Nomada studio blew many of us away when they released the exceptional Gris in 2018. Then, when Neva released it they proved that they weren’t a one-hit wonder. Well, after the heartbreaking main game of Neva, Neva: Prologue will toy with your emotions, just shorter.
Neva tells the story of a woman, Alba, who, with her dog sidekick Neva, goes through a messed-up world killing weird black creatures that come up out of the ground and corrupt the world. Well Neva: Prologue takes us back a step to before Alba met Neva. If you haven’t played the base game, go play it now. You don’t want to be spoiled, and you deserve to experience that game.
The prologue has Alba wake up, running after some butterflies, and then find herself dealing with plenty of these black globby monsters. It doesn’t take long before she helps out a little white puppy. This is the hero we know and love from the base game.
This prologue has Neva as a helpless pup. Some of the levels have you platforming over the high-rise ruins as Neva runs under the bottom. Other times you need to get Neva over dangers on the ground, where Alba picks up Neva, and in turn can’t dash, double jump or anything as she holds the sweet puppy close to her chest. It gives you a feeling of relative helplessness that is worth it to keep Neva safe.
There are some new threats as well. The biggest one is that there are traps on the ground where, if you run across them, a bunch of monster hands pop up. This is an obvious threat to our little Neva, but also makes for some interesting gameplay puzzles. Speaking of puzzles, while it isn’t overly bad, there are some clever platforming puzzles that include the use of light that can make obstacles or platforms appear and disappear. I don’t want to spoil them, as they are so much fun to discover and play with.
Neva: Prologue is a fantastic piece of DLC that adds to the game in ways I didn’t expect. It makes the relationship with Neva and Alba so much stronger, while never overdoing it. If you enjoyed the main game, this is worth every cent.
As far as DLC's go, Neva: Prologue might well be perfect. A nice little bit of extra game, that justifies itself with some emotional beats that add to the weight of the original story.
