A warrior and his wolf run through a collage of changing perspectives through some of the most extravagant natural scenery I’ve ever seen in a video game. Cranes take flight from the sparkling pond, and wild boars and stags roam in the background. As the camera zooms out onto the plain, yellow flowers spread out in all directions and cracked mountains can be seen in the distance. But there are corrupting forces at work. Here a bird falls from the sky and black flowers bloom from its small body. A shapeless, masked demon emerges from the ground and preys on them. These are your enemies, defeated with a thin blade drawn from the warrior’s side. But there are so many of them – and you are only one man, the wolf.
Neva doesn’t embellish this setting with words. You will never know what led to this corruption or why you are the only one fighting this corruption. The film tells its story with extraordinary visuals and elegant animation from developer Nomada Studio, as well as heart-wrenching and effective music from Barcelona-based Berlinist. Many games that achieve this level of aesthetics suffer a bit by prioritizing style over substance, but Neva excels on every level. I sometimes tear up as I watch a once graceful world succumb to decay with the passing of the seasons, beautiful creatures haunted by a terrifying darkness, birds motionless creating terrifying totems of the dead. That’s what happened. In the end, I almost cried while holding the controller.
Your white wolf starts out as a small pup who needs help jumping over gaps, stops to sniff things, and cries plaintively for cuddles every time he encounters a demon. A black hand reaches out from the earth, desecrating the child and trying to snatch it away. You must use everything you have to fight off the darkness and protect your child, including dashes, double jumps, and a thin rapier. To be honest, the sense of responsibility I felt for this wolf pup was almost unbearable, so I was relieved when the seasons changed and I noticed that this wolf was growing up.
“The bond between you and this wolf is the emotional center of this game.” Photo: Nomada Studio
Eventually, the wolf will show you the way. A majestic horn grows from its head. It can make demons savage and can work with you to defeat demons. After that, it will protect you. You can always stop and pet and soothe this creature, but it will grow in confidence as each season passes. The bond between you and this wolf is the emotional center of this game, and I often wondered how it would end, but I don’t know what happened at the end of the nearly three-hour running time, or what I saw. I was completely unprepared for the unusual sights on the way.
A collage of nature is combined with Monument Valley-esque changing architecture, offering a variety of ways to elegantly display your limited skills. By the middle of this game, you’ll know the exact range and limits of the double jump and dash combo, and as your wolf grows, you’ll add unique talents to your wolf’s repertoire. Each new season introduces interesting new applications of these skills, along with a change in tone. The puzzles are well thought out and the combat is challenging enough to feel like it has consequences. When the warrior dies, she, like the bird, is overtaken by a trembling black flower. Black things always mean death in this game, but it can be difficult to tell which black things are part of the foreground of the landscape and which black things will hurt you if you touch them.
Like Journey, which became an artistically ambitious and emotionally resonant video game saint, that dissected mountain always looms in the distance, beckoning you towards it. You eventually get there, battered by the depths of winter and the world dying around you. I still think about what happened there. Rarely has a game made me feel so high in just a few hours. It will be a while before I’m ready to play it again, but until I am, I recommend this song to everyone who will listen.
Neva is available now. £16.99
