Neverway Preview

Neverway is a story-rich psychological horror, and yet, simultaneously, a life-sim. It was developed and published by Coldblood Inc., funded by Innersloth’s indie funding program, Outersloth, and has a release date planned for this year. Although a bit weird, this combination of genres is very intriguing, and when I read the description that says “fight through horrors and pay your debt”, I immediately knew I absolutely had to try this title.

The game begins with our main character, Fiona, taking a bath at her apartment, until someone knocks on the door and she remembers she ordered instant noodles. After eating, she wants to go to sleep, but the player can choose to look around and interact with some things. Looking at Fiona’s emails, we learn she has depression and hasn’t left her house in a while, which led to her getting fired from her job. 

The next morning, she wakes up, has to get dressed, go to her job, and pick her things up before they get thrown out. There are some things you can do during that, but the interesting part comes on the way back. When getting on the train, there’s only one other person there. At first, this mysterious woman refuses to talk, saying small talk is not her thing, but if you interact with her again, she decides to skip the small talk and ask a big question: "Do you ever think about heaven?”

From then on, a bunch of highly confusing things happen, and I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure what that was yet, but I’m assuming that once Neverway fully releases, we’ll get some answers. Once that really weird sequence ends, Fiona goes back to her apartment and decides to go to sleep. After waking up, she decides it’s time to make a change and goes to an advertised getaway, the specifics of which are dependent on some choices you made at the start of the experience.

Immediately when reaching her new place there, she goes to sleep, and I was put back into the chapter select screen, with a new card there, which is all glitched out. Selecting that puts you into a simulation, and quickly, you learn that it’s not normal since it’s supposed to sync with your soul. There are a lot of confusing and mysterious aspects in Neverway, and I’m definitely excited to learn more. For example, Fiona has a permanent effect that makes her eyes glow, but doesn’t reveal much else about it, even though if you turn on the TV, this effect’s name is talked about as if it’s a virus.

On top of this really intriguing narrative, the gameplay is honestly really nice. It’s nothing fancy or new, at least from the preview content, but the simplicity isn’t a bad thing, and it’s a really polished experience. Every system meshes really well with the story, so even though opening your inventory pauses the game, you still feel uneasy, which is exactly what I want from a horror title.

Another aspect that adds to how well the horror aspect is done is the graphics and art of Neverway — everything feels so… right, and odd, and again, makes you a bit uneasy. No matter where I was, the way the experience looked on a base level made me feel like there’s something hidden behind whatever I’m seeing, like there’s some mystery to be solved…

The art being so amazing doesn’t surprise me, though, given how Coldblood advertises that the game was co-created by the pixel artist of Celeste. Another part of the experience created by an industry expert is the soundtrack, written by Disasterpeace, who worked on the music of multiple incredible titles such as Fez and Hyper Light Drifter in the past (and also of a short film of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not really relevant, but I thought that’s a cool tidbit). As expected, it’s incredible, and I am so excited to hear the music from the full release.

Another really nice thing is how voice acting is treated in this game. It’s not always present, and never for a full sentence, but sometimes characters do say a word or two out loud. It’s not a huge aspect, but it feels a lot better and more “real”, I’d say, than just reading text with the RPG talking sound effect playing. And yet, not having full voice work feels more in line with this title’s design and narrative, so this seems like a perfect middle ground.

Well then, overall, I loved the prologue of Neverway and am super excited about when the videogame is going to be fully out. It’s definitely going on my wishlist, and I’ll most likely be a day-one player — it looks incredible! If you’re also interested, Neverway is going to be released sometime this year, and you can wishlist the game on Steam.