Neva awakened something in me I never knew was there

I still remember the day that Neva was first announced.

At first, I saw that it was from the creators of Gris so I already knew that I was in for yet another emotional rollercoaster.

Then, I saw that you would take on the role of guardian to a wolf cub.

If you know me, or have spoken to me for at least three-minutes, then you will know that I have always had a special interest and love for wolves.

So, the creators of Gris making a game featuring a wolf cub we must protect?

My therapy session for 15 October, 2024 was booked then and there.

If you were not aware, Neva is a brand-new puzzle-platform game by Nomada Studio, the indie creators behind 2018’s platform-adventure game Gris.

Nomada Studio

Neva follows a young woman called Alba who must travel across a world corrupted by darkness alongside her wolf pup, Neva.

We are never told what happened to the world and why totems of the dead tower over us on our journey, it is just a fact and left open to the player’s imagination.

The pair travel through all four seasons, and as the seasons change, so does Neva who grows from a timid wolf cub to a strong and formidable beast.

As with Gris, Neva also has a message hidden beneath imagery, symbolism and metaphor.

Whereas Nomada Studio’s previous title tells the story of a hopeful young girl who must learn to heal after a traumatic event in her life, Neva instead is a love-letter to parenthood and the world itself.

As this is not spelled out, it leaves a place for the player to decide what the story really is but seeing Alba raise and protect Neva until Neva is old enough to protect both herself and Alba is parenthood in a nutshell.

Our parents look after us and one day, we will look after them.

At the start of the game, Neva is no bigger than a house cat and must be reassured by Alba at every turn.

She is scared to jump from heights, regularly gets grabbed by enemies (which saw me button-mashing to get to her quicker) and would whimper when she strayed too far.

In between trying to catch birds and drinking from nearby ponds, Neva could be called to Alba and the two could embrace, with Neva resting her paws on the adult’s shoulders.

As Spring passed and Summer arrived, making the colours of Neva change from glorious greens and pinks to the brightest and most beautiful shades you’ll ever see, Neva had grown.

Nomada Studio

Now able to handle herself in combat, jump from the tallest ledges and catch her own prey, you begin to experience what it would be like to be a parent.

I think it is pretty obvious by now, but I am not a parent and having Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) would make it a lot more difficult for me to conceive if I ever wanted to.

Now at the age of 27 (28 in a few weeks), I have made peace with the fact that I may never have children and that’s ok with me.

However, it is moments like seeing a virtual wolf in a video game grow underneath your care and protection that did call out to that instinct that may actually be buried deep within me.

As the story of Neva continues, and the seasons pass into the rich reds of Autumn and finally the desolate, snow-driven peaks of winter, Neva grows and is now able to be directed to enemies as well as ridden by Alba.

She is no longer small enough to rest her head in the crook of your neck but instead, Alba can gently nuzzle into her fur as she calls her to her side.

The wolf and the girl are formidable against the enemies; black, amorphic beings with white masks that take on a strange resemblance to No-Face from Spirited Away.

They can wander alone or join together to create hulking monsters that tower over our adventuring pair.

Not only that but they can possess already-dead animals and send them hurtling in your direction. They cause birds to fall from the sky with a thud and black flowers to bloom from your body upon your death. Their job is the pure destruction of life.

Quite simply, the land in which Alba and Neva travel through is one slowly being poisoned by these nameless enemies.

Animals lay dead as you run through the perspective-shifting environments, trees are cracked and floating in the otherwise still air and the shapeless enemies cling to everything in sight, making darkness creep into every scene.

Armed with just a rapier and Neva’s ever-growing teeth, Alba must fight to defeat them as is her job as humanity’s last defender. At least, that is what it seems as we see no other human during our exploration.

Nomada Studio

I don’t mean to be a Debby Downer in a discussion about such a beautiful game but you can’t help but be reminded of the current state of the world as you play Neva.

The black, shadowed enemies can be seen as a visual interpretation of climate change and global warming ever so slowly corrupting the earth, leaving rotting animals, flora and fauna in its wake.

As humans created this mess, Alba, as the last human, must put it right and with each amorphous blob she and Neva vanquish, life returns to the land once more and we watch as colours and life itself is breathed back into the atmosphere.

As you journey through the still landscapes, a cracked mountain beckons you in the distance and it is during winter that you will finally reach it.

You are alone, armed with just a cape to ward off the cold and your ever-present rapier as you scale the peaks and reach the very top.

What takes place on the summit of that mountain is something that you should experience yourself but rest assured, it will move even the strongest of hearts.

Neva begins with death and ends with life, a cycle very much reminiscent of the world as we know it. Neva begins with Alba as the guardian, the sole protector before her child, her wolf takes on the role for her.

“Those we protect will someday protect us,” is the tagline for Neva and this game is a solid reminder of that.