’s hard to say whether it was intentional or a bug, since it’s still possible to beat the level, but this nuisance spoiled the impression.
The collision mystery aside, the game tech aspects are well-polished. It’s hard to encounter any major bugs, and Neva performs well even on a mediocre system, yet the size of the files is astonishing for a short 2D game. The reason is the amount of unique graphics in high quality resolution. It’s a price worth paying to feast on the beautiful artwork.
If you are a fan of Gris, or if Neva is your first acquaintance with the Nomada Studio creation, the game would be a nice way to spend the evening. Consuming only a grain of your time can provide an emotional experience that won’t leave you indifferent. The story and the world of Neva will stay in your memory for a long time.
