Neyyah

You find yourself mysteriously transported to a strange world. It is full of odd technology and machinery. The place is oddly abandoned with a desolate but haunting beauty. You do meet a few people, but rarely in person. And they are all live action recorded people placed over the game’s background. Yes, this is a game that takes inspiration from Myst.

The undefined you protagonist must go around exploring in first person and figure out what is going on in the world of Neyyah and find a way back home.

Find it on Steam.

Neyyah is a game primarily controlled with the mouse. Unlike the more recent games, you don’t get to free roam around the area. You click around the screen to move from preset place to preset place. Still, there is a lot to see. In many areas, you can look up or down even though it’s not used for many puzzles. It does allow the game to show off the beauty and wonder of the world. And the world is pretty fantastic. Tall glowing mushrooms, strange cats, a myriad of machinery are just some of the things you’ll experience.

Still, the game can’t be only controlled with the mouse. Well, it can, but then it takes two steps to access things like the inventory or the journal. Or you could just press the keyboard hotkey. Also, when going around, there are some finicky bits, like certain screens that can only be accessed from specific angles. At least one point in the game, that is required to solve a puzzle, but if you happen to arrive at the wrong angle, you may be wandering around for a bit not knowing what you are missing. And pay attention to when you turn around as well since sometimes it’s 90 degrees and other times it’s 180 degrees. Sometimes, I think I only turned 90 when I really went 180 and got confused a bit.

Gameplay is primarily exploring the islands of Neyyah and figuring out how stuff works. It is a fully formed world with a lot of backstory and interesting lore around. Due to the threat of a bad guy, a lot of methods of getting around have been made harder, so you’ll need to figure out codes and workarounds to get to where you need to go. There is a travel guide that will hold important information, though making your own notes is still important.

Also, there is a key that highlights interactable things, which really helped me out in a few instances. It does seem selective on what it highlights since most zoom-in closer views are not highlighted.

Starting out, though, you’ll be plenty confused. Reading notes and stuff, a lot of terms get thrown at you, and you won’t know if they are people, places, technology, or things. Not helping things is that there are two groups of people, and they sometimes refer to the same things in different terms. Though it does help you feel like a stranger in a strange place. And pushing through, you will discover a pretty well-formed world with a lot of history. I will admit even by the end of the game, I am only 80% sure Neyyah refers to the group of islands the game takes place in and not the world. There is an official lore video you can watch, though.

There are a few live action scenes in the game. The acting is kind of amateur, and the costumes are more simple. But it is charming in its own way.

If you want a game to get lost in and slowly figure out, Neyyah will give that to you. There is lots to see, both in the environment and in the various notes you’ll find. Only some of them are actually important to beating the game, but you’ll need to figure out which have pertinent information and which are there to deepen understanding. Neyyah is a great experience and the world has some gorgeous sights and sites.

Get your mind revved up as you explore the world of Neyyah. Find it on Steam.