This new Xbox game is a genuine work of art, and yes, it made me cry

It's been just over a year since I finally played GRIS for the first time, and it was one of the most memorable games I played in 2023. Now, the follow-up title from indie developer Nomada Studio is here, and it exceeds my expectations.

Where GRIS is a journey of grief and fear in which you passively struggle through your trauma, Neva tells a story of gaining strength in loss, of moving on and in so doing learning to protect what matters to you, and of cycles. It's not a direct continuation or even shares many similarities with its predecessor, but Neva does prove that the magic of GRIS' storytelling wasn't a fluke for Nomada Studio.

I loved playing Neva, and the strides Nomada has made in honing its craft made me wish even more desperately that the adventure didn't end so soon.

What is Neva?

The debut title from Nomada Studio, GRIS, was a narrative-driven puzzle-platformer with simple gameplay. Nearly six years later, Nomada has finally returned with Neva, which tells an all-new story in an all-new world, complete with a fresh visual style and a heap of new gameplay mechanics.

Neva tells the story of Alba, a young woman who is bonded to a massive, enigmatic wolf and their fragile cub. An encounter with a terrifying threat to nature and life itself leaves Alba and the cub heartbroken, though, and together they embark on a journey to grow together, battle the corruption plaguing their home, and discover their own way to peace.

Neva straddles the gap between puzzle-platformer and action-adventure genres thanks to the addition of combat and expanded platforming, but is still driven largely by its stunning art design and narrative direction. Like GRIS, Neva is a short adventure that shouldn't take more than five hours to complete.

Neva review: The good

Neva begins with our guardians witnessing the fall of a flock of birds from the sky. (Image credit: Windows Central)

The pros highlights

Neva adopts a new art style for Nomada Studio, and feels more polished and fluid than GRIS. The narrative is a little more straightforward than GRIS, but still leaves a lot up to personal interpretation. As a game, Neva is simply more fun to play than GRIS, with better platforming and added combat mechanics.

The moment Neva's opening track begins to lift, you're brought into the game like submerging in a warm bath. The instant the opening cinematic eases you into the world, you're held fast by the wash of saturated colors. Amazing art direction a great game does not make, but Neva stands as irrefutable proof that the developers at Nomada Studio stand among the very best when it comes to making games into art.

GRIS was a phenomenal display of artistic prowess in its own right, and personally I still love its unique watercolor style just a little more than Neva's flat color palette. It's clear from every other angle, though, that Nomada has dramatically upped its game in the graphics and animations department — Neva is buttery smooth, refined and polished to the limit, and feels like every single frame was hand-crafted with intent and care.

The soundtrack is also excellent. While not as memorable as some of the greats, Neva's original soundtrack still accompanies the visuals, world, and narrative with grace and emotion. The finished product is one that feels cohesive from end-to-end, even when Neva pushes its art design to the limit with massive, abstract set pieces and outlandish environments. Every single moment is gorgeous, and it was hard not to take approximately 400 screenshots.

Alba and Neva have to work together to overcome the monstrous creatures in their path. (Image credit: Windows Central)

As a game, Neva actually surprised me with the depth of its gameplay. There are the beginnings of an excellent Metroidvania platformer here, and that's not an exaggeration. Neva's platforming is miles ahead of GRIS' simplistic jumping, with precise double jumps, rolls and midair dashes, the ability to combo and chain jumping off of enemies, and more.

Alba is a capable warrior, too, and while combat is a simple combination of standard attacks and all your platforming abilities for mobility, it does feel fantastic. There's a good variety of enemies, too, and Neva does throw a myriad of unique and challenging bosses at you throughout its playtime. Your animal companion, Neva, also grows as the story progresses, gaining new abilities that help you with both traversal and combat.

Neva is not just another 2D platformer; it's obvious serious thought went into designing these expanded gameplay mechanics, and it paid off. GRIS was an experience, but Neva also manages to be a simply fun game.

Rather than succumb to their grief, Alba and Neva find new strength in each other. (Image credit: Windows Central)

FInally, there's the story. Alba isn't an outspoken protagonist — the only word you'll ever hear her say is the name of her wolf-like companion. In contrast, Neva is very vocal, and in every way feels like a real canine with his movements, mannerisms, and behavior. You'll have to collect Neva when he becomes distracted, call him to you when he wanders off, comfort him when he's scared, and even encourage him when he's uncertain of something.

Alba and Neva are connected through their shared trauma, the loss of Neva's parent. That grief has forged an immutable bond between the two, but grief is not the focal point of Neva. The world is falling to the corruption that took Neva's parent from him and Alba, and it's up to you to gain the strength to fight it back and the monsters it spawns, and prevent anyone from going through what you did ever again.

Where GRIS is filled with symbology and metaphors, Neva is a little more direct in its narrative delivery. What you take away from the story is still largely up to subjective interpretation, though — for me, it's about fighting to protect what you love and persevering through the harsh moments in the cycle of life. It's a beautiful story that ends as it begins, and it'll make you cry. Well, it at least made me cry.

Neva review: The bad

Neva begins with tragedy, and I wish we had more time to explore what this corruption is. (Image credit: Windows Central)

The cons highlights

More than anything, I just wish Neva was longer. The gameplay mechanics are good enough that Neva, in another universe, could've been a much longer adventure without issue.

Neva is an incredibly written, directed, and crafted narrative-adventure with an emotional story that will bring you to your knees. That being said, it also didn't impact me quite as hard as the sheer anguish of GRIS' grief-stricken journey, and I do feel that Neva loses some of the ethereal charm of GRIS with its flatter colors and textures.

I only have one real complaint with Neva, though, and that it's not longer. I felt that GRIS was the perfect length for the story it told, and Neva is a similar length. However, Neva's gameplay mechanics lend themselves far better to a longer format than GRIS, which offered little challenge to players during its runtime.

It takes less than five hours to complete Neva, and if you're thorough, you could also 100% all of the achievements on your first playthrough (I missed a few). I would've loved to see Neva more deeply explore its expanded platforming and added combat mechanics, but the adventure is over too soon.

Neva review: Final thoughts

Regardless of its length, Neva is a game that will stay with me for a very long time. (Image credit: Windows Central)

You should play this if ...

✅You were a fan of GRIS

Neva is everything a studio should aspire to for its second game, and is the perfect next title for anyone who was a fan of GRIS and want more of that emotional, artistic storytelling.

✅You love narrative-driven games that still feature satisfying gameplay

I absolutely do not mind if a game is a "walking simulator" as long as the format fits the story and the rest of the experience captivates me, but there are plenty who don't want to play a game that doesn't put gameplay front and center. Neva strikes a great balance between the two.

You should not play this if ...

❌You're looking for a new adventure to take up lots of your time

Neva approaches "masterpiece" level of artistry, but much of its impact is an afterimage left after you've already finished the game due to its brevity. This is not a title for those actively seeking a new 10+ hour long adventure.

I'll admit that it took me a few days longer than I wanted to get to Neva after I finished my Metaphor: ReFantazio review, but that's less a comment on how interesting Neva is and more evidence on just how incredible Metaphor: ReFantazio is.

Neva isn't likely to steal the "game of the year" crown from Atlus' magnum opus, but this is a bloody good game. It's everything I could've asked for from the studio that gave us GRIS, and it's everything I wanted it to be when I saw the first reveal trailer. It's so good that my only real complaint is that it ends too soon, like when you discover an incredible song and lose all sense of time.

Visually and narratively I expected nothing less from Nomada Studio, which upped its game considerably. What caught me off guard is just how much better the gameplay is in Neva versus its predecessor, showing that this team may have much more to show us yet. Neva is now available across Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and you can buy both GRIS and Neva for just $29.99 at Microsoft Store (Xbox) if you've yet to experience either.