{"id":115870,"date":"2020-07-25T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/neversong"},"modified":"2020-07-25T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T11:00:00","slug":"mini-review-neversong-a-lovingly-crafted-metroidvania-which-sadly-ends-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/07\/25\/mini-review-neversong-a-lovingly-crafted-metroidvania-which-sadly-ends-too-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini Review: Neversong &#8211; A Lovingly-Crafted Metroidvania Which Sadly Ends Too Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/b72e8da445949\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/b72e8da445949\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed pictures\" id=\"screenshots\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/107012\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/107012\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Neversong Review - Screenshot 1 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/neversong\">Neversong<\/a><\/strong> is an atmospheric adventure game from developers Atmos Games and Serenity Forge, in which a young boy by the name of Peet is searching for his kidnapped girlfriend, Wren. Set in various mysterious locales, the game is primarily a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2020\/07\/feature_best_nintendo_switch_metroidvania_games\">Metroidvania<\/a> in design, but one which strikes a nice balance between narrative and gameplay, resulting in an experience that won\u2019t prove to be much of a challenge to many, but remains fun throughout. In terms of its gameplay, it\u2019s remarkably reminiscent of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/hollow_knight\">Hollow Knight<\/a><\/strong>, but its visual design and story beats set it apart from its contemporaries, delivering a wholly unique experience.<\/p>\n<p>Right from the start, Neversong is forthright with its intended message and tone, advising gamers that the game deals with tough issues in its narrative. We were admittedly concerned that this would set us up for a dark, depressing experience, but while the game is certainly dark in tone (a character called Dr. Smile comes to mind), it\u2019s also crammed with humorous dialogue, strange creatures, and excellent, often uplifting piano music. The cast of characters is particularly enamouring, and are brought to life with some <em>brilliant<\/em> voiceover work.<\/p>\n<p>The care and attention that went into the sound design has also been extended into the visuals. Paying particular attention to colour and lighting, Neversong is often an incredibly atmospheric experience, and it suits the overall tone very well. Similarly, the creature design \u2013 especially the boss characters \u2013 is equally mesmerising and disgusting, and many of the monsters frequently reminded us of the work of Guillermo del Toro.<\/p>\n<p>Making your way around the environments is fairly straightforward; as a Metroidvania, Neversong is not quite as overwhelming as others in the genre. You\u2019ll quickly gain a bat with which to defend yourself, and if you\u2019ve played Hollow Knight before, the attack animation for this is nearly identical \u2013 which is fine, because it works. You\u2019ll also gain new items as you progress, such as a pair of gauntlets that allow you to grab onto ropes and swing onto ledges.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike other titles in the genre, Neversong doesn\u2019t pay <em>too<\/em> much focus on unlocking new areas and collecting items, but it uses what little space it has to the fullest extent. This means there\u2019s certainly some backtracking involved, but this never felt particularly exasperating, and there are always a few characters dotted around the environment for you to talk to.<\/p>\n<p>That said, there are a couple of niggles with the game. The enemies you face are never particularly difficult to beat, but controlling Peet is surprisingly twitchy at times, and you\u2019ll often run into a creature by accident, immediately taking away one of your hearts. Additionally, we simply wish the game was a bit <em>longer.<\/em> The content that\u2019s here really is a joy to experience, and we\u2019re of course conscious that artificially lengthening the game would no doubt diminish its value, but we can\u2019t deny a certain level of disappointment after completing it in just a few short hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neversong is an atmospheric adventure game from developers Atmos Games and Serenity Forge, in which a young boy by the name of Peet is searching for his kidnapped girlfriend, Wren. Set in various mysterious locales, the game is primarily a Metroidvania in design, but one which strikes a nice balance between narrative and gameplay, resulting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}