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Hello Neyyah adventurers! Recently, I teamed up with the awesome game adventurer Adventure Game Geek (AGG) and great friend / supporter of the Neyyah world, Alex Harvey (BTS photographer) for a trip out across the beautiful coast of Felixstowe, where a majority of Neyyah's environment design was inspired by.
Alex Harvey, myself (Aaron Gwynaire) and AGG in Felixstowe last month, shooting for the Felixstowe scenes.
The aim is to produce a mini-doc on Neyyah's locations, plus a dive into Defy Reality Entertainment's studio here in Aberdeen, where I create all the magic (and where the last couple of months of Neyyah's development helped shape the final launch of the game back in September, last year!!). There will also be some other cool stuff thrown in, so can't wait to share.
AGG and myself in Aberdeen, Scotland, filming for the 'Defy Reality Entertainment studio' footage earlier in the year.
The iconic Town House of Aberdeen, Scotland.
This mini doc will release ideally as a companion (or follow up) to an upcoming DLC book on Neyyah's artwork and inspirations called 'Beyond Neyyah', which will be become available on Steam, written / presented by myself and edited extensively by Nanci Nott (who also assisted in the game production in various ways, including FMV and script editing, plus portraying the character Aurian in game). This book will be more of a deep dive into Neyyah's origins, where it all started, and even exposing some surprises along the way!
There is no set date for any of these releases, but they are very much underway, cooking in the Neyyah portal somewhere, ready to finally hit your screens. Please hold onto your payeetas, and stay tuned for announcement release dates.
Filming in Felixstowe
First day of filming was spent around the Martello towers of Old Felixstowe! These buildings really influenced the look and vibe of Neyyah from day one, back when I had started designing concepts for the game in Western Australia in 2018! A long time ago now. A particular focus was the Main Chambers of Pinorvia Point, which took its look directly from a martello tower. It was great to finally get close to these places again once I had moved back to UK in 2019..
Outside the Martello Tower in Old Felixstowe (inspiration behind the Main Chambers of Pinorvia Point).
Movo tagging along for the ride, while AGG gets some footage of the local Old Felixstowe scenes.
While it's great to show locations, it's also amazing to look back on Neyyah, not only as my first game dev project and commercial release, but also the emotional journey that came with it. I was interviewed alongside my amazing mum and friend Alex, who witnessed a majority of Neyyah's work load in Felixstowe, England. It was fun to hear their different perspectives. While I acknowledge the help and support of Australian based crew and Microprose, this documentary centres more on the very finer details of my life here in UK, where the majority of Neyyah's enormous work load took place.
Me just outside the flat where one of the final stretches of development took place in Felixstowe!
Presenting one of a few rusty pipes down by Felixstowe beach which helped inspire the look of places in the game, such as the disused water pipe at the Levandis Zone in Neyyah.
Stay tuned for a fun, exciting documentary, which will stretch across different periods of the year and digging deep into the mysterious caverns of Neyyah's dev journey!
My mum, me and Alex Harvey, having been interviewed by AGG
Big thank you to: Adventure Game Geek for his amazing support and enthusiasm behind the Neyyah game, and travelling around to make this doc happen! Alex Harvey for being a big support behind the development of Neyyah, taking shots during the filming sessions, and an amazing long time friend. My mum Tracey for supporting Neyyah's developments for a huge part of its work and being game to jumping on the interview alongside myself and Alex.
Posing with a pair of Payeetas! I wonder what needs to be powered with these things ...
Huge thanks to Microprose, and everyone else involved in Neyyah's journey, and of course, the biggest thank you to all of you, amazing adventurers ... Yes, I'm talking about you. You've helped give life to the Neyyah world, enriching it with so many different adventures and experiences ... Please leave a review here on Steam when you're ready; the more, the merrier. Thank you to everyone who has left a review so far. I read them all, and have taken on some fantastic feedback and criticism which will only help strengthen the foundation for future projects moving forward! It's great to see the game at Very Positive reviews and still touching the hearts, minds and souls of keen adventure gamers.
Til next time!
Aaron Gwynaire / Defy Reality Entertainment
.YY.
Our deepest thanks go to the phenomenal post-production team at Sandbox Productions, whose professionalism, creativity and post-production expertise elevated every frame of the FMV sequences. We're grateful for the care they poured into this project. If you're looking for an exceptional team for your next film, commercial or creative project, we couldn't recommend them highly enough.
A heartfelt thank you goes to our cinematographer Peter Renzullo, whose videographical expertise was vital to the game's cut-scenes; this nomination is a wonderful recognition of the artistry he brought behind the camera.
To Neyyah’s cast - Nigel Goodwin, Paul Hayward, Xanthe Turner, Zaedyn Turner, Nanci Nott, Dann Tozer - thank you for bringing these characters to life with such heart, personality and commitment. Every performance helped create a world players could believe in, and I’ll always remember the days we spent filming those scenes!
Thanks to our incredible crew and artistic consultants, including Azalia Turner, Katie Brown and Xanthe Turner, whose creativity and behind-the-scenes contributions helped shape the finished experience in ways that are invisible to Neyyah’s audience, but no less important than the aspects they see on their screens.
Also, to Zaedyn Turner for the years he dedicated to writing, recording, and producing a significant portion of Neyyah’s soundtrack, which - in its entirety - goes a long way in creating the atmosphere of Neyyah’s world.
We also want to express our gratitude to Screen Australia, who funded the majority of Neyyah’s cut-scene production, and the entirety of Neyyah’s post-production, in addition to supporting Neyyah in other ways, including the Screen Australia Local Lounge at GCAP (which Chad did an amazing job of setting up!) and countless other little ways in which these legends supported our general journey. Their team made Neyyah’s live-action production possible, and we are beyond grateful to Screen Australia. Not just for what their help has meant for Neyyah, but for the opportunities they consistently provide for devs, artists, filmmakers, and other creatives to produce work that reaches audiences around the world.
A HUGE thanks to the MicroProse team, who have championed, supported, tested, funded, promoted and believed in Neyyah over the years. Bringing a game like this to players takes an enormous effort, and we're incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped Neyyah find its way to its players.
Speaking of players - thanks, players! Without you, this would all have been for nothing.
Also, thanks to Neyyah’s Patreon patrons; other developers who’ve offered advice; fans who’ve created Neyyah content; WAGIC’s continued encouragement; Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, who let us film scenes in their Dance Studio, and Mandurah Coder Dojo (who’ve attended almost every WA convention that’s ever showcased Neyyah!) are all hugely appreciated by the Defy Reality team. Although Neyyah is the brainchild of one person, it took a village to raise that child, and we appreciate all of you.
We’re so excited to see Neyyah included amongst such an inspiring group of screen projects, and it's a privilege to be recognised as part of an event that celebrates innovation across storytelling in all its screen-iest forms.
Congrats to the other nominees (whose games you should definitely check out when you have a chance)! We'd especially like to wish Jane Fiona and the team behind Don't Stop Girlypop (think Ultrakill, but faster and prettier) the very best of luck on the night. We can't wait to celebrate alongside you guys!
This nomination provides the perfect opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate all the people whose work on Neyyah is celebrated through this nomination, so apologies for the long read, but it’s important for us to acknowledge all the amazing people who contributed. Well done everyone - and thank you :)
Very excited to announce that Neyyah has been nominated for 'Craft - VFX, SFX and Games' at the Royal Television Society East Programme Awards 2026! It will be held in Cambridge at the King's College on 3rd July!
Looking forward to the night! Dressed for success is the way I'm looking at this ;) but in general, will be a great experience!
Ya'll wish Defy luck!
Thanks for everyone's support over the years, and if you've played Neyyah, be sure to drop a review too! More the merrier! Nearly at 200 reviews, and keeping that Very Positive review smile too!
.YY.
Very pleased to announce that Neyyah was a nominee for Adventure Game Hotspot's 'Hotshot 2025 Best Setting Award!'
Foolish Mortals was the winner, along with Best Music. Be sure to check out the game on Steam!
Other winners included 'Old Skies' for Best Story, 'Keeper' for Best Graphics and 'Blue Prince' for Best Concept.
Check out the full line up here:
https://adventuregamehotspot.com/feature/6024/the-2025-adventure-game-hotshot-awards?p=2
Thanks to the amazing crew at Adventure Game Hotspot for your support on Neyyah, and all other adventure games. It's fantastic to see you continuing to fuel that fire for the love of the adventure game genre! Amazing work
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Hello adventurers!
It's been a fantastic start to the year for 2026 here at Defy Reality Entertainment, having won 2025 G.O.T.Y at Game Anglia Showcase 2026 with Neyyah and a return trip to England to see friends and family. These breaks are well needed. Neyyah was a seven year project, and while there was a break period for a while at the end of last year, work continues here at Defy Reality Entertainment in various avenues, including work on the upcoming 'Arts & Inspirations' book, 'Let's Render!', which will delve further into the various development processes involved in getting Neyyah out to market! It's shaping up to be something quite spectacular, so definitely stay tuned for that!
Current draft of 'Let's Render!' front cover
I was fortunate enough to catch up with the game devs at Inklingwood Studios on my drive back to bonnie Scotland too. David and Sophie Younger are the talented husband and wife duo behind the fantastic point n click adventure game 'Foolish Mortals' which released just after Neyyah last year in November. We have been following each other's work for quite some time now, so it was great finally meeting in person!
Me, Sophie and David at Costa in England - just before I spent over another five hours on the road back to Aberdeen! Coffee is well needed!
Now I'm back in my studio in Aberdeen, I'm feeling very inspired by the work I am doing right now (enough said on that ...). This has pushed me to look at creating much more game dev inspiring / motivational content for my Youtube channel.
A new LED light turned up yesterday, so while experimenting I decided to test some audio and visual stuff out and ended up doing a video for the channel!
Lots of ideas for new content coming up, where I'll discuss and showcase my work as a game dev. I definitely have the urge to share more content, having released my first commercial release last year in September, with an aim to open the curtain more into my life as a full time game dev, the ups and downs, in-studio set up, day-in-the-life perspectives, and working in the various programs I use to create the magic. Mainly to inspire others and fuel the passion for the craft, whether it's a hobby you're pursing or the aim to eventually do this work full time
Feel free to share any ideas you may have on the type of content you'd like to see me showcasing on this channel!
Definitely subscribe to AaronGwynaireGameDev channel for more inspiring game dev content, more game dev insights into how I create my work, and of course, upcoming future projects!
That's all for now! Excited for this year's developments here at Defy, and I hope you stick around for the journey! I'm aiming to get an official website out this year too, so there'll be an opportunity to join a mailing list to keep up to date with all things Defy Reality Entertainment too :)
If you've played Neyyah, be sure to write up a review here on Steam! More the merrier. It's great seeing so many of you enjoying the game, and sifting through the feedback / criticisms has been like rewarding in so many ways, especially looking ahead for future games! ;)
Thanks everyone! You're awesome :) Til next time!
.YY.
It was a fantastic moment yesterday at Game Anglia Festival, receiving Game Of The Year Award 2025 for my first game release, Neyyah, hitting the Steam shelves last year in September :)
Posing outside the University of Suffolk with the Game Anglia G.O.T.Y trophy :)
There will be more footage coming out later in the year, featuring in a mini doc on the 'Making Of Neyyah' filmed by Adventure Game Geek, including my speech, receiving the trophy, and a good look around at other amazing games being showcased on the day!
Adventure Game Geek, Alex Harvey and myself, ready to enter the University of Suffolk, which held the Game Anglia Festival 2026 event!
Attending the Game Anglia Festival 2026
Thanks to AGG and Alex Harvey for coming down with me yesterday! :) A great moment shared with mates, who have followed the journey!
A huge thank you to everyone out there who has supported Neyyah over the years, and of course big shout out to Game Anglia!
#ScreenshotSaturday #gaming #indiegame #GameAngliaFestival2026 #gameoftheyear2025 #atmosphericgames #adventuregames #FPA #firstpersongames #puzzlegame
Hello adventurers!
Excited to announce a bundle with The End Of The Sun first person adventure game!
Adventure Bundle includes: - Neyyah Game - The End of the Sun Game
Neyyah is a first-person point-and-click adventure game from Defy Reality Entertainment. You are thrown into a strange, secretive world called Neyyah. Use careful observation and logic to uncover the mysteries entwined within Neyyah's peculiar landscapes and bizarre cultures.
A mystery-filled first-person adventure and exploration game set in a Slavic fantasy world. You are the Ashter – a Slavic fire mage and tracker of mythical beings. Following a legendary creature, you reach a village caught in a time rift. Embark on a magical investigation – travel through time, explore the ancient land, and bond with fire to shape villagers’ fate and uncover the mystery.
Hey! Thanks for jumping on board another dive into Neyyah's creative space! Lots to explore, and many ideas to push out a lot of Neyyah content! This one explores Neyyah's passionate world building dev cycle - the true draw to creating Neyyah in the first place!
Neyyah was always a world to me. For the majority of seven years, I was in that world, designing ... I mean, excavating Neyyah. I was excited about my discovery. I couldn't wait to finally share this world with everyone!
And yet, Neyyah is a game. It released last month and has been enjoyed by a lot of players. It's a puzzle adventure game. A prerendered point n click puzzle adventure game, inspired by other similar games such as Myst, Riven, Schizm, Dragon Lore II.Final rendered version of Olujay
Solid state / open GL version of Olujay, captured in Blender
This video delves into my perceptions of how Neyyah came to be, my passion for the world building side of things, and how I had such strong desires to deliver a world that felt lived in, large and expansive. Plenty to explore, and discover. Then, topping it off, realising flaws in its presentation, and packaging the 'game', all ready for launch.
World first. Game second. I aim to elaborate on the changes made to areas of Neyyah in further videos that will carry on from this video. In an adventure game like Neyyah, the exploration, the world designs are so important. This is just a taste of how my mind works, and how over time - over seven years of life, of tears, laughs, excitement and frustrations - elements of design changed to bring the Neyyah world you can experience today!
The portal awaits. Have you entered yet? Please consider leaving a review!
.YY.
Hello! It's hard to believe it's been just over a month now since the release of my first game, Neyyah! Wow! What a journey it's been, and I'm excited to be on this next leg of the adventure with all of you!
I thought I'd put this short 'travel' dev log together, while I was out recently, walking the woodlands of Aberdeen, Scotland ... A time to reflect, and discuss what's happening next!
I will endeavour to release more content on my Youtube channel, which can delve further into Neyyah's development, and also the journey and experiences after the game released! And it definitely has been a journey!
Thank you for all the Neyyah praise!
Very excited for an upcoming 'Art and Inspirations of Neyyah' digital book, releasing early next year, which will delve into the production of Neyyah, from the sketch work pulled from the real life experiences and world around me, to how the final renders and 3D models took their shape! I will also showcase some areas of the game that never made it to release! There's a lot lol.
Design in progress - Front cover to the 'Art & Inspirations of Neyyah'
Is there anything you would like to see explored more in the 'Arts & Inspirations' book?
I hope you are all enjoying your adventures in Neyyah! Be sure to leave a review here in the wonderful Steam realms!
Music used in the video: ''Pink Skies'' by Aaron Gwynaire ''Vamir's Quarters'' by Zaedyn Turner.
The Neyyah OST is available here on Steam: Enjoy!!
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One week after launch!!
Hello adventurers! I hope you're enjoying your time in Neyyah, discovering its many mysteries and soaking up all the world has to offer. Seven years in development, and it finally hit the Steam waves on the 2nd September, opening its portal to a very excited and PATIENT community (it had been a long wait lol). I was also very excited to finally get Neyyah out into the world, and the response has been amazing!!
I want to thank everyone who's jumped in so far! Thank you for all feedback, and I aim to act fast on any bugs / glitches cropping up here and there. The Steam discussions is the best place for any questions - I'm checking every day, and respond fast, aiming to get patches up at least once if not twice a day! Making Neyyah the best experience it can be for everyone.
The video I'm sharing just goes into my thoughts after a week: how I'm feeling after all the build-up to the launch, seeing the responses and reactions to something I've spent just over seven years pouring my life into ... It's a bizarre feeling for sure.
Do check out my recent interview with Talal at FRVR which answers a lot of questions moving forward with Neyyah, and it's seven year development journey: https://frvr.com/blog/myst-spiritual-successor-neyaah-creator-believes-players-are-craving-something-that-quenches-that-nostalgic-retro-thirst-as-new-game-launches/
Be sure to leave a Steam review!
Thanks again to all you amazing adventurers out there!!
.YY.
WAHEEY!! Neyyah is OUT! The portal has opened, and the world of Neyyah awaits :)
SO keen to finally have Neyyah out there and ready for adventurers to jump in, get lost, discover and realise what this world is all about!
So much life, energy and drive has been pushed into to bringing this enormous project to reality, and now, today on the 2nd September 2025, Neyyah is available to buy and play and discover and make your own on Steam!
Over the next while, I'll be available to discuss feedback and fixing bugs - catch me on the Neyyah Steam discussions page! Very keen to see how you're all fairing in this vast mysterious world you are about to step foot on for the first time!
Please leave a review when you can, helping Neyyah out there in the Steam universe :)
The portal plasma sizzles in anticipation of new arrivals ...
While I'm excited for myself to get this out there, to achieve this goal in my life, I'm also very excited for all of you too! Thank you for all your patience, support and love over these last years! Its been an insane journey, hours of incredible passion and drive, and sacrifice! Outside of fixes / patches, and catching up on exercise and playing a ton of games lol, I endeavour to build on my Youtube channel. This will explore my journey more - experiences, fails, successes, and challenges a long a seven year development cycle, solo deving mostly, while collaborating with some exceptionally talented individuals and companies. I also aim to influence and inspire others to get out, jump on a dream and make it a reality.
Neyyah awaits, adventurer!
Neyyah awaits ...
.YY.
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Neyyah, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Neyyah statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.