Gris dev’s next gorgeous platformer Neva has all the emotional jumping you expect, plus the combat you don’t
Watch your cub pal grow into a wolf later this year
Neva is immediately recognisable as the next puzzle platformer from the developers behind Gris thanks to its sweeping, overlapping planes and effortlessly natural watercolour art, which were both on show again in tonight’s Geoffest Summer Game Fest show. I was expecting more eye candy from Neva after its announcement last summer, but what caught me by surprise was all the hacking and slashing that ensues in its second trailer.
Well, I’m definitely a sucker for those short, breezy platformers and the first half of the trailer above definitely lulled me into thinking Neva was more of the same. Until our red-capped hero and her ghostly wolf pet start bashing those gooey black creatures, that is.
"Neva chronicles the story of Alba, a young woman bound to a curious wolf cub following a traumatic encounter with dark forces," the game's Steam description explains. "Together they embark on a perilous journey through a once-beautiful world as it slowly decays around them."
What most interests me is how the two characters might bond over time, however. Our furry pal will grow from a wee cub to the imposing wolf (with deer antlers?) we see in the trailer, a journey that will supposedly test "Alba's love and their commitment to one another." I wonder if that might manifest in both the jumping and the slashing. At least one shot in the trailer shows the two mirroring each other's moves to target foes on opposite ends of a platform, but all the reflected surfaces on show have me excited for more mirroring possibilities.
Neva is set to come out later this year on PC via Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
The flurry of summer games events are now underway! Hit up our Summer Game Fest 2024 hub and our Day Of The Devs roundup for all the news worth caring about from the shows so far.