A great follow up from GRIS, with similar art style and lovely OST, with more added combat and more puzzles. This beautiful and emotional game is made even more fun by having a cute yet ferocious companion.

+ Visually stunning.
+ Soundtracks great.
+ you can pet and cuddle Neva anytime

- few boss fights and platforming to get flowers are bothersome/difficult but not a progress breaking

Thanks Nomada Studio and Devolver Digital for this game.

Taking the risk to offend some GRIS fans, I had low expectations going into Neva because GRIS never resonated with me much. I did not dislike it, but it's probably due to not being very Anime-affine. Thus I went into Neva without any expectations.

I can already say that I LOVED Neva, which surprised me, because the Anime elements are still here. However they are overshadowed by a more grounded, traditional and very nature focused design. By combining adding and alternating between multiple gameplay styles the game hardly ever gets old.
- Graphics are outstanding! Lush detailed forests, panned out endless meadows with parallaxing mountains, ruins with clean and obscure geometries, and lovingly designed characters, animals and enemies.
- The animation is almost on spot. The wolf and main character move fluidly, but so do the wildlife and enemies. The occasional animated shorts are wonderful.
- Controls are responsive, and not too complicated. Throughout the game more methods are introduced, keeping gameplay interesting. And you can always pet the wolf.
- Puzzles are on the easy side, if you've played platformers before. Some mildly challenging puzzles with timed jumps, but mostly it's just executing your dash and jumps perfectly.
- Combat is a new thing for this studio, and I think they found a perfect spot for this kind of game. What you learn from the platforming sections can be directly applied to the combat - and vice versa. This culminates in boss battles that are mildly challenging and never unfair.
- Story is a classic tale of going through seasons, and it's nothing we haven't seen before, but the way it is told is a unique approach and very enjoyable.

Neva won me over with its beautiful and colorful endangered natural world and the relationship of the woman and the antler wolf. The many moments where I'd just gaze at the screen for the stunning art, all while the two main actors show off their friendship lets you dive into this world and never want to leave.

It is a beautiful and emotional puzzle platformer. Bonus points for the fact that you can cuddle with the wolf. No missable achievements and completion takes around 4 to 5 hours.

Approximate amount of time to 100%: 5 hours
Estimated achievement difficulty: 2/10 on the easiest difficulty
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
Is there a good guide available: Yes, I used this guide from PowerPyx [www.powerpyx.com]
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: No, there is chapter selection and it saves automatically when you pick up a collectible
Grinding Achievements: No
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: No, you can play on the easier difficulty and still unlock all the achievements
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No

Neva starts with a heartbreaking scene. However, you will not yet feel the full impact as you haven't formed a connection yet with the main character and the wolf companion. This will change later on as you can cuddle with the wolf and see it grow up throughout the game. Seeing the pup change from a scary small creature to a majestic huge wolf is beautiful.

In Neva, you play as a young woman who fights and traverses through a dying world. You climb through beautiful scenes, solve light platformer puzzles, and fight the corruption. you play through the different scenes which change the look of the world so much, but if you think away the corruption that is going on, the world is always beautiful.

I find it very impressive how a game without text is able to tell such a deep story. It requires you to focus, to not miss a story point. Neva taught me that I prefer a game with text, as the ending got me a bit confused, but gladly there was a topic on the Steam forum to help me understand it just a bit more. However, I still had an amazing time playing through Neva and following the story. The movement set feels very responsive and well done, and the abilities you get later felt thought out well and just as responsive as the ones you start with.

I highly appreciate all the attention to detail that got poured into Neva. Not only in the artwork, but also in gameplay mechanics. For example how the game saves when you pick up a collectible, and how it has multiple spawn points to return to in a chapter. This means that Neva not only has no missable achievements, but it also isn't torture to go back to an earlier part of the game to collect the thing you missed. You don't even have to finish a part if you find the collectible you missed because of the saving that instantly happens. Unlocking all the achievements in Neva takes around 4 to 5 hours.

I give Neva 4 out of 5 stars. The artwork is breathtaking and I just want to cuddle the whole day with the wolf.