Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

Authentic 2D action​

Never Grave is 2D action game where you journey with the aid of a cursed hat. Identify enemy attacks, fight with magic, and sometimes use the terrain to win! Dungeons such as ruins and botanical gardens are auto-generated and change each time you play. Furthermore, there are obstacles and puzzles waiting to block the player's path in the dungeons.

Possession system​

Possess enemies using a cursed hat. Use unique abilities from your possessed enemies to open up avenues of action and gain an advantage in battle!

Rebuild a ruined village​

Use materials collected in the dungeons to clear the rubble of ruined villages, build new facilities and cultivate crops in the fields. Produce food and potions in the village to prepare for the next battle!

Multiplayer​

Multiplayer support for up to four players. Call your friends from other worlds and conquer dungeons together!

Game features​

• Metroidvania x Roguelite with an emphasis on exploration.
• Sophisticated and tactilely designed player character controls.
• Possession system where hats can possess enemies and use their unique abilities.
• Traditional Japanese hand-drawn limited animation is used for character 2D animation.
• Thickly painted backgrounds with depth, as if you are travelling through a world of picture books and cut-out pictures.
• Learn actions such as double-jump from artefacts to explore new areas.
• Constantly changing play style depending on the synergy of "traits" associated with magic and items.
• Intense battles with tough bosses. It will take more than just memorizing boss patterns to defeat them without taking damage...
• Rebuild your village. Strengthen yourself through building and production to prepare for the next adventure.
• Explore different terrain each time you play through procedurally generated dungeons.
• Multiplayer support. Up to four players can delve into the dungeon together!

 

[ADiTAR]

So first they copied Pokemon, and now Odyssey?

Looks cute overall.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

This is what happens when you announce a sequel to Hollow Knight and don’t release it in the next SEVEN FUCKING YEARS.

 

[Lunarorbit]

This is what happens when you announce a sequel to Hollow Knight and don’t release it in the next SEVEN FUCKING YEARS.

Yeah that background looks way too similar to hollow knight.

 

[KungFucius]

This looks like the other game people are pissed off that looks like Hollow Knight.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

This is what happens when you announce a sequel to Hollow Knight and don’t release it in the next SEVEN FUCKING YEARS.

I do wonder if they'll finally be releasing Silksong this year....

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

-Metroidvania

-Rougelite

 

[lughnasadh123]

Roguevania?

 

[linko9]

Lol. This is a real "kitchen sink" game. Hollow Knight but with Mario Odyssey but with Terraria... respect the hustle I guess.

 

[ManaByte]

Lol. This is a real "kitchen sink" game. Hollow Knight but with Mario Odyssey but with Terraria... respect the hustle I guess.

They combined Pokemon with Minecraft and sold 4 million copies in like 2 days.

 

[Draugoth]

These guys bussiness model is insanely well thoughtout

 

[GHG]

Just seen this and honestly it's getting hilarious.

It's like they just take what's popular and iterate on it. Let's see where this lands and how much they copy from Hollow Knight.

 

[StueyDuck]

So of their three games they have a breath of the Wild ripoff with survival
A pokemon ripoff with survival
And a hollowknight ripoff with rogue elements.

There's some shady shit going on at that studio. But it's somehow got a cult like die hard group of fans (after one week) so I don't think anyone is really gonna criticize them for this behavior.

Ill keep saying it. Well done to their marketing team

 

[GHG]

So of their three games they have a breath of the Wild ripoff with survival
A pokemon ripoff with survival
And a hollowknight ripoff with rogue elements.

There's some shady shit going on at that studio. But it's somehow got a cult like die hard group of fans (after one week) so I don't think anyone is really gonna criticize them for this behavior.

Ill keep saying it. Well done to their marketing team

It's all a bit odd I have to say.

It's like they rip assets/animations from these games and then change them just enough to skirt around copyright issues. Then they just modify/iterate on the various mechanics they want to incorporate while adding in a couple of elements of their own to put their own spin on it.

What they are doing is what many people learning a new craft or hobbyists do (particularly in software), but they are actually doing it commercially. They will become unstuck at some point eventually because something damning will get left befind in error.

 

[StueyDuck]

It's all a bit odd I have to say.

It's like they rip assets/animations from these games and then change them just enough to skirt around copyright issues. Then they just modify/iterate on the various mechanics they want to incorporate while adding in a couple of elements of their own to put their own spin on it.

What they are doing is what many people learning a new craft or hobbyists do, but they are actually doing it commercially. They will become unstuck at some point eventually because something damning will get left befind in error.

Oh yeah for sure... that's why I say shady and not like illegal or copying etc like others are saying.

They've hired some very clever people, people to handle legal and marketing matters which have allowed them as developers to cut out the hard parts of making a game which is actually coming up with the idea and designing the game and selling it.

They are one step behind what an "AI" game developer would be. Just take shit from other games and slap it together.

And from what I've seen they've even got the kinks like you would see in generative AI where their games are kind of janky and full of bugs and not well made.

I'd rather a studio used AI art to make something new or unique then have what these guys are doing as an alternative.

 

[SCB3]

It seems like a mix between Cuphead and Hollow Knight, thing is people will complain about it but its taken Silksong 7 years to release and that started as HK DLC (I even back that on KS as well) so eventually someone has to make something inspired by it and thats the difference being inspired is not the same as ripping off, by that metric every Soulslike we've had since Dark Souls is a rip off.

 

[GHG]

Oh yeah for sure... that's why I say shady and not like illegal or copying etc like others are saying.

They've hired some very clever people, people to handle legal and marketing matters which have allowed them as developers to cut out the hard parts of making a game which is actually coming up with the idea and designing the game and selling it.

They are one step behind what an "AI" game developer would be. Just take shit from other games and slap it together.

And from what I've seen they've even got the kinks like you would see in generative AI where their games are kind of janky and full of bugs and not well made.

I'd rather a studio used AI art to make something new or unique then have what these guys are doing as an alternative.

Agree with everything but wouldn't Palworld is "not well made" from what I've played. It's actually in a better state than most early access games I've tried on Steam.

It's now pretty obvious that it's just a small group of guys making games by reverse engineering other popular/high quality games and then combining what they take from those with a bunch of unreal engine store (or unity) assets. Everything down to the audio/ui has its roots in other games that already exist. Not much is genuinely original here, it would be interesting to see just how many other games they've Frankensteined to come up with what they have, my guess would be dozens.

It seems like a mix between Cuphead and Hollow Knight, thing is people will complain about it but its taken Silksong 7 years to release and that started as HK DLC (I even back that on KS as well) so eventually someone has to make something inspired by it and thats the difference being inspired is not the same as ripping off, by that metric every Soulslike we've had since Dark Souls is a rip off.

The issue is that some of the animations, backgrounds and bosses look identical to what was in the first Hollow Knight. They've just reskinned/altered where appropriate.

 

[bender]

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I have so much respect for the insanity of this studio. They just mash a bunch of stuff together and somehow it just works.

Metroidvania + Roguelite is inherently more niche than ARK + Pokemon though, so I don't think it will sell Palworld numbers. But now that people know about Palworld, another thing from the same devs might move a few million just from the name recognition of the studio.