TL;DR
Wake up from a coma to find your girlfriend missing and the world overrun by bloodthirsty adults! Neversong throws you into a nightmarish, atmospheric adventure where you'll use a baseball bat to solve puzzles and uncover a bizarre, darkly humorous story. While the hand-crafted levels look good, the protagonist's animation is a bit stiff. The game offers a moderate challenge, especially early on, but the real snag is its strong resemblance to Limbo, which did similar things with more polish. It's a decent, competent game, but doesn't quite forge its own path. Want to know if it's worth swinging for? Dive into the full review!
Peet awakens from a coma to discover his girlfriend has vanished. He must now navigate a world where the adult population has transformed into bloodthirsty individuals. The world presents numerous dangers that Peet must overcome to find his beloved. Fortunately, he has his trusty baseball bat as his primary means of defense.
A game that opens with the following narrative immediately piques interest and encourages reflection. These are substantial themes to explore within a video game, and the execution can be challenging.
Neversong establishes a nightmarish and unsettling atmosphere from the outset. The combination of music, sound effects, and vocal performances cultivates a persistent sense of unease, where appearances can be deceiving. Players control the protagonist through stylized, hand-crafted levels. While the environments are visually appealing, the protagonist’s animation could benefit from further refinement; the stiffness of Peet’s movements and jumps evokes a visual style reminiscent of South Park. However, as players progress, this becomes less noticeable as they become engrossed in the puzzles and narrative.
Neversong presents a moderate level of challenge. Overlooking a crucial detail can lead to backtracking to retrieve a specific item or activate a particular mechanism. On a few occasions, players will need to traverse the entire level. The initial stages can be demanding until acquiring the baseball bat, after which the gameplay becomes more manageable.
Neversong, originally titled Once upon a Coma, initially launched on Steam in 2019 and is now available on consoles. This review is based on gameplay on the Xbox One X, where the visuals are notably impressive. The game’s simplistic yet well-executed graphics contribute significantly to the overall gaming experience.
Despite its positive attributes, Neversong falls short of a strong recommendation primarily because it draws unavoidable comparisons to Playdead’s Limbo, a title that explored similar themes with greater finesse. Playdead, the Danish studio behind the acclaimed game Inside, released Limbo a decade prior. While Neversong shares thematic and narrative similarities, it lacks the innovation and polish to surpass its predecessor. Ultimately, Neversong is a competent game, but its limited originality prevents it from achieving greater distinction.
Review Highlights: Q&A
What is the story premise of Neversong?
In Neversong, a protagonist named Peet awakens from a coma to discover his girlfriend has vanished. He must navigate a dangerous world where adults have transformed into bloodthirsty individuals, defending himself with a baseball bat.
How difficult is Neversong to play?
Neversong presents a moderate level of challenge. Early stages can be demanding until acquiring the baseball bat, and overlooking crucial details can require backtracking across entire levels to find items or activate mechanisms.
What are the graphics and visual design like?
The game features stylized, hand-crafted levels and simplistic, well-executed visuals. However, the protagonist's animation is stiff, with movements and jumps reminiscent of the visual style in South Park.
What kind of atmosphere and audio does the game have?
The game establishes an unsettling and nightmarish atmosphere paired with an eccentric sense of humor. A mix of music, sound effects, and vocal performances creates a persistent sense of unease.
How does Neversong compare to Limbo?
The game explores similar thematic and narrative ground to Playdead's Limbo, but lacks the polish and innovation of that earlier title, preventing it from standing out as a truly distinct release.
