It’s not often that a short, narrative art game gets DLC, but Neva: Prologue is just that. For all intents and purposes, it’s an additional chapter for the game that, true to its title, shows how Alba meets Neva. The DLC lasts about an hour and doesn’t really tell us much we don’t already know, but it also features a few new mechanics and a new boss battle. Considering that it’s just a few quid and is about a quarter as long as the base game while costing about a seventh of it, it’s definitely well worth playing as long as you simply want more Neva.
All Neva: Prologue really shows us is that Alba sees baby Neva out in the wild. She approaches her, only for the mystical wolf pup to shrink in fear, being wary of her presence. Once Neva falls into a chasm, Alba wastes no time leaping in to save her. At first, Neva won’t even allow Alba to come near, but it’s really cute to see her gradually warm up to her, showing how their bond developed from the very beginning. As Neva’s a pup here, this DLC obviously has none of the abilities the duo obtained over the course of the main game. That being said, there is a short section where Alba has to carry her, which is different.
The hour the DLC lasts is once again split up between walking, platforming, and fighting. There’s a tougher new enemy to fight against, which has mantis-like legs that require quicker reflexes to deal with. Neva: Prologue makes good use of this enemy, as it shows up with regularity. Difficulty-wise, this is very much built to continue the upward curve set by the base game. Nothing here is hard, but it is typically more demanding in that way. A few of the combat gauntlets here can last a bit longer, although the simple dodge and three-hit combo don’t make gameplay feel much different.
As for the new mechanics, one of these requires you to run on ground that turns deadly and stabs upward after touching it. This leads to sections where you have to time your jumps to land on this ground and then move away from it before it strikes, sometimes necessitating a fair degree of precision to avoid damage. There aren’t many of these, but they also don’t wear out their welcome. Even less present are new objects that lift you into the air upon hitting them. These are used in a couple of platforming sequences, with one particularly neat one having you hit a whole bunch in sequence to reach a distant ledge.
The biggest new aspect, though, is the area that tasks you with navigating alongside flashes of light. The first part has you sneak past enemies while timing it so that lightning only flashes when Alba’s hidden; otherwise, the enemy sees you and attacks. But this evolves into a segment underground where platforms (and enemies) only become visible and corporeal during the flashes of light. This is a longer segment that I thought was really pretty interesting, all things considered. The latter part is really cool looking too, with a minimalist area juxtaposing between bare essentials and being bathed in golden light, which is particularly striking.
Neva: Prologue ends with a brand new boss battle that’s easily the toughest one in the whole game. Unlike the rest of the DLC, though, I didn’t much care for it. Its design is a bit too familiar, and it honestly just drags. It’s not all that difficult, but I was losing patience with how long it was going on, as it’s quite repetitive and not really all that exciting. But once you beat it, you’re pretty much done with the DLC. For the price, it’s hard to go wrong here, though. If you enjoyed the base game and want more, then it’s pretty much a no-brainer, as long as you know what to expect here and don’t mind the less-than-stellar boss battle at the end.
Neva: Prologue: More of the same of the base game, which is exactly what you'd want. Doesn't have many surprises, but it's nice to return and see how the story started. – Andrew Farrell
Consider checking out our previous review:
High on Life 2 PC review – Same old story, but bolder world |
