Neva, the follow-up to Gris, is devastatingly beautiful

This review was published upon Neva’s release in October, but we’re updating it upon its three Game Awards nominations, including Best Indie Game.

I am not a woman with a sword, and I don’t live in a soft, watercolor world that’s quickly being overcome by dark, spindly shadows. But I feel like I do. Most days are a fight as I slash back at the abyss that threatens to overwhelm; I have a lot more in common, right now, with Neva’s striking human character Alba than I expected.

Neva, Nomada Studio’s follow-up to its widely acclaimed platformer Gris, begins with Alba nudging awake the fantastical wolf pup of the same name as the game. She yawns and stretches, then trots along, distracted by falling leaves. Alba and a much larger wolf — presumably Neva’s mother — look on. Together, the group of three take in the spring air and bursts of greenery until a familiar shadow washes over the environment. Birds drop from the sky, dead and blackened with flowers instead of decay. The larger wolf narrows its eyes, crouching as Alba unsheathes her sword. The darkness overcomes, knocking Alba unconscious and shallowing up the larger wolf. Alba and Neva later awaken to the reality of what’s happened: Alba’s companion, Neva’s mother, is dead.

Though consumed with grief, life does not stop for Alba and Neva. The darkness still itches at their backs, threatening to consume Neva’s lush world, but they must move forward together. Life did not stop for me, either, when my 8-year-old pup — my best friend — died in late May. A creeping darkness, cancer, followed us around for four months before it progressed much too far. My life is not the same without him, and it will never be. My days darkened by grief, I had to move forward because someone else was depending on me. Long before his death, when he was still doing OK, my partner and I decided to adopt a puppy. We were to pick her up at the start of June. Which turned out to be one day after our boy died. Like Neva, our puppy is the spitting image of the one that came before. She is so small, so curious, and always distracted. She needs guidance. Neva does, too.

For the majority of Neva, you’ll play as Alba. To start, Neva mostly follows Alba around; Alba, with the push of a button, can call out to the pup, urging her across a scary gap or through dangerous territory. What begins largely as a traditional platforming game with simple combat becomes more and more complex as Neva continues. But at the start, Neva is a puppy through and through, and acts like it; Neva will run off and into trouble when she’s not woefully distracted by a glowing butterfly. I see the similarities with my own puppy: We’ve spent so long outside with potty training, and just as she’s to squat and pee, a bee appears. Now it’s playtime. As the game progresses, and as in life itself, it’s Neva that evolves Neva, naturally. She grows in size, yes, but in will, too. The bond between the two is forged through their shared struggle to learn one another. How this plays out in Neva is in how the platforming and challenges adjust to make room for Neva’s new abilities. Alba never changes. Neva does.

Eventually, Neva will help fight larger monsters and assist in more complicated platforming sections. Though Neva is a progression with regard to its difficulty, it’s never a hard game. (And if a section of combat is holding you back, you can turn to story mode, which eliminates taking damage.) Some may find Neva too simple, perhaps if you came into it expecting something with Soulslike difficulty. This is not that game. At just over four hours in length, there is limited combat altogether. But the combat sequences serve a purpose in demonstrating the evolution of Alba and Neva’s relationship rather than existing as an element of sheer challenge. It’s the right length for an ethereal game like Neva, something that’s just as much about how it makes you feel as it does actually playing it. There is no dialogue in Neva — except for Alba calling out her name — so the gameplay is how the narrative is expertly expressed. It’s very similar to Gris in that way; you can also see Nomada Studio’s legacy in the muted colors, geometric architecture, and overwhelming sadness.

Between the combat and platforming, Nomada Studio also uses long stretches of almost nothing in a surprisingly emotional way. There are plenty of times throughout Neva where the only thing I’m doing is pushing my controller’s joystick to the left or right — with Neva or without — in an effort to simply move forward. I’ve actually found an element of challenge in these too-quiet moments: Am I going the right way? Does that really matter? I just move forward.

In these moments, I think about my own dogs, about Alba and Neva, and the wolf who came before. I’ve thought a lot about how my relationship with the new pup will change and grow — about how it’ll be different or the same as with my best friend. There is no replacement to what I’ve lost, to what Alba and Neva have lost. But even forged in grief, something beautiful will grow. We’ll just move forward. Alba and Neva do, too.

Neva will be released on Oct. 15 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was played on Steam Deck using a pre-release download code provided by Devolver Digital. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.