Test - Neva: Test: What a wonderful and cruel adventure

The Spanish developer Nomada Studio has already proven with its debut film Gris that they can tell deadly sad stories against a breathtakingly artistic backdrop. With Neva, the creators' new game is now appearing and it is neither inferior to Gris in terms of beauty nor in melancholy. Maybe it's even become a little more brutal thanks to the new combat system.

Just likeNeva is a puzzle platformer with an adventure twist. The puzzles (depending on the definition) were spread more homeopathically. At first glance, the main difference between the two titles is that Neva's protagonist, Alba, is allowed to defend herself against her opponents with arms. But Neva is actually more than just a “gris with a sword”.

This belongs in a museum

Both games owe their picturesque design to the Spanish artist and creative director of Nomada Studio Conrad Roset. The painter founded the studio in 2016 together with game developers Adrián Cuevas and Roger Mendoza, with the stated goal of turning his paintings into video games. The first result of these efforts was the puzzle platformer and critics' favorite Gris. All graphics in Gris and also in the new title Neva were hand-drawn by Conrad before they found their way into the game.

This makes Nomada Studio's games a unique mix of video game and work of art and you can literally feel how proud the developers are of their work. The makers do not deny the focus on the artistic aspects of video games, but in many places even invite you to enjoy the beautiful landscape.

There are always sections in which you do nothing other than simply run to the right or climb up without encountering any obstacles or dangers. Time to pause and let the game take effect. And if you miss the time to jump onto a moving platform in one of the numerous jumping passages, you can easily bridge the waiting time by looking around until it returns.

Chic eye candy aside, the style also serves as a narrative tool. The colorful world in which Neva takes place is overrun by dark figures that appear to be made of some kind of slime or perhaps even black paint. Later, the lush green of the first areas gives way to unreal red tones, and parts of the game even only take place in black and white. I'll leave it up to each individual to interpret, but what is certain is that color is more than just a means to an end, but rather helps to convey the story. And it has it all...

Fantastically traumatizing

It could be so beautiful in the small meadow next to the lush green forest where the young woman Alba lives an idyllic existence with the wolf pup Neva and her mother. But the weekend and sunshine come to an abrupt end when a horde of amorphous shadow creatures attack. Flowers and plants that touch the viscous darkness instantly wither, and animals and other forest creatures either die outright or are corrupted and transformed into grotesque, bloodthirsty creatures.

Alba and the wolves barely fend off the attack with their combined strength, but Neva's mother pays for it with her life. So Alba takes on the wolf pup as a foster mother. From now on, Neva actually tells two parallel stories at the same time.

On the one hand, it describes the increasingly extreme invasion of the shadow creatures that are gradually taking over the country, and is about Alba and Neva's fight for survival. And on the other hand, she talks about growing up the little wolf pup, which is accompanied by all the problems that you have to face as a parent (apart from parent-teacher conferences).

As cute and playful as Neva's watercolor style may look, the story is definitely not for the younger and faint-hearted. The opening sequence already makes it clear that Neva is just as unsuitable for children as the at first glance cute cartoon film The Last Unicorn.

Even forty years after the film, an entire generation of traumatized children struggles with nightmares about the red bull, and we want to better avoid a similar phenomenon with Neva and dead mother wolves. The USK also justifies its age rating from 12 with “stressful topics” such as death, bullying and addiction, “fantasy violence” and “dark atmosphere”.

Neva (the game) constantly confronts you with, among other things, the fear of losing a loved one (or wolf). After all, like Bambi, the story begins with the cruel death of her mother, and Neva (the she-wolf) repeatedly finds herself in dangerous situations from which she can no longer escape on her own. Without you, the puppy wouldn't have a chance.

However, the little one doesn't stay so small and defenseless for long. Later you even fight back to back with the half-strong she-wolf. But instead of a helpless child, you have a rebellious teenager on your hands whose arrogance you have to slow down. But before you know it, the 7-8 hour playtime is already over and you realize that children always end up growing up way too quickly. Without spoiling anything about the story, just this much: At the finale, my jaw dropped, then I screamed at my television and finally howled like a castle dog.

Fighting - cuddling - puzzling

So far so good. The graphic style is bombastic and the story is beautifully told and incredibly emotional, but in the end Neva is a video game with a lot of jumping, fighting and puzzles. Especially when a game focuses so much on looks and graphics, you might think that the gameplay has to take a back seat. In fact, Neva is by no means a graphics blender.

However, the gameplay is rather reduced. One button to jump, one to dodge and one to hit - that's all you need. The last button on the gamepad is then occupied by the special Neva button. Depending on the context, you interact with your wolf companion. If you are standing next to her, you pet Neva, if she is nearby, you call her to you, and if you are separated from each other, you desperately shout her name using the same button.

So you don't have a lot of options in combat at first and the variance in opponents is rather manageable. The standard slime creatures are reinforced by flying enemies or a few mutated variations and of course boss enemies, but on the whole that's it. Beforehand, I was skeptical for a long time as to whether that would be enough to justify the new combat system.

Instead of designing tons of different enemies, Nomada Studio took advantage of the environment and tried (usually successfully) to create unique scenarios. For example, in several cases you fight against the standard opponents, but once in an open field, another time across several platforms, then in a narrow tunnel in which you cannot avoid the opponents' shadow projectiles, and so on.

In other fights, enemy types are combined or puzzle mechanics from the current area are incorporated, making the exchange of blows itself a kind of puzzle. Unfortunately I have to stay vague here so as not to give too much away, but I was surprised that the fights weren't annoying or boring. Only very rarely and in individual cases did they disturb me from the flow of the game.

Some boss fights even present real challenges, and without learning the attack patterns (and biting the dust several times in the process), you hardly have a chance. If you feel overwhelmed, you can switch to story mode at any time. Then you no longer take damage from enemies (however, chasms are still deadly) and the challenge decreases, but you can immerse yourself in the story completely stress-free. With such a poignant story, there's certainly no shame in that.