Never Grave took an hour to convince me I shouldn't have judged its action gameplay on aesthetics alone

They say comparison is the thief of joy, and I'm starting to wonder if that applies to games, particularly when I offhandedly dismiss something for more than obviously cribbing from something else. When I first saw Never Grave, I thought it was a cynical attempt at pulling in folks who love Hollow Knight's delightful art style. Now that I've played it for about an hour, I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter, even if that's the case.

Now, to quickly clear up a potential argument here, I'm not talking about AI art replicating another game's aesthetic in a lazy, uninspired fashion. I specifically mean a developer taking an influence to the extreme, to the point that the comparison is inevitable. Hollow Knight and Never Grave could be related, cut from the same beautiful yet melancholy cloth. If bugs and witches were kin, that is.

And the similarities don't stop at the art style. It's also a Metroidvania, though it has more in common with Dead Cells since it's a roguelike. But by focusing on what it's copying, it's very easy to miss what it does differently, which in this case involves a sentient witch hat that can take control of certain enemies. 

That's right. Alongside picking up weapons and spells as you battle through each dungeon, there are enemies that you can possess after defeating them. It's not a smooth transition, requiring you to hold down a button for a beat, but once you've popped into your chosen body, you're free to roam about with a literal new lease on life. Cynically, this merely gives you an extra health bar. For those who are more adventurous, it lets you explore the world in an entirely different way with a bunch of extra moves. 

Influences abound

Another difference compared to Dead Cells and Hollow Knight is the village building. Whatever tragic event occurred before the events of Never Grave completely decimated the village above the dungeons you plunder, and it's up to you to fix everything. Of course, it's not a complete act of kindness. There are benefits to you for engaging with the system. 

While it's not entirely like the town in Darkest Dungeon, it's a suitable comparison. As you construct buildings, they'll offer various things, including stat increases, new abilities and the ability to craft consumables to use on your next run. Everything requires resources to build and upgrade, which justifies the innate gamer desire to smash every pot they come across into millions of tiny pieces. While it's not the most exciting part of Never Grave, seeing something rebuilt as you become stronger is a pleasant representation of how far you've come. 

That said, progression is fairly laborious, and that's entirely based on playing the one-hour trial. After successfully reaching the end of a dungeon, rather than continuing, you're booted back to the village to carry out your business. This leads to a lot of repetitive runs where you're keen to rush through to see the new bits. Perhaps on mobile this will play better to a crowd that's used to short bursts. It's certainly not something I could personally kick back with for an evening, though. 

Away from the village building and enemy possession, the general gameplay is good too. The melee attacks are deceptively simple, with more nuance than you might expect, while the array of spells provides a host of fun options. Sure, I find it hard to move away from the giant blast of magic, but then I'm easily pleased with these things.

Hats off to you

The one knock on this front is the touch controls. Attacking and using your spells are fine. However, the movement is a little suspect, with the placement slightly too far to the left, resulting in missed inputs. Why more developers aren't adopting the dynamic D-pad by this point, I'm not too sure. This is easily solved if you're happy using a controller, though, which works beautifully. 

While I've got my issues with Never Grave, it certainly doesn't feel like a soulless attempt to ape Hollow Knight. In fact, you can even draw comparisons to many other indie greats like Dead Cells and even Darkest Dungeon. And even then, it still tries to do its own thing with the hat possession. Check out the one-hour trial if you're at all interested.