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A modern classic, January 25, 2024Never Gives Up Her Dead is a massive puzzler reliant on multiple set pieces, all tied together with an intriguing concept. The game openly states at the beginning that the protagonist, Emrys, is going to die at the end. I was initially conflicted about this idea. I was worried that it would make the game too much of a downer and detach me from the experience, but it started to make me wonder... how, when, and why would this happen? There is a general sense of hopefulness throughout the main game as you do your best to retrieve stolen items for the rest of your crewmates, lifting their spirits in times of disaster. You don't spend super long with any of the characters, but they serve their purposes well. The game keeps the inevitable ending in the back of your head by revealing more backstory every time you solve a dimension.
The structure of the game ensures that even if you're stuck on a puzzle, it's still fun to play and feel like you're making progress. If I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, I'd just shrug off, "maybe I don't have what I need yet" and go to a different dimension. Either I'd come across something that gave me an idea on what to do, or by the time I was ready to return, I'd have some new insight and pick up on something I didn't before. Also, in the style of Cragne Manor, you have an infinite-capacity rucksack you can put items in to cut down on inventory bloat. It's a convenient option to have, especially in the endgame. One feature you get in the midgame is (Spoiler - click to show)an upgrade that lets you detect items that belong to different dimensions, effectively cluing you in on where to use them. You even get to label the dimensions yourself. The first time I used it, I stumbled across an item I didn't even know was free to take and immediately knew what it was for!
The game starts with a really interesting scene. You have a presentation to give, but no time to prepare for it. While you're in the closet to look for the captain's signature jacket, you can grab anything you think might help for your presentation. Emrys's character is introduced when we see how she manages to make something inspiring and thoughtful out of even the most mundane and decidedly garbage objects (such as a toy robot to represent advancements in technology, or a rubber spider that segues into how we face our fears).
Also, only after reflecting on my notes after beating the game did I notice that (Spoiler - click to show)all of these items actually connect to the dimensions later on! One thing this game excels at is contextualizing everything. Nothing is thrown in for the sake of it, and even seemingly disconnected segments do all come together by the end. My favorite instance of this would be (Spoiler - click to show)the ending, where you get to reunite with characters from previous dimensions at a party in your honor. There's also a neat museum segment before it where you get to see how your actions have advanced science, all of them calling back to the previous parts of the games. It's careful writing, giving everything a purpose but not restricting the actual gameplay and ideas.
Going over the gameplay will also require me to spoil some of the special mechanics and gimmicks the areas have. Discovering them was part of the fun for me, so I'd recommend playing the game blind before reading further. I won't give away puzzle solutions, but I will discuss some of them.
The first portal has you visiting (Spoiler - click to show)a sort of therapy/horror combo called Monsters Inside. While there are plenty of monsters, they're more busy with their own personal problems than wanting to scare you. One of my favorite puzzles is trying to find the Pharaoh's cat: he likes "organs, hearts, and teeth", but not in a biological sense like you might think. The second half takes place outside a castle, where you have to find a way up. This was the first place I found, but for some reason, I blanked out on finding the dictionary and thought it would be elsewhere, so this ended up being the last thing I solved.
The wax museum (Spoiler - click to show)challenges you to play cheesy, arcade-style games or solve historical figure-oriented puzzles in each room. I love the atmosphere and how the puzzles blend in with the scenery and statues you come across. I got a good laugh out of some of the jokes here: the incredibly self-congratulatory winners shelf that makes you feel dumb even after you solve a puzzle correctly, the statue of Fish Blade the mime, and the fake-out with the absurdly complicated machine near the end. The puzzles here require some more thinking outside the box than the rest, but everything makes sense if you're looking out for the clues.
My favorite segment would be the train (Spoiler - click to show)murder mystery. You get to interview four different suspects, exploring their flashbacks through mini-puzzles, and writing down clues. If you find a contradiction between two alibis, you can link them together for a new subject to press into further. The dialogue system is very easy to use -- each topic is given a one-word description to identify it, and you can easily look back at conversations you've already had. I love the unique backstories each character has, and how fast new information is revealed. Excellent writing, and a lot of fun to play through. But the fact that it was all part of a game does make me wonder if anything said here was true at all, especially since Maeve is a real person in the ending segment. This was the first dimension I solved, and I smiled at the Maeve/Mefe connection, especially Emrys asking about the rhinestone jumpsuit: "Just thinking of a friend of mine."
Another especially fun segment comes in the Adventureland (Spoiler - click to show)robot fights. Here, you get to program up to five moves for your robots and then take them to an arena. Besides just shooting, you can aim to ensure accuracy, or hide behind scenery so you can't get hit. You also have an ultra-powerful grenade you can use once per battle. There's a lot of strategy to planning out your moves, and it's really exciting to see how it plays out on the field.
The horror caves (Spoiler - click to show)definitely have a different vibe than the rest of the story. You're given a spellbook and have to find scrolls to learn more spells. Some of the descriptions, and the different ways you can die, are incredibly disturbing. Judging by the hint thread, I think this one gave people the most trouble. I had already beta tested this and Adventureland before playing the final game, so I had a good idea of what to do here. Still, a fun segment altogether.
The monument islands (Spoiler - click to show)weren't one of my favorite segments. It's probably just because I missed a key detail about the cannons, and went almost the entire game before I figured out I could solve them. I also ended up getting hardlocked in the library due to an extremely rare bug with the clock that prevented fumigation from ever ending, but I think anyone else should be fine. The calculator puzzle thankfully wasn't as difficult as I expected, since most of the formulas and numbers are given.
The tool dimension (Spoiler - click to show)makes use of a concept I love: getting an ability that unlocks new upgrades over time. The progression here is comparable to Junior Arithmancer, where you have to find shards that will further upgrade your tool. It also gives you an incentive to explore the other dimensions, to find rifts and doors you weren't able to open the first time around. The mini tests and puzzles you get to solve to test out the new tools are alright, too.
The zoo dimension (Spoiler - click to show)is pretty open-ended, where you have to find 11 drone parts by exploring a zoo. You're able to leash some of the animals and bring them to other places, and puzzles like riding the goat or chasing the snake around are enjoyable. It's not too difficult, but the caiman puzzle had me stuck for a while. It's cool to see how many different biomes and animals there are, and the informational signs help out a lot.
The lakeside cabin dimension (Spoiler - click to show)is a pretty simple one, where you have to renovate a cabin and explore a garden. Throughout, you uncover journal pages that give you hints on how to progress and tell you a bit of backstory. I liked this one, it was pretty easy to know what to do with all the tools and pieces, and combining them together was satisfying.
After you clear all nine dimensions, you reach the endgame. (Spoiler - click to show)Here, you learn the true extent of what everything you've done meant. The only thing left is for you to go back and sacrifice yourself in the reactor. The story anticipates that you might not want to do this, with Emrys's available dialogue choices. However, you can also send your guide Arawn in your stead, since the body was burned beyond recognition and it will not mess up the timeline severely. No matter which of the two you choose here, you're sent into the same puzzle chain, from my testing. I like that it incorporates puzzles from Monsters Inside and Adventureland, but combines them together for something new. Getting to talk to your crewmates from the computer as you activate the radiation shields is a bittersweet moment. Going into the core requires a small puzzle, but you turn the valve that ends up killing either you or Arawn. The buildup to this moment was amazing, but I wish there was a bit more to the actual movement. You get a yes/no prompt, a brief description, then a memorial based on what you told Gareth earlier. It just felt a bit anticlimactic after everything. Also, since the contents of the tank were described as molten and there was coolant and water, I was wondering if this was a fake-out ending? Is there more to do after this point, or did I give up too early?
(Spoiler - click to show)The alternate ending is when you destroy the recorder, sending you back into the chaos as you're left scrambling to escape the ship. The atmosphere is a lot darker, and some new areas of the ship open up for puzzles. In this ending, both you and Gareth manage to survive, but many others aboard the ship don't. You and him are then cryogenically frozen, leaving off on the note that your future is finally your own. Seeing the consequences of what would've happened if you didn't seal the rifts is a good concept, but outside of escaped criminal Tiffany, it doesn't amount to much. To summarize, I have minor gripes about the endings, but they doesn't detract from the experience.
It's always nice to have a game that's giant in scope and full of puzzles, but the most important part of Never Gives Up Her Dead for me is that it's always fair. Nothing in it comes off as random or underclued, and I felt like every solution was easily solvable if I just looked around a bit more or thought about the clues from a different perspective. You're able to make progress at a good pace without getting hung up on anything for too long.
The prose deserves special praise, being concise without obscuring necessary detail. It knows what to emphasize, and the language used lets you know how to interact with items without running into parser issues. It's all too easy to overlook this, but when I only had two issues with the parser over the hours I spent typing commands, it's a pretty good sign.
In one sentence, it's a Mathbrush game, so you know it's going to be great.