Neva Review Summary

Beautiful art, exceptional music, a touching story, and engaging puzzles and platforming, though combat is repetitive and it never quite matches Gris.

Stunning Art and Visuals: Reviewers consistently praise the game's art and visuals as breathtaking, with many describing every frame as a work of art or a wallpaper. The aesthetic quality is a standout feature, often compared to a painting or masterpiece.

Emotional and Touching Story: The narrative is frequently described as touching, heartwarming, and emotionally impactful, with many reviewers mentioning it brought them to tears. The story's emotional depth and ability to leave a mark are highly praised.

Exceptional Music and Soundtrack: The music and soundtrack are widely acclaimed as beautiful, fitting, and top-notch, enhancing the overall experience. Many reviewers highlight the soundtrack as one of the strongest points of the game.

Engaging Puzzles and Platforming: Puzzles are frequently praised as creative, clever, and rewarding, while platforming is seen as fun, smooth, and a core enjoyable element. The mix of platforming and combat is also noted as well-balanced.

Accessible and Enjoyable Gameplay: The gameplay is often described as intuitive, simple but effective, and polished, making it accessible to a wide range of players. Reviewers appreciate that it is fun without being overly challenging.

Inferior to Gris overall: Many reviewers feel the game falls short of GRIS across visuals, music, story, and emotional impact. They describe it as less original and less resonant than its predecessor.

Combat is repetitive and monotonous: Combat is widely criticized as generic, simple, and unsatisfying, often feeling like a repetitive slog. Some players find it tolerable but not enjoyable.

Gameplay is basic and repetitive: The gameplay loop is seen as simple, primitive, and repetitive, with a predictable cycle of platforming, puzzles, and combat. It lacks depth and innovation.

Story lacks depth and impact: The narrative is described as weak, cheesy, confusing, or lacking substance compared to previous work. Some also note it feels like a rehash of Princess Mononoke.

Game is too short: Many reviewers find the game short, often around 4-6 hours, leaving them wanting more. The brevity reduces the overall value.

Combat is core gameplay: Many players note that combat against enemies and monsters is a central part of the game. Boss fights are also frequently mentioned as part of the combat experience. Combat is present and integral to the game's design, unlike the developer's previous title Gris.

Precise platforming challenges: The game features platforming as a main mechanic, with precise jumping and movement challenges. Platforming sections are well designed and vary across chapters, forming the core of the gameplay alongside combat.

2D platformer with combat: Reviewers consistently describe the game as a 2D side-scrolling platformer that combines platforming with combat elements. It is a narrative-driven platformer with attack mechanics and boss fights.

Story mode for accessibility: The game offers a Story mode that disables dying or allows taking damage without consequences, making it accessible to players who prefer to focus on the narrative. An Adventure mode provides a greater challenge with limited lives.

Wolf cub companion: Players accompany a wolf cub that grows and gains new abilities, helping in combat. The wolf companion follows the player and can be interacted with, adding a companion mechanic to the game.

Good Steam Deck Performance: The game runs well on the Steam Deck, with multiple users reporting it works without issues.

Smooth on Integrated Graphics: Users report the game runs smoothly on integrated graphics.

Smooth Gameplay Experience: The gameplay is described as very smooth overall.

Runs Well on Legion Go: The game runs smoothly on the Legion Go handheld.

Solid Mac Air M2 Performance: A user reported 55-60 FPS even during combat on a MacBook Air M2 (2022).

Essential for GRIS Fans: Many reviewers strongly recommend this game for anyone who enjoyed GRIS, calling it practically obligatory for fans. The shared artistic and emotional style makes it a natural follow-up.

Highly Recommended Overall: A strong consensus of reviewers highly recommend the game. It is frequently called a must-try and a standout title.

Worth Buying and Playing: Players widely agree the game is worth playing and definitely recommend it. It is described as a great experience that justifies the time invested.

Great Price-to-Value Ratio: The game is considered well worth its price, including at full price. Reviewers frequently note it offers excellent value for money.

DLC Adds Worthwhile Value: The DLC is generally recommended for those who enjoyed the main game and is considered worth its price. Some note it is not essential but still a good addition.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 5.0h.

Story completion: 4.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Endgame: 1.5h.

Neva's time-to-fun profile is 'clicks after': the opening act is often described as slow and too combat-heavy, but the game becomes more interesting and better paced after the first chapter as new mechanics appear.

Friction: Slow opening act; Too many early combat encounters; Combat-heavy early gameplay; Repetitive combat loop; Simple and clunky combat; Tedious traversal and jumping puzzles.

Contemplative Art-Seeker: Plays slowly, often on Story mode, prioritizing atmosphere, narrative, and light puzzles over difficult combat. Motivation: To immerse in Neva's painterly visuals, music, and emotional story as a short interactive art experience. Stance: buy.

GRIS Veteran Comparator: Plays with a critical comparative lens, weighing Neva's mechanics, pacing, art, and music against GRIS. Motivation: To see whether Neva lives up to GRIS and Nomada Studio's previous artistic and emotional impact. Stance: sale.

Achievement and Collectible Completionist: Hunts achievements and collectibles, revisits chapters, and uses completion progress as a main source of fun. Motivation: To earn easy achievements and find every collectible, including optional chapter-replay content. Stance: buy.

Across the provided Windows hardware cohorts, the game is reported to run well, with smooth performance on low-end systems and strong technical results on higher-end configurations.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Reviewers report smooth performance even on integrated graphics and low-end machines.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Reviewers report very strong technical performance, including high frame rates on handheld hardware and high-quality visuals on 4K OLED.

Steam Deck: The Steam Deck reviews for Neva show no launcher, anti-cheat, Proton, or crash barriers. The game generally runs well, looks attractive on OLED, and can be completed on Deck. The main friction is small-screen readability: zoomed-out visuals, off brightness, and a small display make enemies and grappling points difficult to see, and some reviewers prefer larger screens. Controls are playable, but the Deck D-pad is described as mushier than alternatives, and controller use is strongly recommended.

Linux and Proton: The filtered reviews contain only positive Steam Deck evidence: the game is playable on Deck and runs attractively on OLED Deck. There are no reports of Proton, native Linux, anti-cheat, launcher, DRM, launch, crash, or performance blockers. The only noted issue is small visuals when zooming out, which is a minor Steam Deck display concern rather than a Linux compatibility defect.

Monetization: The reviews primarily discuss a paid Prologue DLC priced as a low-cost traditional expansion. Most feedback is positive about its fair price and added content, with one complaint about the base game's price and the paid DLC being unwelcome. There is no direct evidence of real-money gacha, loot boxes, battle passes, paid currency, pay-to-win, or an in-game cash shop. The monetization profile is fair and non-predatory.

Frequent comparisons to GRIS: Neva is constantly compared to its predecessor GRIS, with reviewers discussing similarities and differences in art style, story, and overall experience. These comparisons form a major part of the feedback.

Sequel from GRIS developers: Many reviewers note that Neva is the second game from Nomada Studio, the creators of GRIS, and serves as a spiritual successor. They consistently identify it as a follow-up or sequel to GRIS.

Art and visuals praised: Reviewers frequently commend the game's art style, visuals, and soundtrack, often drawing parallels to GRIS's aesthetic. The artistic quality is a standout feature.

Short game length: Numerous reviews mention that the main game can be completed in about 4-6 hours. This short duration is a common point of discussion.

Darker tone than GRIS: Some reviewers note that Neva has a darker tone compared to GRIS, which affects the overall mood and narrative.