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0 Through the adventure going through Tevi, I’ve experienced some great storytelling and amazing world building. But something got caught in the cogwheel during my playthrough. And it was the time around me that would disappear playing. No regrets.
Tevi is an Action, Adventure Metroidvania with some Bullet Hell splashing on there by a bucket. Developed by CreSpirit who also made a similar game format called Rabi-Rabi that I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing before. The game first appeared on people’s radars at the OTK Games Expo 2023 on June 13th. They’ve even hosted a demo event from 7/21 – 8/18 to let people try it before people can wishlist it. As of writing this, they now allow people to demo the game before purchasing.
I wish more developers follow CreSpirit’s lead and do more demos for their games. I might be showing my age with this statement, but I miss demos for games.
Gameplay
Tevi is a single-player game that is completely dubbed in Japanese. The story and gameplay will have you forget the concept of dodging and choose risky moves to win fights. You start as Tevi, a “rabbit beastman” who’s a genius in both science and combat. She’s on a mission to acquire these objects called Mana Gears for her father Zema. After getting the Mana Gear, she runs into both Celia and Sable.
Celia is an angel from Valhalla while Sable is a demon from Tartarus. They each have their own mission they’re trying to complete and require each other’s help to get it done. The slapstick and random elements from their conversation with each other is what makes this game. If you pay attention closely to the background in certain areas, you’ll notice little easter eggs and cameos. I loved the mechanics they used for not only combat but also through my travels when exploring or reaching objectives.
Getting to use some of the background to help me get to higher ground was a brilliant move. There is almost the monsoon amount of items this game has for you to work with and create some nutty builds. I could see some Rabbi-Rabbi appear in more ways than one, and it seems they learned a lot from it. The maps’ mechanics and the evolution of their sprite work are both loud and amazing.
Graphics & Audio
Throughout my journey with Tevi, I was playing it on PC and my Steam Deck with my custom fightstick. Playing a Metroidvania to me is easier with a fightstick and I had no trouble playing with it. The game is currently available on both Steam and the Nintendo Switch as of writing this. With plans to release on other consoles some time next year. It’s perfect on both PC and the Steam Deck, while being a great way to lose track of time. I didn’t come across any issue whatsoever when playing and completing the game.
I’ve had moments in the game where I just stopped and enjoyed the amazing work done in the background. My words cannot do it justice for how well done everything from the background to the character themselves. Seeing the image cutscenes and character portraits used during dialog scenes is well done. Each one has so much personality and details that you can feel the love put into them. Now the music left such an impression on me, that I saw they were selling their OST and bought it.
Longevity
The amount of time I’ve put into this was 29 hours, and I will continue to put more into it. It might have been more if I didn’t feel slightly overpowered and destroyed almost everything that moved. I plan to do another playthrough of it in my spare time. Though it’ll happen once I don’t have everything memorized.
Final Thoughts
The time I spent playing Tevi gave me an excuse to break out the fightstick. It’s a great game that I hope CreSpirit is hopefully resting before making another great game like this again. It’s another game that is a great way for me to be distracted while waiting for Silksong. With how well Tevi is, I recommend others to try Rabbi-Rabbi as well.
Tevi receives the Thumb Culture Platinum Award
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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