NERO is a first-person adventure game with a focus on the experience and narrative from developer Storm in a Teacup. Adventure games have seen a decent resurgence as of late and NERO falls mostly into a relatively new niche in this genre called first-person narratives. Games in this sub-genre include games such as Dear Ether and Gone Home. While their focus exclusively on storytelling and exploration have caused some to debate their status as videogames, it is no doubt that they can deliver powerful, immersive experiences. This combined with the fact that Storm in a Teacup is helmed by a couple industry veterans should prove fruitful. Will NERO be the next great experience out of this emerging game type?

The story starts out with the player character floating in a small rowboat through what appears to be an endless sea. Luckily, by nightfall, landfall is made in a mysterious lagoon. A dock and several buildings all exist but no inhabitants in sight. Exploration of this village and what lies beyond starts your journey. The story of the lagoon brigands is paired with a story of parents and their young child. The two start as what feels like two ends of the spectrum but soon becomes one neatly woven story. The story is conveyed through a narrator, floating text, and the world itself. Overall, it’s a well-crafted and nicely woven story that will elicit emotions and tug at your heart-strings.

The gameplay is driven through a largely linear experience that will take a couple hours to complete. At noted above, as you move forward through each level, new tidbits of story will litter the pathway and a narrator will chime in from time to time. You can choose to walk and soak it all in or take it in a bit faster with a nice jog. Some may not consider taking a leisure stroll to be gameplay though. For those, almost all of NERO’s “game” is concentrated within its puzzles. Occasionally the path forward will be blocked by one or you’ll find one on the side. Thankfully, the puzzles are quite simple mechanically and a significant amount fall into the optional category. The remaining section of gameplay is through collecting scraps of a picture in each of the games level.
It’s easy to see that the gameplay is not the focus of NERO. It’s simple and straightforward. Only the last puzzle is frustrating but overall it feels like they hurt the flow of the game more than help. I would’ve preferred the game a pure story mode or puzzles that were more related to the story than the ones presented here. The walking and running are both really slow as well which hurts the small aspect of exploration. While the experience side of NERO does a good job of laying out the story in multiple ways and unfolding at a nice pace, the gameplay side simply distracts.

The first impression of the graphics are quite impressive. The bioluminescence of the plants and fungi within the caves is beautiful. Each turn can yield breathtaking beauty. If you could experience NERO entirely in screenshots, it would be amazing. Unfortunately, it only takes time and light to see cracks in the design. The first noticeable issue is that while the contrast between the dark and light is cool, it’s hard on the eyes. Soon thereafter, you’ll start to notice large drops in the framerate. As someone that is somewhat immune to framerate issues, I found some parts to be almost a slideshow. Then once you make it to areas that are somewhat lit, you’ll start to see the geometry and texturing aren’t all that impressive. In addition to this, parts of the world flicker and the loading screens often end with a weird corruption image. Animations are also not that great and when the game pulls you out to show a puzzle, the transition can be jarring. While it’s hard to expect top-tier graphics from a small studio, getting a consistent framerate and spending some time on a couple other elements would’ve gone a long way. NERO just feels like it’s got the foundation of something great but just didn’t follow up to polish much of it.

The sound design follows a similar but slightly better pathway. The game does a good job of setting a nice ambience through its various settings. There is a nice piano score which accents some of the emotional aspects of the story. When the narrator chimes in to convey the next part of the story, it’s told quite well. The story would not be as good without him. Unfortunately, as you navigate the world, the elements there that elicit noise feel quite basic. Their sounds are not particularly interesting or special and their implementation feels dated. For example, moving through a forest and the sound of bugs buzzing will come from a very specific point instead of all around you. It feels almost like an audio tech demo. Other times the music will swell at parts that don’t particularly make sense. The auditory highlight is definitely the narrator and at times the music but overall the other aspects don’t do much to sell the world or story.

NERO is a great attempt at a first-person narrative that could’ve taken another couple months in the oven. The developers at Storm in a Teacup achieved their goal of telling a good story but failed to craft a decent support system around it. Those elements are either technically flawed or just not that inspired. The graphics are beautiful in screenshots but suffer from significant framerate issues despite being quite basic in the light. The narrator is good but the sound design overall feels quite archaic. The puzzles are not that special and disrupt the flow of the game rather than add much. The overall experience is also hurt by a slow walking speed. Then, to top it off, the game length versus the price of entry is not that great. In the end, hidden within NERO is a golden nugget but to dig it out takes some work and a little suffering. If you’re a big fan of first-person narratives, that journey may be worth it but for most others it’s probably an easy pass until it’s more digestible.

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