- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Release Date: Oct 15, 2024
- Also On: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X
- Summary:
- Developer: Nomada Studio
- Genre(s): Adventure, Action Adventure, General
- # of players: No Online Multiplayer
- Cheats: On GameFAQs
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 41 out of 43
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Mixed: 2 out of 43
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Negative: 0 out of 43
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Oct 17, 2024As in Journey, surely now an ordained saint of artistically ambitious and emotionally resonant video games, that cleaved mountain always looms in the distance, beckoning you towards it. You do eventually reach it, in the dead of winter, beaten down, the world dying around you. I’m still thinking about what happened there. Rarely has a game made me feel so much in a few short hours. It will be some time before I feel ready to play it again, but until I do, I will be recommending it to anyone who’ll listen.
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Oct 14, 2024Neva had me open my heart just to feel the slice of the narrative’s knife all the more keenly. I don’t care what you’re currently playing or what you have on your backlog. Put them aside immediately and play this game. It’s destined to rank among the year’s unrivaled titles.
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Oct 15, 2024Neva is another winner from Nomada Studio, but it's also much more than that. It's a drop-dead gorgeous game with truly fun platforming action, puzzles and combat, with hauntingly-beautiful moments. But the titular character is the true highlight, easily encapsulating the biggest strengths as you see this wolf grow up alongside Alba. It's a journey of motherhood that takes the form of one of the year's best platformers, and just one of the year's best games, period.
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Game World Navigator MagazineDec 20, 2024Nomada Studio is very open about Neva being inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s works. And I have to admit – they’ve really hit the mark: the game is very heartwarming and emotional. [Issue#265, p.82]
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Oct 14, 2024Neva is another feather in the cap for Nomada Studio, who once again have proven themselves to be artists in the truest sense of the word. Beautiful, haunting, and emotionally moving, Neva is a wonderful experience.
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Oct 21, 2024The most important thing in this type of work is what it conveys. Neva achieves this correctly and clearly, despite occasionally feeling a bit photocopied. It has an identity of its own that at times is diluted in the format so attached to its predecessor. It's a solid experience about growing up and the changing dynamics of motherhood, where we can understand it both as children and as parents.
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Oct 14, 2024Neva ultimately feels at odds with itself, trying to be too much at once. Its combat and platforming are competent, but not enough to carry the game on their own. Neva’s story seems to be reaching after pure emotional appeal and a more concrete tale at once, but landing awkwardly between them. While the sense of Alba and Neva’s connection is enchanting at first, the game loses focus on their relationship as it wears on. Even its stunning art — the best part of Neva by far — is stuck halfway between some of the most gorgeous depictions of nature I’ve ever seen in a game and less successful dives into surreal yet sparse environments. Maybe I’m being cold-hearted, but even its adorable wolf cub couldn’t keep me interested for long. Neva has its moments when everything briefly clicks, but in the end it takes a half-step in too many directions at once.