Tevi is a game I have seen throughout my entire experience going through indie game arts. The main thing that attracted me was its art style and unique steampunk outfits and aesthetics. It was awesome to be asked to give it a try once it launched on the console.
Game Name: Tevi
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5 (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X
Developer(s): CreSpirit, GemaYue, Ein Lee
Publisher(s): PM Studios, Inc.
Release Date: May 28th, 2024
Price: $34.99
Tevi starts in the shoes of Tevi. She is being held in confinement for trespassing and is in the process of looking for something when she finds a special gear. This gear holds great power and she gets the aid of an angel and a devil to help out in finding more of them throughout her story.
The Good
Tevi immediately grabs your attention and charms you with its character designs. Each character you meet has so much personality in just their base artwork. This makes it easy to understand them as fleshed-out characters even if not every person you meet is very fleshed out. There are some one-note characters but it doesn’t matter to me. I wanted to try and meet every single character with unique art just because of how charming their designs are. The outfits can be a bit exaggerated but I never minded that much due to how amazing the characters look.
Tevi gives you a lot of options to explore early on in the game. Rather than giving you a single place you need to go or a thing you need to do, Tevi gives you a large world of platforming regions that interconnect with other regions with multiple goals. It gives you incentive early on to try and explore as much as you can until you are locked out of that area from not having the ability or item you need quite yet. Once you are locked out, you can travel to a new region and explore throughout there to find what it is you need to progress. Eventually, you will be able to progress further once you learn that special ability you need and the exploration starts all over again. It makes it a lot less frustrating than when you get locked in some metroidvanias and you are forced to figure it out right there and then.
There are a ton of different difficulty options and customizable settings. You can set it up for speedrunning by turning off all cinematics and just have it based solely on the goals and markers and trying to complete the game as fast as you possibly can. There are also options to make things more difficult for you with boss fights which will make it much more of a bullet hell than it already is. Boss fights generally throw a lot of things at you but it is also pretty generous, so if you get hit, it isn’t the end of the world as Tevi is quite beefy with HP. Just don’t get hit a lot.
The Bad
Tevi has some of the weirdest map designs I have seen. Not as in locale or placement, but with obstacles that obtrude your way. A good example to explain this is when you jump up to a new location, there is no way to get back if you jump onto certain platforms. Some platforms you can break through with a jump stomp but not all of them. You have to go the long way around to get back to a previous screen.
Along the same lines of the weird map designs. Some things in the background can be jumped on. Some things can not. The only way to see is by trying to jump on it. It is just one of those things that makes certain sections like the desert, more frustrating.
The Verdict
Overall Tevi is a solid game. It has a lot of charm in its characters, tight controls, and fun areas to explore. It has some problems in my opinion with some of the slight things it does in map design but it doesn’t destroy the great experience underneath. I would say grab this game if you can!
Tevi is available on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC. It will eventually be available on Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X consoles.
Review Disclosure Statement: Tevi was provided to us by PM Studios Inc. for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
Affiliate Link Disclosure: One or more of the links above contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission should you click through and purchase the item.
Summary
Tevi is an easy to play metroidvania with some beautiful art work and music. It can get frustrating with some of the smaller map design issues.
Pros
- Art is beautiful
- Ease of access to get into
- An open experience letting you travel to many locales soon after the game starts.
Cons
- Can’t jump back down on some platforms but can on others.
- Platforms can be hidden in the background.
