PLAY
REVIEWS. PERSPECTIVES. INTERVIEWS. AND SOME NUMBERS
NEAR MISSES
Naiad PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series For all the years of consternation surrounding water-based levels, this gently paced swimming sim suggests that perhaps it’s all just a matter of perspective. With its rivers presented from above, you guide your aquatic nymph by tracing lazy circles with the thumbstick, occasionally holding and releasing a button for a more concerted stroke. There is a little more to it than that – guiding animals via song, you might reunite a duck with her ducklings or direct a swarm of bees towards lumberjacks – but for the most part this is optional, and you’re free to simply let yourself be carried along by the stream.