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I have absolutely nothing negative to say about Neva. As a story, Neva is a living fairy tale that plays out in dreamlike scenes of natural beauty, starring two creatures bonded by tragedy and propelled by an intense need to protect each other and save the world in the process. As a game, Neva offers exquisite swordplay and intuitive platforming action, with a contained suite of abilities that evolves purposefully with each new stage. As a piece of art, every frame of Neva is breathtaking. This is what a faultless game looks like. This is how it feels to play something perfect. Alba is the protagonist in Neva and shes badass. When we meet her, shes a seasoned warrior and nomad with a cloud of silver hair, dancers limbs, and a billowing red cape that hides a slender sword. Her wolf companion, Neva, is just a cub at first, easily distracted and still learning how to navigate the forests and fields of their world. In the beginning, Neva needs Alba. By the end of the game, after seasons of growth and vicious battles, Alba also needs Neva. Nomada Studio None of these descriptors are spelled out in words, but the characters actions and a few beautifully animated vignettes make their backstories clear, and the entire story unspools in a similar fashion. The only speech in the game comes from Alba as she calls out, Neva? or, Neva! or, Nevaaa, with each press of the interaction button. Her tone and level of panic shifts dynamically with Nevas position in the environment Albas voice is strained with worry when she and the wolf are separated, and its soothing or playful when theyre near each other. Standing next to Neva and pressing to interact lets Alba pet her (and yes, there are achievements for doing so). In a million small ways, the games mechanics forge a deep emotional connection between Alba and Neva, until it eventually feels like theyre a singular entity, fighting the darkness as one. Alba and Nevas world is stunning. Its composed of lush forests, sun-drenched valleys, soaring mountains and twisting cave systems and all of it is being consumed by an oozing, ink-black decay spread by swarms of bulbous monsters with stark white faces. The decay acts like cordyceps, suffusing the bodies of massive animals and transforming them into zombie-like murder machines. In other areas, it takes the form of spiky brambles and skeletal vines that deal damage if you touch them. The monsters round bodies, screaming faces and spidery limbs appear consistently with a variety of ranged, melee, airborne and rushing attacks. Its Alba and Nevas mission to destroy the decay and the monsters, and reclaim their land. For the completionists among us, there are also glowing white flowers hidden among the levels, and finding them all unlocks something special. Nomada Studio The game is divided into four seasons, and as Neva grows, so do her abilities. Alba, meanwhile, is always strong and she only becomes more powerful as she and Neva learn how to fight together. To start, Alba can jump, double jump and dodge, and she has a basic sword attack and a downward thrust that can strike enemies and burst through weak floors from above. In the back half of the game, Neva is able to leap on invisible platforms and essentially teleport to any area she pleases, watching from high ridges as Alba climbs walls of white flowers to reach her. This is a distinct contrast to the early stages, when Alba had to coax cub-Neva to jump across small gaps, and it drives home the games core theme of parental love. Eventually, Alba is able to throw Neva into battle like an aimed projectile, and shell ferociously attack whatever enemy she hits. This ability is a little silly at times like when youre trying to reach a hidden flower and you end up hurling Neva into a wall repeatedly until the angle is just right but it quickly feels like a natural, necessary extension of Albas arsenal. Besides, Neva doesnt seem to mind. Nomada Studio Mechanically, Neva is an incredibly light and responsive platformer. Playing on PlayStation 5, inputs never lag; Alba is able to jump, double jump and dodge with ease, and this trio of abilities resets with the lightest of touches to the terrain. Enemy hitboxes are tight, encouraging players to fight up close and dodge through dangers in between swings of Albas sword. Health regenerates as Alba lands hits without taking damage herself, and healing cairns are sprinkled generously throughout the scenes. Mid-air levels, where Alba leaps between cliff sides and bounces off floating enemy blobs, cultivate a brilliant sense of precision, daring players to push Albas maneuvers to their absolute limits. Neva offers subtle yet clear direction through environmental cues alone, and I never once felt lost in its platforming sauce. The levels shift with the seasons: complex navigation puzzles and delightfully tricky mirror levels are steadily added to the sidescrolling action, constantly testing Alba and Nevas capacity to work together. Alba and Neva are connected in every scene, but their bond is tangible during battles, particularly once the wolf throw becomes a reliable part of Albas attack-dodge rhythm. This only makes it more distressing when, in some stages, Alba has to battle on her own. Nevas presence brings a fullness to Albas abilities, and especially in the games last few hours, my controller felt distinctly empty any time she didnt fight alongside me. Nomada Studio I dont want to say too much about the final stages of Neva. The game builds to an inevitable, emotionally intense conclusion, with pockets of deep longing and sublime reconciliation sprinkled throughout the rising action. Yes, Neva will make you cry. I definitely did, with big, ugly tears. Neva is infused with magical realism, blending the familiar with the impossible in a format that looks like a living childrens book. Otherworldly terror creeps around the edges of each landscape, foreboding and exquisite, and the games animations are anime-smooth. Neva looks incredible and it plays just as beautifully a rare and powerful combination. Just like Alba and Neva. Neva comes out on October 15 on PC, macOS, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch, developed by Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/neva-review-a-platformer-thats-so-perfect-it-made-me-cry-160037311.html?src=rss
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The Internet Archives Wayback Machine is back online in a read-only state, after DDoS attacks took the entire platform offline on October 9. Founder Brewster Kahle posted on Monday (via The Verge) that the service is resumed in a provisional, read-only manner without the ability to save new pages. Security researcher Troy Hunt said last weeks attacks coincided with the Internet Archives plan to disclose a previous breach that led to the theft of over 31 million records. Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned? service, believed the timing of the two attacks was likely entirely coincidental, citing the involvement of multiple parties. The hacking group Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attacks, posting that the Internet Archive belongs to the USA. The nonprofit, founded in the early days of the web in 1996, is headquartered in San Francisco. Kahle says its safe to resume using the Wayback Machine, so you can resume your nostalgic trip to your favorite Geocities post-grunge tribute sites. However, the founder warns that the service may need further maintenance, so dont be shocked if it goes down again.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/internet-archives-wayback-machine-is-back-online-after-last-weeks-ddos-attacks-155820797.html?src=rss
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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. Fujifilm 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. Fujifilm 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. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/fujifilms-x-m5-is-its-first-sub-1000-camera-in-years-140715888.html?src=rss
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