By Luna Eriksson 11.10.2016
Hack 'n' Slash is a sub-genre that has shown to truly benefit from gothic aesthetics as shown with the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta franchises, as it feels natural to slice through hundreds of demons and undeads. Never Gone pulls up the gothic atmosphere to 11, with an art style that is extremely dark, an art direction that puts heavy focus on gothic elements, and with music made by no one less than the Swedish symphonic/gothic metal band Therion. A lot of heavy work was put into making this feeling as atmospheric as a 2D platformer can be, but does the gameplay keep up?
It is a dark bliss for both the eyes and ears that meets the player when they start up Never Gone, and from the moment the title screen appears, it is clear that Hippie Game hasn't held back at all on the gothic elements, with wverything showing true dedication to the style. When it comes both visuals and music, everything is exceptional and exactly what one would desire in a 2D hack 'n' slasher. The gameplay does also keep up with the pace, mostly. The strengths of Never Gone rest in the sometimes brutal difficulty and the feel of heaviness behind each of the two protagonists' attacks, which creates great satisfaction for the player - however, Never Gone might be one of the grindiest titles on the market.
At the start of the journey it goes pretty smoothly, but about halfway through, it is not uncommon to have to grind for hours to get drops to create weapons, or to unlock intel missions, which are side-missions that level up as the player beats them, and that give away both temporal and permanent stat boosts on victory. This grinding is, however, not only a weakness, as the gameplay is still very enjoyable, and the developers had the great taste to make the most fun and satisfying content being the one which most often requires grinding instead of forcing players to play through the most tedious content available over and over again.
This also adds to the already long lifetime. To beat it 100% with both of the current playable characters would most likely take hundreds of hours, which seems like a lot for a mobile title. This is, however, possible due to how cleverly Hippie Game has decided to put up the content by using a wonderful multiplying effect, creating more content than there already is in a way that for once doesn't feel artificial.
This is done by having the game in three difficulty levels and with two playable protagonists. This means that all stages will be played through and grinded at least six times with them still feeling fresh. This mixed with the above mentioned intel missions to grind up, creates a number of massive and rewarding grinds, and this does not even count in the final game mode, Misty Tower, which gives the character permanent stat boosts by completing specific trials.
There isn't much at all to complain with about Never Gone, beside the sometimes massive grinding which could at times have been slightly toned down to make the highlights shine better, but to the tunes of Therion, even the grindiest of viceo games can become truly enjoyable. While Never Gone is fully playable as a free piece of software, it truly starts to stack against the player at some times, and then there are three options, git gud, farm like a maniac, or spread that wallet wide open. Thankfully, most farming comes naturally, and this which could've been a killing blow only becomes a slight graze.
It is difficult to not recommend Never Gone to fans of hack 'n' slashers, as it is visually beautiful and has wonderfully thematic music. The gameplay is also rock solid, although the developer could've kept down the grinding somewhat, as this isn't a F2P title. It is saved due to the fact that said grinding is actually sometimes quite enjoyable, but it also shine through as a way to artificially prolong the gametime, which isn't really necessairy with the huge number of actual content available in Never Gone.
7/10
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