Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse

I went in expecting another entry in the increasingly crowded roguelite-Metroidvania pile, and the hat stopped me cold. Developed by Frontside 180 and published by Pocketpair - yes, the Palworld people - Never Grave launched in March 2026 as a full 1.0 release, skipping the Early Access route that was originally planned. That confidence in the product is at least partially earned. The core loop puts you in control of a witch navigating procedurally generated dungeons across locations that range from ancient ruins to botanical gardens. Combat is built around dodge timing, a trusty dagger, and a kit of spells that recharge as you fight - think summoned swords that orbit you and zero in on enemies, thrown poison daggers, and bottles that inflict status ailments. Straightforward stuff. But the possession mechanic is where the game earns its identity: toss your cursed hat onto a downed enemy and you take control of it, inheriting its move set and a fresh health bar. Mounting a four-legged beast and riding it as a living shield, or using a hulking enemy's raw attack power to clear a room your witch couldn't survive alone, genuinely changes how you approach each encounter. Platforming also opens up - you can eject from your body and summon it back to cover extra distance on jumps or slip through tight gaps the hat can't navigate on foot. Outside the dungeons, gathered resources feed a village-building system. You unlock new facilities, craft food and potions, and set up permanent upgrades that carry across runs. It sounds good on paper, and the loop of descend, loot, build, and return works well enough. The friction is real, though: the game has a habit of forcing you back to the hub before you feel ready, cutting runs short and dissolving whatever build momentum you had going. Stage layouts, while procedurally generated, can start to feel familiar faster than you'd hope given only four distinct dungeon areas. Players going in expecting the density of a genre standout will notice the thinness. The story offers almost nothing to anchor the atmosphere - the world looks beautifully grim and hand-drawn, but lore and narrative are largely absent, which blunts the sense of discovery. For co-op players the calculus shifts noticeably. Up to four people can run dungeons together online with cross-play and drop-in support, and the cooperative version plays faster and more fluidly as each player splits off to cover different paths. If you have a group ready to dive in, the repetition bites less and the chaotic possession moments land harder. Solo players get a perfectly functional experience, just one that will test patience during the grindier stretches. Steam user scores have settled around the "Mostly Positive" range, which tracks - this is a game that does one thing brilliantly (the possession mechanic), handles several things competently (combat feel, art direction, music), and stumbles on a couple (basebuilding depth, forced hub resets, story). If you can make peace with that trade-off, there is real fun here.

Alex · Scout Team

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