N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure

NERO is pretty to look at but is decidedly lacking when it comes to substance or involving players in the intricate story it’s trying to tell.

55%Game Brain Score

story, graphics

grinding, stability

54% User Score Based on 188 reviews

Critic Score 55%Based on 9 reviews

Platforms

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About

"N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure" is a single-player, story-driven fantasy game with puzzles and beautiful visuals. Players explore an intriguing world as a young character, accompanied by a mysterious companion, experiencing uncommon emotions in a journey filled with magic and discovery. The game combines elements of visual novels and puzzle games to create a unique and affecting experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure screenshot

54%

Audience ScoreBased on 197 reviews

story80 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

The game features visually stunning graphics and unique environments that create an immersive atmosphere.
The story is emotional and touching, resonating with players and evoking strong feelings.
The sound design and narration enhance the overall experience, making it engaging despite its gameplay limitations.

The gameplay is slow-paced, with frustratingly easy puzzles that often lack depth and challenge.
Excessive bloom and lens flare effects can be distracting and make it difficult to see, detracting from the visual experience.
The story can feel disjointed and predictable, with some narrative elements left unresolved, leading to a lack of engagement.

story
250 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
62%
6%
The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players finding it emotionally engaging and beautifully presented, while others criticize it for being predictable, poorly executed, and riddled with awkward phrasing and typos. The narrative is delivered through floating text and a narrator, which some appreciated for its originality, but many felt it detracted from the overall experience due to excessive visual effects and a lack of depth. Overall, while the story has the potential to resonate with players, it often falls short of delivering a compelling and cohesive experience.
- “A very touching story with beautiful graphics of nature with pretty colors and the moon.”
- “The heart-wrenching story revolves around a family of three, and it will keep you hooked until the ending.”
- “The story is a wonderfully told tale; as you move along in the game, it unfolds before your eyes, while it's a bit easily figured out fairly early on, the story is engaging enough that you'll find yourself pressing forward to find out what happens next.”
- “The story is rather bad; the developers have confused 'dark/difficult themes' for 'deep+meaningful'.”
- “The story had potential, but was just bland and rushed.”
- “It wasn't fun, the story wasn't engaging, and the padding/unnecessarily annoying few puzzles made this more of a chore to play than anything else.”
graphics
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
36%
11%
The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with some praising the stunning visuals and beautiful artwork, particularly in cutscenes and nature scenes. However, many players criticize issues such as poor lighting, excessive darkness, and a lack of coherence in level design, which detracts from the overall experience. While some find the aesthetics captivating, others feel that graphical flaws and repetitive elements undermine the game's potential.
- “A very touching story with beautiful graphics of nature with pretty colors and the moon.”
- “You play this game in an Avatar movie environment with really stunning visuals; I thought Valley (check Steam) was a beautiful game, but this is by far the most amazing looking game I've ever seen so far.”
- “Those looking for a well-done game, filled with impressive visuals and a superb score are in for a treat.”
- “The visuals aren't great; when you launch the game, it's way too dark to see most things, and if you adjust the gamma setting to be high enough to see around properly, the colors start looking really washed out.”
- “The visuals are immensely ugly and yet treated as if you're crossing a world of magical grandeur. Combine this with the impassive story and atrocious puzzles, and you've got a formula for catastrophe.”
- “Outside of the cinematics, the game’s technical graphics are lackluster.”
gameplay
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
76%
8%
The gameplay is primarily a walking simulator with simple mechanics and puzzles that vary in difficulty, though many players find the aiming mechanic frustratingly imprecise. While the atmosphere and story are praised, the overall gameplay experience is considered weak, particularly for those seeking challenging puzzles. Players recommend the game for its immersive environment but suggest waiting for a sale if unsure about its limited gameplay depth.
- “With the gameplay side of things, you walk around and eventually get a partner you can command to move.”
- “Gameplay is simple but okay; sounds are good enough to create a good atmosphere and the puzzles are okay as well.”
- “So far, I like the mechanics, atmosphere, and the story of the game.”
- “They aren't required to continue, but really, if you let me skip the gameplay part of your game, what's the point?”
- “Tl;dr: broken magic balls throwing mechanic due to a lack of option to limit the fps, can't solve a puzzle because of it.”
- “The aiming puzzles are more difficult than they need to be, and the aiming mechanic is a bit broken; it's made slightly better if using a keyboard and mouse, but still not perfect.”
emotional
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
91%
9%
The emotional aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding the story deeply touching and capable of evoking strong feelings, particularly around themes of loss and family. However, others criticized it for being overly melodramatic and poorly executed, citing issues like awkward translations and dull voice acting. Overall, while the narrative has the potential to resonate emotionally with players, its execution may not satisfy everyone.
- “The heart-wrenching story revolves around a family of three, and it will keep you hooked until the ending.”
- “I really enjoyed the story; it wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but it was emotional, and I admit that it got me all choked up and had me in tears.”
- “The story attempts to be particularly emotionally stirring, and I have no doubt that it will indeed have that effect on many of the players who play it, particularly those with children.”
- “The game takes place in a ridiculously dark environment full of objects with way too much bloom and lens flare effects on them, so that this game is a pain to play with both the lights on or the lights off. It tells a terribly schmaltzy, melodramatic and yet boring story through floating, glowy text blocks, full of awkward phrasing and typos in the English translation, which are strewn all over the map, plus some occasional dull voice acting.”
- “- horrific boring story”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
23%
10%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful soundtrack and atmospheric sound design that enhances the overall experience. However, some players noted that certain tracks can be repetitive or mismatched with the gameplay, leading to moments of frustration. Overall, the music is seen as a labor of love that contributes significantly to the game's immersive quality.
- “The atmosphere is thrilling and the music beautiful.”
- “Aside from the graphics, the game also has an amazing soundtrack, which further lent itself towards making the game feel alive.”
- “You can really tell this was a labor of love from the developer; the scenery is beautiful, the music is perfect, and the story is engaging.”
- “Music and other audio outputs were sometimes nice and atmospheric and other times made you say 'why is this music playing?' and became very repetitive.”
- “Some of the music and ambience was repetitive and annoying.”
- “Some of the music and ambience was decent, and very fitting (audio was hit and miss).”
atmosphere
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
25%
15%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its thrilling and poetic qualities, enhanced by beautiful music and atmospheric scenery that evoke themes of love, loss, and hope. However, some players noted issues with repetitive audio and contrast problems that can detract from the experience. Overall, the game successfully immerses players in its captivating environment, making it a strong recommendation for fans of atmospheric walking simulators.
- “The atmosphere is thrilling and the music is beautiful.”
- “As you progress, you find out more about the family and their trials of life and death, and along the way there are a few interesting events that add to the lore of the story and set a poetic atmosphere.”
- “I have to acknowledge the atmospheric scenery and dark ambience that are very good.”
- “The aesthetics are beautiful but are slightly ruined by the uncontrollable contrast, leaving you blind with nothing to see. I expect a fix to this, so let it not drive you away from the beauty of the wide and open atmosphere of this game.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it's a bit on the weaker end of the gene pool, but as a walking simulator that isn't a jump scare fest, it ranks up there pretty highly. Most walking simulators are lacking in the gameplay department, only so many ways exist to walk from point A to point B. With that said, I'd recommend picking this game up, but if you really aren't sure, wait for a Steam sale. You'll love the atmosphere and be completely and utterly drawn into this amazing game.”
- “As you progress, you find out more about the family and their trials of life and death, and along the way, there are a few interesting events that add to the lore of the story and set a poetic atmosphere.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly in the context of achievement hunting and puzzle-solving. The low contrast and repetitive environments make exploration feel like a chore, leading to frustration with the collection of items necessary for progress. Overall, the grinding experience detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
- “Walking sim, collecting the picture pieces is too much of a chore for the achievement because it's too dark with low contrast, so exploring is tedious and the environment feels too samey.”
- “The achievement hunting meta game becomes very tedious, especially with the puzzle parts search.”
- “This makes some puzzles more tedious than they need to be.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent visual glitches and persistent button prompts that disrupt gameplay. Players have reported freezing after initial loading sequences, indicating a lack of polish in the game's performance.
- “There were a bunch of visual glitches; the button prompt to summon the magic projectile kept appearing randomly and wouldn't leave until I encountered the next cutscene.”
- “After the first video/trailer/introduction, it loads for like 3 seconds, then the game freezes.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's visuals are highly praised, earning a perfect score for beauty; however, there are mixed opinions on optimization, with some users noting a lack of it while others find it satisfactory.
- “Also, the optimization is good.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Reviewers appreciate the character development for its unique and creative design, particularly highlighting the glowing-eyed figures in light-trimmed cloaks as a refreshing departure from typical character aesthetics.
- “The glowing-eyed figures in their light-trimmed cloaks made for a fun and different take on the usually standard character design.”
- “Fairly unique character design.”

55%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews

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N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure

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