Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time? Are you stuck, or far, far away from here? If you could be anywhere, where would you go? A brand-new world, a remote island, or nowhere? These are some of the questions that pixel RPG Neverway asks as our protagonist Fiona sinks into despair in a hot, muggy bath. Now, will these questions affect the game I play? Maybe, maybe not, but as I engaged with Neverway’s hour-long demo, those choice of answers began to help explain Fiona’s struggle with depression and anxiety.
A tale I know all too well, Fiona has found herself in a deep pit of isolation and erected walls that won’t allow anyone in. This causes her to lose her job, and it seems her partner too. The first part of the demo is watching these scenes play out, and takes Fiona through the monotony of cooking food, going to pick up her things from her office, and avoiding confrontation with her loved ones. As she travels back home on the train, she begins to see distortions, nightmarish creatures, and a strange girl who beckons her forth. Neverway already knows how to create a tense and creepy atmosphere with gorgeously detailed pixel art colored with a drab and muted palette, but streaked with neons. Despite this work being done by the Celeste team, Neverway has its own distinct style with its character designs and world. It feels apocalyptic with machinery lying in the streets and robots cleaning hazardous messes. Despite only playing for about 10-20 minutes, I was already entranced by the look of this game and wanted to see more.
After a trippy encounter in the train, Fiona decides enough is enough and takes up the tempting offer to escape to the island of Lagos (this can be renamed; I just went with the default option) where she can start afresh. When she gets there, she meets a creepy looking guard that lets her into what seems like a gated community. Again, Neverway set my thoughts racing with excitement as I passed a bunch of houses, each with villager names attached to them, so I could get to my own home in the north of the community. On its Steam page, Neverway highlights how we will get to meet, befriend, and even date these characters. Unfortunately, we don’t meet any of them in the demo. After we crash out in bed, the next day begins, but not in the same way. We instead enter a computer simulation. Whether it’s like a VR world or something we are plugged into, the game doesn’t explain, and the questions begin to form.
In this world, we are greeted by an AI companion called Fang. It seems he acts as a tutorial, as he shows us how combat works, encourages us to craft, and points us in the direction of a side quest. The game never holds your hand in explaining things as they are very basic to figure out.. Each action is categorized and can be leveled up. For example, combat levels up Violence, crafting levels up Industry, and gathering natural resources levels up Scavenging. These are not new concepts, so usual RPG players will feel at home here. The game does mention fishing and farming, but we don’t get to interact with those skills in the demo. These skills will probably allow you to do complete more tasks, as you require a certain level of Industry to mend a bridge in the simulation. I also noticed that when you choose a dialogue option when talking to a character, a small bubble next to your portrait will pop up, like a happy face. There is a social/charisma system at work here, but not much else is explained. Another thing to note is the presence of dialogue options. I am always annoyed when games just chuck in multiple dialogue choices only for you to A. Cycle through all of them anyway, and B. they don’t have any kind of significant impact. At that point, just make it all scripted without my input. However, Neverway may be doing something different with their use of multiple choice dialogue as you have the option to pick dialogue that is a lie—which is clearly stated on the line of dialogue. If you tell the truth or lie, that same reaction bubble will show by your character portrait. I can’t wait to see how this will impact relationships and Fiona as a whole.
As you fight bugs and floating skulls, approaching the end of the simulation’s mission, things start to go a bit weird. Fang starts to worry that his own memories are beginning to bleed into Fiona’s simulation. After you mend the bridge and proceed on, you start to become privy to these memories of children in a facility, named using numbers and letters. They talk about being installed with weapons. Further on, things just get weirder as you see another scenario, this time of a surgery where robotic doctors discuss how they are going to remove certain emotions from their patient. Finally, we come face to face with a mysterious character called Lancelot, pictured against a neon blue moon. A confrontation ensues involving Fang, and the demo ends. What the hell is going on here?
Neverway’s short demo was an absolute blast to play through and already has me grinding my teeth at its planned release date of October this year. It’s not too far away, but I’m already on the edge of my seat. Demos are supposed to make me feel intrigued and Neverway poses so many questions that I want to be answered. Heck, just look at the game’s synopsis; apparently, we are going to be entangled with undead Gods. It’s a killer demo, and I cannot wait to see what the team does with it.
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