As the winner of the Games for Impact category at The Game Awards, Neva has solidified its reputation as both serious entertainment and serious art. It’s my favorite action platformer, as painterly as Okami and as heartfelt as Gris. I’m beyond happy that it’s getting the flowers it deserves. It’s about a woman and her wolf, but also parenthood, the grief of aging, climate change, and the inevitable march into our collective sunset. By exploring heavy topics with such empathy and intelligence, Neva holds the door open for other storytellers to follow, and follow they will.
The Impact of Neva and Nomada Studio
No matter how accurate our award show predictions, guessing the trajectory of a game like Neva is always difficult. Like fellow nominees Life Is Strange and Senua’s Saga, Neva accomplishes something more ambitious than your typical platformer. I don’t think there’s a particular thing you’re supposed to feel or a singular interpretation you’re supposed to heed. Neva shares with its pastel forests and monochromatic ruins a fixation on awkward growth, discovery, and eventual collapse. It’s about petting a wolf and smacking stuff with a sword. What more do you need?
Neva’s about what it’s like to love and care for someone while your house burns down around you. It’s that one Bo Burnham line (“You say the whole world’s ending, honey, it already did”), a vocal stim I repeated for a month because echolalia is easier than grappling with the Awful Bigness of our deteriorating climate. We live in a shaken snow globe, and the flurries are only growing more intense. Nomada Studio’s work is so good that Neva shines even if you’re only here for the wolf and sword stuff. If you’re open to thinking and feeling a little more, however, Neva embodies everything Games for Impact should be.
