It wasn’t far into the gorgeous platformer Neva that I started to think "how can I get some imagery from this on to my wall?"
From Nomada, whose previous game was the also aesthetically stunning Gris, Neva doesn’t really reinvent any wheels in terms of gameplay, but exists as one of those games with which you "have an experience", an every-screen-an-artwork journey through a lush world filled with vibrant colour palettes, a sense of scale and a lot of evocative imagery.
You play as Alba, a dashing cape-donning, swashbuckling young woman who is a companion to a giant wolf-deer thing and her pup, Neva, in a glorious natural landscape. All the bucolic idyll is seriously threatened however by the invasion of some sort of corrupting force, represented by a conglomerate of cancerous, blobby black baddies with white faces who leave Neva’s mama-wolf-deer dead and Alba — now sole protector of wee Neva — with the job of ending the malignancy spreading rapidly throughout the world.
Alba is armed with her trusty sword, a double jump, a dodge and Neva, who starts as a more or less helpless puppy but begins to grow as the game goes on.
Progressing through the game’s stunning landscapes is initially a matter of protecting the young Neva from the bad blobbies, who are busy zombifying all the world’s hapless fauna, and then beginning to use the more powerful growing pup — who turns out to be not just a mere wolf-deer, but sort of a spirit of — the forest? Nature itself?
Everything takes place wordlessly, save for Alba calling Neva’s name at the press of a button, with this sole word taking on tones of anxiety, alarm, joy, exasperation, or determination depending on the game situation, which is a neat effect.
Alba can dodge through attacks, but can only take three hits before succumbing — although another hit point can always be earned back by landing six sword blows without taking a hit — so there’s the odd challenging encounter. Neva’s animation never looks less than beautiful, but sometimes it’s a bit unclear just where the hit boxes are, so there can be frustrating moments when you’ll think you’ve dodged something only to suffer a surprise fatal blow from some creature’s rear left knee.
But combat isn’t really the main attraction here anyway (in fact this aspect of the game can simply be turned off if you like); it’s taking the game’s five or so hours to explore its intriguing world (think: jumping puzzles and collectables) and its verdant meadows, decaying forests, spooky underworld and mysterious structures, on the quest to destroy the ultimate blobby.
The ending didn’t quite work for me, and although the thought-provoking world hints at a deeper message, that never quite seems to cohere into anything more specific than "Nature good, uh, badness bad". But the beauty of games like Neva are that things are definitely open to your own interpretation, and whatever you conclude, you’re likely to find its often breathtaking journey was well worth making.
By Ben Allan
With the PC port of the original God of War (2018) coming out in 2022, and the release of its sequel on the horizon, we all knew it too would be coming to PC sooner or later, and yes — this time a mere two years later — PC players can now continue Kratos’ dad transformation.
Playing on the "high" preset, the game runs near flawlessly with a near constant 90 frames per second at basically all times. While graphically it’s not a massive leap from the PC port of the 2018 God of War, Ragnarok is still stunning to watch. If your computer isn’t up to snuff however, there are plenty of settings to to help it out, such as FSR and DLSS, and Frame Generation tech.
There’s also a whole section on accessibility features, like motion sickness, motor control issues, etc, and an audio cue system. This will play an audio sound when something happens, like an enemy about to attack or when Atreus attacks, which I’m sure will help those with sight issues.
Unlike last time playing through God of War, I decided to go in with a mouse and keyboard, and was happy with the result. It’s a little strange with the sensitivity at close ranges to enemies and some of the binds are a little questionable, but it works well, and any controls can be rebound. My main issue was the axe throw being bound to the left control key, but swapping it to a mouse button worked for me.
One of the worst things I noticed in the time I played was the abundance of hints thrown at you as soon as you arrive at a puzzle. You barely have time to get your bearings before Atreus says, "Hey, look over there. Try doing that thing.". (I just got here, boy, give me some time to look around!) Thankfully, a patch came out to reduce these and is headed to the PS5 version as well, which I’m sure console players will be thankful for.
There is also the forced PSN requirement, which I and a lot of others have a rather mixed opinion on. It means players in regions where PSN is not available will not be able to purchase the game at all. Even if you are in a PSN region, you may not want to link or create an account for one reason or another. If you are in that camp, then I’m sorry but you’ll have to skip this one.
Despite this requirement potentially dragging it away from customers, God of War: Ragnarok is a near-perfect example of what a PC port should be. Well optimised, fully featured, and a great game in its own respect, with tons of settings to mess with for each and every player and skill level.
Now if only a certain gothic Victorian Souls-like game could get an even better treatment ...
By Michael Robertson
