Nevermind Reviews

Nevermind Review
Developed & Published by: Flying Mollusk
Release Date: January 11th
Price: $19.99

This review reflects my personal experience with the game. I would appreciate feedback, whether good or bad. Especially a negative, as I always look to improve my reviews.

Mental health issues are something that a majority of people will have to deal with in their life. Whether it be their own personal demons, or a family member. This can be a number of diseases of staying stages. I suffer with depression, and have my ups downs. But some have it far worse. Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia and Bi-Polar to name some others. It's always saddening to see a loved one suffer from a condition that we are sometimes helpless to cure or help them. Step forward Flying Mollusk.

Nevermind is their creation. Not just any typical puzzle game, but one that addresses mental health disorders in a respectful way. One that makes you aware through a selection of "clients" who have come to the in game medical centre Neurostalgia where you assume the role of a newly appointed Doctor in a bid o help them come to terms with their condition. The IntroSim will be your first chapter, which acts as an introductory tutorial. Here you will be given advice, and led through a series of simple puzzles whilst collecting photographs which serve as memories. These memories are equally split, with 5 being irrelevant memories, and the other 5 being pertinent to the case. Once you have figured out which 5 you need, you need to arrange them in order to successfully complete the clients case. So pay attention as you play along. Or you will struggle.

There are only 4 client cases to play through, but given each one will require another play to find all memories in each chapter. These are items an object's within the world that each client will remember. Some of these chapters can be quite disturbing in appearance, displaying the disturbing memories that each client has. From a room full of faces with mouths wide open, to a street full of mannequins and vile obscenities written on walls. You will see clearly what each client has to suffer with, while they struggle to see through the oppressed memories.

A lot of people will just dismiss Nevermind as another "walking simulator" but it's much more than that. You have puzzles to solve, albeit simple ones, memories to find and a past to unravel. Sure the game isn't a long one if you use a guide. But play through without first, and experience what I boldly claim to potentially be one of the best Indie games of 2017. Yes it's still January, but Nevermind will take some beating. I applaud Flying Mollusk for how they have handled the nature of mental health issues in a respectful manner.

Graphics
As is custom these days, it's an Indie title. So it's not AAA standard. But the visuals are of a high standard compared to a lot of other games. I noticed no clipping, dip in frame rate or any other problems. Some of the more disturbing scenes in the game gave me the creeps. Mannequins. I hate mannequins, and find them rather creepy. So a street full wasn't a pleasant sight.

Music/FX
Nevermind relies more on ambient sounds to add the creep factor. This works far better than a full blown musical score. Speaking of, the client that is a musician has small musical parts, but this is about as much as you get. Atmospheric done well. Not in a horror way, as it's not horror. But in a psychological aspect.

Gameplay
Simplistic at its core. Walk around and look with your analog sticks. Interact with the button. Or the triggers if you prefer. Very easy to getting grips with, allowing you to just progress.

Replayability
You need one run for each client, including IntroSim. Then another for the memories. After that, you can visit relaxing simulations from your computer terminal. After a hard day's work, it's certainly worth it to wind down. Once you're done, you likely won't come back, however a truly unique experience awaits you.

Achievements
Really not a difficult list. Several for collecting memories through Advanced Neuromapping, completing each client case, and 100% each cases memories. So a full 1000g is not a world away.

Summary
I truly enjoyed Nevermind. As I mentioned earlier, this has the potential to be one of the best Indie titles of 2017, and we are only in January. There is 11 months to go, and no doubt we will see plenty of titles as the year goes on. But how many will be as good as Nevermind? Not many I'm sure. I would love to see more Client DLC, as there is scope for it. I personally hope we do see it happen. Whatever happens though, Flying Mollusk are a talented developer, and worth keeping tabs on for future projects.

A copy of the game was supplied for review purposes.

Note: The biofeedback functionality that was developed to work in conjunction with Nevermind is unavailable on the Xbox One. If you wish to experience the biofeedback feature, it is fully utilized on Steam.

Nevermind is a first-person adventure game with horror elements, a "walking simulator" much like Layers of Fear or Slender, but with some major improvements overall. Firstly, Nevermind has an actual world and plot developed for it. You play as a new type of neurologist, one with a specialty in "neuro probing". In order to help resolve the underlying psychological issues of your patients, you venture into their subconscious mind and uncover past traumas that were buried as a defense mechanism. This gives a solid foundation, and an actual purpose to the tasks you'll be performing as the game progresses.

Seeing as the variety of patients have different backgrounds and degrees of mental stability, you'll experience a much more diverse series of environments in comparison to other games in the genre. There are people who are successful and mentally stable (such as the 4th patient) as well as severely damaged and mentally ill minds (like the last patient). This brings you from places that vary from city streets and apartment rooms all the way to gingerbread houses and other planets. Some of the imagery in these places can be disturbing, especially in the 3rd level, but there's never a real sense of danger. Even the very few areas of hazards and traps aren't particularly deadly, with death only setting you back a few minutes at most. There is no sense of dread once you realize this, leaving you with a sense of eeriness as opposed to actual fear. This may also be a positive thing, as Nevermind avoids the pitfalls of painful frustration that games such as Wick force upon players. I’d personally take a relaxed stroll avoiding candy cane spikes any day over instant-death enemies that completely void all level progress.

The main glue that keeps Nevermind together is the series of stories. You take a genuine interest in unraveling the mystery, putting together the sequence of events that caused the trauma in the patient. There's a sense of satisfaction in putting the pieces together and figuring things out; one that encourages you to keep playing. Unfortunately, once the mystery has been solved, there's not much reason to replay the game. Playing the levels in "advanced" mode allows you to go through and pick up new collectible items that help give a clearer picture of the patient's memories, but this doesn’t bring us any kind of startling unknown revelation. With the amount of possibilities that could have been explored, it seems as if Nevermind ended a bit prematurely.

All in all, Nevermind was a pleasant experience. The puzzles are interesting, environments are varied and pretty well done, and the stories are all pleasant and captivating. Unfortunately, the game is rather short, too short for the $20 price tag. There isn't much replay value, but the first time playing through the game is a worthwhile enough experience for me to recommend it.

3.5/5