With Palworld basically becoming a household name in gaming in a relatively short amount of time, its developer, Pocketpair, has by association become pretty well known, too. Much of that notoriety came from the success of Palworld so far, but parts of it came from criticisms levied against Pocketpair as well with Palworld players and detractors alike pointing out the similarities between Pocketpair’s games and acclaimed hits from other developers. One of Pocketpair’s new games is facing similar criticisms, but it’s also got a free demo on Steam right now, so you can play it for yourself to see if those critiques are warranted.
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That game is Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse, and it’s one that people have known about for around a year now, but it didn’t start getting much attention until Palworld released. Since its been put in the spotlight alongside Pocketpair, people have been saying that it looks similar to Hollow Knight, though that’s not really a dealbreaker to some.
Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse Gets a Free Steam Demo
Pocketpair put out the first trailer for Never Grave: The Witch and the curse last May with that trailer seen below so that you can decide for yourself how similar it looks to Hollow Knight. Screenshots shared definitely show some similarities between the two games which people have certainly taken issue with, though others have argued instead that there’s really not much similar between the games besides the style and the genre. For reference, Pocketpair describes the game as something between a Metroidvania and a roguelite.
“Never Grave is 2D action game where you journey with the aid of a cursed hat. Identify enemy attacks, fight with magic, and sometimes use the terrain to win! Dungeons such as ruins and botanical gardens are auto-generated and change each time you play,” an overview of Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse. “Furthermore, there are obstacles and puzzles waiting to block the player’s path in the dungeons.”
The demo for the game is free on Steam as of January 25th. The game was supposed to have already been out by now with a release date previously scheduled for sometime during Winter 2023, but it was delayed to the first quarter of 2024, so it’s at least not too far away now.
“It’s finally here. In anticipation of the Steam Next Fest, we’ve just released the demo version of Never Grave!” the Never Grave developers said. “We’re eager to hear your feedback on Steam Community and Discord. Your thoughts and impressions are invaluable to us. Please go ahead and enjoy the demo!”
Everyone’s been calling Never Graveย Pocketpair’s new game, but it’s worth pointing out that Pocketpair is the publisher while Frontside 180 is listed as the developer. However, a press release about the game shared when it was first announced clarified that the game would be “developed internally by a newly formed studio: Frontside 180 Studio,” so even though it seems to be a different team of developers, it’s still technically Pocketpair that’s making the game via the internal studio.
