NAIAD is a beautiful indie game from solo developer HiWarp Studio. It fits neatly into the cosy game genre, with dreamy visuals and a lilting, almost poetic nature as you drift about on the waters.
It just launched at the end of 2024 and is available on all consoles and PC. If you want to start 2025 in a relaxed and creative frame of mind, this is a great way to do so. With its easy charmless and stress-free gameplay it’s a mini gem with many delights.
ASMR Overload in the Chillout NAIAD
In Greek mythology, naiads are a female spirit who hang about in springs and the like. The word means to “flow”, which is pretty apt here.
As the dev has been keen to point out there’s:
“No death / violence. No hyper-realism / last-gen graphics.”
That point on highlight last generation graphics is important. The AAA scene’s demented focus on THE BEST POSSIBLE GRAPHICS AT ALL COSTS has come at the detriment of increasingly dull big blockbuster games. Whilst the indie game scene thrives, for the first time AAA devs are having to think the focus on graphics maybe isn’t the best route. And it isn’t.
As the beautiful world of NAIAD proves. Just watch it in action here, the wonder that it is.
It’s somewhat reminiscent of the beautiful underwater sections of Rayman Origins (2011), one of our all-time favourite games.
But there’s no major gameplay challenge to NAIAD. The point is to go for a bit of a swim. You head off down a river, hang out with ducks and fish, enjoy the chillout music, and just enjoy the water.
Exploration is key. You spot something, swim on over, and discover something.
The score is important to all of this to set the chilled atmosphere of casual exploration. HiWarp was responsible for all the music, too (another indication of just how talented these small indie studios are). Here’s a bit of the stuff to listen to.
That music really ramps up the atmospherics, which is crucial to the NAIAD experience. As you may have noticed, it’s also stunning to look at—a most striking visual side.
There are some really mesmerising areas to visit that’ll make you swoon big time, which when coupled with that music is the main appeal here.
Downsides? Well, you get four hours of gameplay. But that challenge isn’t very minimal and there’s a somewhat repetitive loop to everything. That will bother some gamers looking for more. But the point of titles like this is for that minimalistic appeal—you get a brief, but engaging, experience that encourages repeat plays.
And we will return to NAIAD many times in the future.
It’s difficult to resist a game that offers such sensory stimulation as this, with a woozy charm to appreciate no matter the format you play it in. Although we do recommend you have a run through on a big screen with your earphones in. Maximum chill.
