NIVA
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
ABOUT
NIVA is a pacifistic exploration art game.
The player slips into the role of a mighty forest god to restore the harmony in a mesmerizing forest and relieve it of a mysterious infestation. This shuddersome, mothlike infestation is drawn to the conflicts of the forest's inhabitants. Through observation and by using the abilities of nurturing and withering fascinating plants the player can solve said conflicts. NIVA's scenic art style, relaxing music and simple but intriguing game mechanics invite to explore the forest and have a rest from the stressful everyday life.
A controller is strongly recommended to play.
A part of the team that created NIVA released a new game called Weaving Tides - ride on the backs of carpet dragons and patch up a world made of magic and textile.
Get it here:
✨ Weaving Tides for PC and Mac
🧶 Weaving Tides for Nintendo Switch
Installation instructions
Unzip the folder anywhere you like, start NIVA.exe (on Windows) or NIVA.app (on Mac).
Recommended minimum system requirements
Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required) or Mac OS X 10, 3 GB RAM, graphics card equivalent to ATI Radeon 5570 or NVIDIA GeForce 430 GT with 1 GB memory, approx. 1,5 GB HDD space
CONTROLS
We strongly recommend using a gamepad (Xbox 360/One Controller or PS 3/4 Controller) to play NIVA.
Controls with gamepad
Menu navigation: left stick and A / cross
Pause Menu: Start
Movement: left stick
Camera: right stick
Jump: A / cross
Positive aura: RT / R2
Negative aura: LT / L2
Reset Camera: RB / R1
Controls with keyboard and mouse
Menu navigation: mouse
Pause Menu: esc
Movement: W A S D
Camera: mouse
Jump: space
Positive aura: left mouse button
Negative aura: right mouse button
Reset Camera: Q
CONTACT
NIVA is a student project that was developed at University of Applied Sciences in Salzburg, Austria. You can find additional information here:
Official Website: www.nivagame.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nivagame
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NIVAgame
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW0s4ozTeexaBcVU7...
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
Comments
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good game, but.. i literally have no idea what am i supposed to do in it
I really enjoyed this game! I am used to playing big titles that are action packed and stressful, so playing a game described as pacifistic was interesting and new for me. The design of the environment and animals is beautiful, and the soundtrack really creates a peaceful atmosphere.
Without any guidance, the puzzles can be a little challenging if you’re not paying close attention to detail or “thinking outside the box.” I went in circles not knowing what I was missing in the last level, only to realize I needed to use the smaller plants in the environment to dispel the moths.
I experienced some minor glitches in movement and in the environment, but these were easily resolved. I enjoyed the premise of the game the most- restoring peace and vitality to the forest by interacting with the creatures and plants in order to solve the puzzles and dispel the swarms of moths (or bats? I’m not 100% sure). I really liked the various interactions with nature and the way the forest god was able to affect its environment with it’s wither and grow powers.
***game spoiler below***
The game is rather short as I expected, but I do feel it was the right length to appreciate the work. If it had some additional levels, maybe the story of the forest god(s) have been explored more. I was intrigued by the meeting with the other forest god at the end of the game, and I liked ending the game by following in it’s footsteps to the tree, only to see it rest and decay into bones.
Thank you, I really enjoyed Niva! I’ll give Weaving Tides a try soon as well.
I liked the game very much, just confused what to do with the trees to help the animals feed maybe and the small animals were taking the food to some tent plant. But the game looks gorgeous! :D
I do not know how to do with those bats help
I made a video on this game. Please like, share the video & subscribe & follow my social medias too please!
It looks absolutely gorgeous from the videos and I think it is so great that you made it free but my computer won't work for it
Amazing game keep it up
Hi! Unfortunately, this seems not to work on Mac: any solutions?
Hi there! What Mac OS version are you using?
It might be due to a too old or too new Mac OS version. Our support for newer OS versions is currently discontinued, unfortunately.
Just starred playing this game, it is so pretty and soothing
I just finished the game, and I'd like to say that it's gorgeous. It remind me of Fe, which is a game where you play as a little fox that helps the forest because of these creatures called the silent ones. NIVA's super relaxing and I almost fell asleep while playing! My only issue is that it's a bit laggy and sometimes I glitch into the cliffs, but I can easily get out so it wasn't a personal issue for me! Nonetheless, very pretty and cute game!
Thank you so much for you kind words! Sorry you ran into sum bugs. Great that you were still able to enjoy the game <3
Very late reply, but no worries! I bet if I re-played it, it would be fine since I have a new computer. The computer I played on wasn't the best compu for games, but yeah! Please keep up the amazing work<33
hey i need help, i downloaded the game and it saved as a file and im having trouble actually playing the game because its in a file.
Seemed beautiful but made me motion sick after just a few minutes, which doesn't normally happen to me for games. :(
So beautiful and cool animals! You feel like the forest god in Princess Mononoke.
I'm really sad to say but I couldn't download this on my Mac because it said that they detected malware and they couldn't fix it so if I could get another download that maybe doesn't have some sort of malware or something then that would be great.
don't come in, sad x'c
I understand the first area - popping the growths with the vines. The second (I think) is gathering the hummingbirds. The third has something to do with the Owl/Squirrels, the fruit trees, the other creatures that eat fruit, and the tent-plants. I can't figure out areas two and three. nor do I know if there's any areas past that. Anyone have any advice?
Secondly, I had no clue what I was supposed to do. The aim of the game, fighting off the infection, doesn't appear in the actual game as far as I am aware, so I just wandered around aimlessly exploring.
It was still enjoyable because it was so darn pretty, but I really feel as though you guys should include directions in-game.
Perhaps a cut-scene at the start will do?
There's a game very similar to this one but it's multi-player without chat.
what game is it?
Good question! It's been 4 months since I last had it but it was here on itch.io last time I checked. Basically, it's a deer in the forest type of game with no dialogue but has multiplayer capabilities. The deers horns/symbols change based upon what action the user takes and there's emotes. I remember it having some form of vague puzzle-like element to it, but the entire game takes place upon a one map area so far.
The visual difference between this one and that is that NIVA has a zelda-like cartoon graphic about it, where the other-game looked more of an UNREAL engine. Haven't played the NIVA yet, so as far as its interactions are concerned not sure of., but both take place in a forest and stars a deer.
I think you are thinking of the non-violent magical deer forum art game "The Endless Forest", by Tale of Tales (prototype 2003, main release 2005-2009). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_Forest
It has a rerelease called "Second Decade": https://taleoftales.itch.io/the-endless-forest
Not to be confused with Deer God, a 2D platformer in a voxel style.
Is there any way to change the controls? I know the controller is best, but I don't have any, and I'd really like to use the arrow keys instead of WASD, as I'm left-handed... it's such a beautiful game, though!
Thanks for reaching out and the kind words! Unfortunately there is no way to change the controls within the game. Maybe you can find a keyboard remapper tool for your operating system to adjust the key mapping to your needs. We're very sorry we can't be of big help to you.
It's alright, I'll find a way (or just learn to work with WASD ^_^)! Many thanks for the reply!
How did you do please ?
My Xbox controller doesn't work and when I change control WASD to ZQSD that doesn't work too...
Edit : I finally find a way :
Alt + Shift (in this order for my computer), to put my keyboard in qwerty (only work when doing this in game!)
Launch game, click on new game, then put keyboard on qwerty if you're in azerty)
Nice short game, took me about 40 minutes roughly to complete it.
The main issue I had with this game is the controls were super clunky, the character would jump on it's own when you collide with the rocks on the floor.
But other than the movement, the visuals and sound design were amazing.
Not sure if you're still working on the game or not but fixing up the movement mechanics would certainly help, and would easily be worth $5 or more.
I tried downloading it 5 times. and every time the zip file was corrupted and had no contents. please help
Hi!
I just tried it out and can download the ZIP with all Data. Unzipping and starting the game works as well.
Maybe the itch.io server had problems or your internet connection was unstable.
If the error still occurs
It only took an hour in total to finish, but I was wowed. Great visuals, fantastic atmosphere, lovely music, there wasn't anything to complain about. An instant 5 stars from me. The only problem I found was occasionally when jumping up a cliff you would clip into it and get stuck for a bit.
I know I'm super late to the party, but better late then never right? This game is beautifully stunning! I've just whipped up this video for my channel showing off the intro portion, but I'm probably going to do a full on Let's Play with greenscreen and mic! I'm in love!
So beautiful !
Played a bit of this for my channel as part of my itch.io let's play series. It's a beautiful world you've created. I'll keep coming back to this one when I wanna just chill for a while. Thanks for sharing this with the world.
I can't play this game, everytime I press Niva it doesn't open.
Whats wrong????
If you are using a mac(unless windows has this too) go to Finder and go to downloads. Find Niva and right click it. There should be an option to open. If you don't have finder go to downloads or wherever you saved Niva to and try to right click.
If this doesn't work I'm sorry. I'm no expert. This is just what i would try.
Just a beautiful and relaxing experience.
Like something made by Studio Ghibli.
The art and the style are just astonishing.
We made a playthrough video.
Keep up the good work !!!what the requirements to run that game?
Our recommended minimum system requirements are:
Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required) or Mac OS X 10, 3 GB RAM, graphics card equivalent to ATI Radeon 5570 or NVIDIA GeForce 430 GT with 1 GB memory, approx. 1,5 GB HDD space
We also highly recommend to use a gamepad (Xbox 360/One Controller or PS 3/4 Controller) to play NIVA.
Absolutely beautiful!
I really enjoyed the peacefulness of the entire experience! I really hope that there will be a follow up of this game, because its just so amazing!
Thank you itch.io for creating such a masterpiece!
Thank you very much for playing! A part of the NIVA team is currently in early development of their game Weaving Tides (www.weavingtides.com) and they are happy about every new newsletter subscriber.
how do you play this game on your computer
Download the game from itch.io, unzip the folder anywhere you like, start NIVA.exe (on Windows) or NIVA.app (on Mac) and you are ready to explore the forest. Please find our system requirements above.
hey in trying to figure this out because I don't know if you can play this game on a phone
Unfortunately not. You will need a pc with Windows 7, 8 or 10 or Mac OS X 10 to play NIVA. Also we highly recommend using a gamepad (Xbox or Playstation Controller).
Very beautiful graphic.
This game was incredible for the eyes. SO BEAUTIFUL.
game look really good (i love this graphic) but playing it for longer time is boring. nice to play less than 5 times for me, but still look amazing
my video with game (in video i talking in polish)