Menu

The Neverhood


Genre: Adventure
Release Year: 1996
Developer: The Neverhood
Publisher: Dreamworks Interactive
Age Rating: 12+
Playability Status: Perfect
Tested On: Windows 8 x64
Availability: Copyright retained - Out of print/unavailable

Critically acclaimed upon release but largely overlooked by the game-buying public, this curious little claymation adventure game has become something of a cult classic. In the game, you’ll guide the unlikely hero Klaymen around the bizarre Neverhood, solving puzzles and helping your fellow pliable pals as you go. The games unique clay animation visuals and excellent soundtrack have aged extremely well and it’s a shame that this particular title finds itself languishing in copyright limbo, unlikely to be re-released any time soon. For any adventure game fans that are lucky enough to find a copy of the game on e-bay or at a garage sale, you will be delighted to know that, despite its age, The Neverhood will run perfectly on a modern PC.

Installation

We did not encounter any problems installing the game on our Windows 8 x64 test machine. Simply insert The Neverhood CD-ROM into your computer and run the “SETUP 95” program. The games installer will then run and allow you to install the game anywhere on your PC.
If you do have difficulties installing the game, there is a replacement installer available at the Neverhood Restoration Project. We tested this installer and it didn’t seem to offer anything any different to the original, but it may help in some circumstances. You can download the replacement installer here.

Running the game

Surprisingly for a game that is so old, The Neverhood runs extremely well on modern systems. The game must be run as an administrator (the programs shortcut will ask for administrator access anyway) and for best results you may want to disable any secondary monitors you have attached to your PC. Don’t be tempted to alt-tab from the game to check your e-mail or the web either, if you do so the game will either crash or display in corrupted colours.

Known issues

Audio stuttering on the intro – During the intro movie, the audio may stutter/periodically cut out. There is currently no known workaround for this, but the audio in-game seems to perform correctly.

4 comments

  1. bubblicious says:

    It’s much easier to play the Neverhood via ScummVM (www.scummvm.org).

    Just copy the game files in a folder, install ScummVM and point it to that folder and it works! No weird settings or hacks are needed. They also redesigned the save/load screens, with nifty screenshots.

  2. Alan Shalvey says:

    Can someone please help me get this game running? I have ScummVM but have tried downloading from multiple sites, but ScummVM doesnt recognise the game in any of the folders, and the Restoration Project is no longer available for download. Any help would be much appreciated!

  3. The C&C Phreek says:

    here is the new url to the replacement installer (this how i installed game myself)

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/theneverhood/files/

    works great in windows 7 x86 and x64. before that was using ScummVM, works ok but prefer to be using the full game exe’s and every thing

    Editors note – We take no responsibility for links on external sites.

Leave a Reply to Alan Shalvey Cancel reply

Latest comments

  • Kim Jackman on RollcageHello, thank you for your reply, yes I have tried a full
  • BuckoA51 on RollcageNever come across that sorry, you did do a full install of
  • Kim Jackman on RollcageI am trying to install Rollcage from the original CD on a
  • BuckoA51 on Lego Racers 2Unfortunately you may have a different version to mine (diff
  • Kevin Wellman on Lego Racers 2First: thanks for all your efforts to help others. I am tryi
banner-300x250