Neversong

If you liked the tainted dreamlike aesthetic of games like Inside and the exploration and platforming of titles like Ori and the Blind Forest and Hollow Knight, but also appreciate a tightly constructed narrative then you can do far worse than giving Neversong a few hours of your time. It’s a brief experience, although you can go back and hunt down all of the cards in order to add a few more hours of playtime, but the snippets of time that you do spend with the game are all relatively enjoyable and it never threatens to overstay its welcome.

Neversong is one of those games that feels like an impactful and interactive art piece rather than the kind of title you envelop yourself in for hours and hours at a time. As with many indie projects, you can tell it was crafted with great care and a message that doesn't need a lot of time to register. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a little dark adventure.

Neversong is a beautiful game, which manages to create a rarely seen atmosphere by putting in limelight heavy topics like mourning and the nightmares plaguing kids. While the story is interesting and the puzzles are immersive, the clunky fights, the imprecise control scheme, and the lack of consistency make it hard to keep players engaged. Artistically it is a beautiful, yet short escape into a horror realm, but gameplay-wise it is lacking depth and polish. Although visually charming and despite the unique atmosphere, the game world feels somehow empty. Most of the gameplay relies on the same simple ideas which are repeated from start to end. Although it requires precision from the player, Neversong does not offer the control scheme to support such a need.

Neversong is still worth a play in spite of its weaker moments. A self-contained story is a rare thing in games, and Neversong's narrative is delivered well enough to make up for its flimsier elements. If players can forgive the odd awkward moment from a mechanical perspective, then they will find a gem here.