“Neva may not be the most complex 2D platformer, but it still might make you cry.”

Pros

• Incredible music
• Gorgeous art
• Emotional story

Cons

• Dull platforming
• Repetitive combat

In Neva, Nomada Studio’s follow-up to Gris, the cycle of life and death starts spinning immediately. An opening battle against land-poisoning sludge monsters turns tragic when my white wolf companion is slain. From that loss, a new relationship is born as I team up with my fallen pal’s orphaned pup. What would be a downer of an opening quickly turns into something hopeful. Even in the darkest moments, we can find reasons to keep fighting. As Swedish director Ingmar Bergman once noted: “Lilies often grow out of carcasses’ arseholes.”

Neva tackles that grand idea in a minimalistic fashion that hits a ceiling. The colorful adventure stuns with gorgeous music and visuals that make its beautiful world feel like something that’s worth protecting. It’s just light on originality outside of that, with simple 2D platforming and combat that never fully capitalize on its evolutionary chapter structure. Like Gris, it’s an effective tone piece that’s more about meditating on a feeling than overcomplicating its statement on life, death, and the beauty on both ends of that spectrum.

A world worth saving

The story plays out like a fable, wordlessly told through animated cinematics that deepen Alba and Neva’s bond. There are clear shades of Hayao Miyazaki in its environmentalist themes. It largely plays like a small-scale video game adaptation of Princess Mononoke. There are white wolves, beasts with massive antlers, and critters corrupting a beautiful natural landscape. While there’s not much depth to its message, Nomada Studio drills down on the pure emotional beats of its story. Its deaths are gut-wrenching, but its moments of light are warm and hopeful. It’s an effective portrait of life’s highs and lows in one five-hour adventure.

What really sells that idea is Neva’s breathtaking sound and visuals. The soundtrack is full of sweeping orchestral pieces that feel bigger than those in the grandest big-budget games out there. They’re awe-inspiring compositions that sell the emotional turns of each scene and make every vista feel like a sublime sight.

The soundtrack has the visuals to match; each natural landscape is awe-inspiring. Even something as similar as a forest clearing feels holy, as streaks of light shine through rich green foliage. Any given frame looks like a painting, and that makes matters all the more dire when monsters begin mucking it up with their dark corruption. It’s as if someone spilled a bottle of ink on a masterpiece. This isn’t a case of pretty visuals for pretty’s sake; I truly believe in Alba’s desire to protect such a place from rot. There’s a spiritual connection to the natural world here, and the minimalistic storytelling allows that strong feeling to take center stage.

Slowly growing

The platforming itself is fairly standard, with Alba being able to jump, air dash, pound through weak rocks, and scale walls. There’s some light iteration in later chapters, including a section where she needs to dash through portals, but it often feels indistinguishable to something like last year’s Planet of Lana. Even reading my review of that game now, I feel like I’m largely making the exact same critiques here.

The main difference is that Neva features a light combat system, which lets me slash enemies with one button or slam down on them. It’s a similarly thin system that’s mostly used to fight the same few monsters over and over with little variation. It’s not terribly complex, but it does keep the platforming from ever getting monotonous on its own.

While it’s all a little thin, Neva does find the seed of a great idea in its titular wolf. In the first chapter, Neva is helpless. The cub is almost too scared to leap between platforms or make daredevil dives off high heights. I often need to stop and comfort my friend, petting them between enemy encounters. But with each passing season, they grow. They become braver as they fearlessly follow me through platforming gauntlets and even start chasing down enemies automatically to help me fight them. I can even toss my cub toward enemies eventually. The more we grow together, the more physically connected we are.

It’s an effective moment in an otherwise pretty, though understated, adventure. Not every game needs to innovate, but considering that Neva is specifically about evolution, I found myself waiting for it to switch gears up through its abrupt ending. Like my pup early in our journey, Nomada Studio still feels like it’s growing as a developer. I can see its potential to create beautiful, heartfelt stories in both this and Gris, but it’s yet to really take a leap and find its voice when it comes to interactivity. But if Neva has taught me anything, it’s that growth doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a slow process that happens naturally. An uncertain whimper from the edge of a cliff can become a brave leap; it just takes a little time and encouragement.

Neva was tested on PC and Steam Deck OLED.

Golden Concept, a brand specializing in luxury accessories for Apple devices, is commemorating its 10th anniversary. As part of the celebration, the company already launched a diamond-studded case for the Apple Watch Ultra. Now, Golden Concept’s latest product is a customizable, 18K gold-plated case for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

This is the customizable iPhone 16 Pro case covered in gold from Golden Concept

The Magnetic Shield Bespoke iPhone Case Edition stands out for its luxurious finish resulting from complex, advanced processes. Of course, it’s compatible with MagSafe technology, so you can take advantage of all the possibilities available on your iPhone 16 Pro. Plus, you can customize the case with any engravings you want. This ensures that your new case not only boasts luxury but is also totally unique. Basically, Golden Concept’s new product ensures that no two cases are the same, making your unit even more exclusive.

The first step to purchasing the Magnetic Shield Bespoke iPhone Case Edition is to share your vision of what the back cover should look like. The Golden Concept team will work with you to bring your desired design to life in the best possible way. Once the final design is ready, Golden Concept will move on to producing your unit.

MagSafe base made of marine grade stainless steel

Your case will be PVD-plated in 18K gold, which will enhance its durability. The process also involves integrating a Magnetic Shield base to enable support for MagSafe technology. The brand uses 316L stainless steel to manufacture the Magnetic Shield base. If you’re not aware, this type of stainless steel is also known as “marine grade” steel thanks to its properties that provide extra resistance to corrosion and high temperatures. Golden Concept uses a combination of high-precision machining and heat treatment to integrate both pieces.

To bring the back plate design to life, Golden Concept uses advanced ultra-precise laser engraving technology. This ensures the finest, sharpest lines for every curve of the engraving.

Already available for pre-order

If the diamond-encrusted case for the Apple Watch Ultra models seemed a bit pricey, you’re in luck. The Magnetic Shield Bespoke iPhone Case Edition is much more affordable, costing “only” $799. The product is available today for pre-order from the company’s official website.

Fujifilm has released its first sub-$1,000 camera in a long while and resurrected the 11-year old “M” branding with the $799 X-M5. With that price, it’s primarily aimed at photographers on a budget or vloggers looking to step up from a smartphone. Fujifilm film cut a few features like a viewfinder (EVF) to get to that price point, but it does have the company’s latest 26-megapixel X-Trans 4 CMOS sensor and decent video specs.

For a camera without a viewfinder, the X-M5 should handle pretty well. It has front and back control dials, along with a top setting dial that includes a new “Vlog” mode. It also comes with the same film simulation dial found on the X-T50, to help social media users and creators create cool photos straight out of the camera.

When in vlog mode, you get a full GUI interface on the touchscreen for easy access. That includes things like a “portrait enhancer,” background defocus and product priority, much as we’ve seen on Sony’s vlogging products.

For vloggers, it has a 3-inch, 1.04-million dot fully articulating rear display that’s hopefully bright enough to use in sunlight (because, again, no EVF). There are both headphone and microphone ports for vloggers, but they’re not located on the left as usual. Instead, Fujifilm placed the 3.5mm mic input on the rear (where the EVF would usually go) and the headphone port on the right side. That’s to avoid having the display hit the mic or headphone cable when it flips out, as can happen on other cameras.

You’ll never mistake it for a sports camera, but the X-M5 can shoot 8 fps bursts with the mechanical shutter, or an outstanding 20 fps in electronic mode (both with continuous autofocus). It can capture a decent 82/60 compressed RAW frames in those modes before the buffer fills, again very respectable for such a small camera.

Video is also pretty strong, with 6.2K open gate 3:2 capture, 4K 60p and Full HD at up to 240 fps (these specs match the X-T50 as you may have noticed). There’s a bit of crop for 4K 60p (1.18x) and FHD past 120fps (1.29x) but otherwise everything is one-to-one.

Another thing missing is in-body stabilization so the X-M5 is limited to what the lens provides or electronic stabilization. In the latter mode, there’s a minimum 1.32x crop for 4K 30fps video and a significant 1.44x when shooting 4K 60p. The small body also has overheating limitations when using LP (long play) recording, but those can be reduced with a $200 fan attachment.

Other features including three internal microphones that allow for surround sound-like capture, a 9:16 short movie mode for TikTok creators, high-speed movie transfer, up to 440 frames of battery life and a single UHS-I card slot.

I couldn’t understand what Fujifilm was thinking when it released the X-T50 for $500 more than the X-T30 II. Now we know — it’s hoping budget buyers will gravitate toward the X-M5 instead. It goes on pre-sale today for $799 and Fujifilm also unveiled the 16-55mm f/2.8 (24-70mm full-frame equivalent) lens selling for $1,199 and XF500mm f/5.6 super telephoto (750mm equivalent) now on pre-order for $2,999.

Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon is a new colorful, festive, and chaotic VR social mayhem game that asks, “What if piñatas fought back?”

Launching in early 2025 on Meta Quest and SteamVR, the original intellectual property game from Nerd Ninjas will challenge players to annihilate increasingly large and chaotic hordes of candy-exploding piñata enemies of all sizes and temperaments.

“Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon is a stupidly fun VR experience that will have players hooked from the first swing!” said Nate Chatellier, founder of Nerd Ninjas, in a statement. “But this is just the beginning. VRmageddon is the launchpad for an entire Rogue Piñatas universe we’re building for our fans. We can’t wait to see the reactions and hope they have as much fun playing as we did bring it to life.”

VR lovers are invited to party like there’s no tomorrow. The roguelite is set in a “party-apocalyptic world” where players can team up with other survivors in co-op (with shared XP) and unlock secret weapons and gadgets as they progress through the levels.

The game from Spokane, Washington-based Nerd Ninjas features co-op with one to four survivors. Characters have unique abilities and start out with their own default weapons, players can pursue weapon upgrades and explore different gameplay experiences.

Nerd Ninja is an indie studio whose staff helped bring to life games like Niantic’s Pokemon GO and Terrible Posture Games’ Battle Train.

They developed in partnership with Meta. It’s a VR multiplayer roguelite game where players try to survive by bashing piñatas that have come to life. VR fans can play the first demo for Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon now for free on the game’s official Steam page and Meta Quest page.

Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon will support up to four players with every character in the game bringing unique perks and their own starting weapon into the fold.

By smashing piñatas and collecting their candies, players can upgrade their powers as they traverse through six distinct levels that offer new dangers and opportunities for mayhem. Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon has 12+ different weapons that can be dual wielded and upgraded to powerful evolutions, giving players the chance to create the perfect loadout through endless hours of fun.

At release, the game will also introduce 18+ different pinata enemies, like the hopping Jacked Rabbit, each with unique visuals, sound effects, and behaviors.

Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon will feature at this week’s Steam Next Fest and will launch the game’s highly anticipated Kickstarter campaign next week on October 22. Fans who back the game on Kickstarter will have the opportunity to become beta testers and join design sessions, while receiving exclusive pledge and stretch-goal rewards. Chatellier has successfully launched eight Kickstarter campaigns, raising more than $10 million for projects like X-Men Dice Throne and Marvel Dice Throne.

Time is ticking! Just two weeks until the doors to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 open. To ensure no one misses this highly anticipated event, we’re offering Expo+ 2-for-1 passes for the final days leading up to Disrupt 2024.

Bring a friend, colleague, or family member to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30. Get two Expo+ passes for half the price of one. This limited offer is available until October 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT. All ticket prices will increase on the first day of Disrupt 2024.

Get your discounted two Expo+ Passes here.

What’s included with Expo+ Pass

• Full access to the bustling Expo Hall: Connect with 10,000 attendees, explore startups’ innovations, and watch pitches on the Pitch Showcase Stage.
• Attend Breakout Sessions: Participate in first-come, first-served Q&A sessions hosted by industry experts.
• Join Braindate meetings: Connect through in-person discussions, whether 1:1 or in small groups, with fellow attendees and industry leaders on topics posted in the Braindate app.
• Women of Disrupt Breakfast reception: Enhance your leadership skills and overcome imposter syndrome with advice from female founders. Join us on October 29, from 8 to 10 a.m. at Deal Flow Cafe (located on the third floor). Limited space — first come, first served. This is a women-exclusive event.
• Side Events: Be the first to explore and register for company-hosted Side Events during Disrupt Week. Keep the excitement going beyond the main event.

Don’t miss Disrupt 2024

Disrupt 2024 is just around the corner! Don’t miss out on your final chance to pocket real savings before the offer ends on October 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register for your Expo+ 2-for-1 passes here.