While most of us would be content with four walls and a roof, what if you were trapped inside six walls with a hatch that only led to another box with six walls? While the former lends to a sense of peace and protection the other creates a prison and when one set continuously leads to another it imbues a sense of dread and despair as you feel like you've never get out.
Neverout is a puzzler that has you literally stuck inside of a series of cubes attempting to find your way out. How does it work you wonder if you’re simply inside of a dice like object? Well like our favorite Dungeons & Dragons implement the cube can be moved, or better yet it’s more apt to say that you move around the inside of it which in turn, makes it move. It’s all a matter of perception, and in this case, perception is everything.
I’ll be honest for one moment that this is one of those odd times that I would have loved to have a mouse, or better yet, a VR headset for this experience. Viewing the world from a first person view you are always looking “directly” ahead. This sounds normal you say but adding in the fact that you basically have magnetized boots to always have your “feet on the ground”, once you move from one surface to the next your view changes often requiring you to recenter the camera to see what you really want to see and not directly in front of you in relation to how you would be standing on that said surface. It takes some time to get used to and once you do it’s less of a chore and more of a habit.
While moving around the inside of the the ever increasing difficulty of the cubes, mistakes will be made making your way over to the hatch but they won’t be made often. Instead of simply moving around, Neverout has you move one square at a time. This means that you can’t accidentally move sideways and fry yourself or move backwards and have a block fall on your head crushing you. Being able to map out your actions one at at time is quite helpful especially when you aren’t exactly certain of which foot in order to put forward first.
There really isn’t a whole lot more to say about Neverout because it’s all about the experience. Unlike portal there’s no psychotic AI telling you to do things before getting your cake AFTER the credits. It is not a lie people. So because of this, one room leads to another, then another and then another and next thing you know you’ve been so through so many rooms and then the color changes. Once it changes things get mixed up and whatever comfort you had finally settled into is now gone as you are right back onto your toes.
Neverout is a good puzzle experience that uses its environments brilliantly. Allowing you to move around the six sided cubes that you find yourself within doesn’t make it easier but instead can only complicate things making you have to think of perspectives every step of the way. There’ll be some trial and error but in the end it won’t matter, you’ll never make it out! *insert evil laugh*
Game Information
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Setapp Sp. z o.o.
Publisher(s):
Gamedust Sp. z o.o.
Genre(s):
Puzzle
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC
Source:
Provided by Publisher
Article by Pierre-Yves
