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Mysty-eyed point-and-clicker Neyyah brings back the glory of pre-rendered backdrops in AugustMore areas and puzzles coming over early access
More areas and puzzles coming over early access
Image credit:MicroProse
Image credit:MicroProse
If you missMyst, but feel only vertigo and disgust forits recent 3D reinventions, you might find yourself salivating over first-person point-and-clickerNeyyah- a Mystalike or more precisely, Rivenalike from Defy Reality Entertainment and MicroProse, which has just been dated for early access release on 27th August. Real-time movement and exploration? Rotatable polygons? Pfff. These are firmly pre-rendered worlds, just like Grandpappy Atrus used to bake.
Neyyah Game Devlogs / Creating Portals in NEYYAH!Watch on YouTube
Neyyah Game Devlogs / Creating Portals in NEYYAH!
Look forward to: puzzles involving rusty levers, and many traces of ancient civilisations. “Neyyah reflects similar situations depicted within our own society, such as what is real, what is false, and being able to question your own beliefs,“the Steam pagehints, a bit hammily. “Through environmental storytelling, the player will enjoy hours of non-linear gameplay, solving puzzles through the use of close observation, visual links, writing down your own notes, using inventory items … while immersing yourself in a rich story and environment driven game.”
Just because it’s a game of static landscapes doesn’t mean it ain’t got graphics settings. You can expect a range of scene transition options, and a couple of storytelling modes. “Journey Mode” gives you FMV sequences for stuff like climbing ladders, while “Faster Travel” mode lets you skip certain scenes because after all, animation is overrated. It’s all of a piece with MicroProse’s old-is-new ethos. I like to think of their games as a bunch of alternate futures branching off from 1982 (yes, I’m aware that MicroProse today is essentially a different company, following innumerable departures and acquisitions).
You can read more about Neyyah’s origins in this80.lv interview from 2019– Defy Reality founder and lead dev Aaron Gwynaire has been kicking aroumd ideas for it since 2011. As for how the game will change in early access, there will be new areas, puzzles and enhancements for the graphics, sound and music. “Our goal throughout Early Access is to continuously refine and expand Neyyah, making it a place you’ll want to return to again and again,” the Steam page notes. Any takers?
