Introducing Neva, the beautiful new game from the developer of Gris

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to raise a wild animal? In Neva, not only will you find out firsthand just how troublesome a teenage wolf can be, but you’ll learn to depend on one another in more ways than one.

Neva is our own newborn baby, a love song dedicated to our children, our parents, and our planet. It tells the moving tale of a young woman and her lifelong bond with a magnificent wolf as they embark on a thrilling adventure through a rapidly dying world.

So, where did Neva come from? After finishing Gris, we enjoyed a long period of tranquility and reflection. Conrad had just welcomed his son into the world and dedicated all of his time to raising him. During this time, we began to really digest what was happening in the world around us; climate change, social unrest, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. All of this created an idea for the setting of Neva.

We decided to focus our efforts on creating a game about the relationship we have with our children and parents, and how we emotionally relate to them in often complicated contexts. We were interested in exploring how these relationships change over time. At the beginning, children need protection and education, but as teenagers, they can become rebellious and challenge authority figures. As they grow into adulthood, they become more responsible and begin to think about living their own lives, which their parents need to accept. To represent this relationship, we needed two characters to show how at least one of them is growing.

To provide the right backdrop to our story, we looked to the environmental problems the Earth is facing due to human interference. This will lead to the destruction of many ecosystems, causing animals and even humans to lose their homes, so we wanted to imagine how a scenario like this would affect our characters.

We hope that fans of Gris will enjoy Neva for many of the same reasons they loved our first game, but also for the new mechanics that we’re introducing. Neva is an evocative adventure for all players that blends action with handcrafted cinematic moments, and collaboration between both characters is key to the experience.

Players will face platforming, puzzles and combat challenges while dealing with monstrous enemies. As ever, we also wanted to craft a polished experience with minimal UI, delicate art, high quality traditional animation and an elegant music score. We think we’ve achieved that, and we can’t wait for players to experience it for themselves!