Aerial_Knight’s We Never Yield Review – Double the Trouble

Aerial_Knight’s We Never Yield is an auto-runner parkour platformer with a slick presentation and soundtrack to boot. The game is the follow-up to 2021’s Never Yield and takes players to a strange medieval world. We Never Yield builds upon almost every aspect of the first game, except its simple, yet fun, gameplay.  

Developer & Publisher // Aerial_Knight, BetaJester & Headup
Platforms // PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
MSRP & Release Date // $14.99, July 16, 2024
Reviewed On // PC

We Never Yield and its Serviceable Narrative

As described by Aerial_Knight himself, We Never Yield is a follow-up and not necessarily a sequel to Never Yield. In other words, you don’t have to play the first game to understand the events of We Never Yield. The game does provide a nice recap of what transpired in Never Yield.

After being teleported from the streets of Detroit to a mystical medieval kingdom, Wally wakes up and frees his imprisoned and masked twin Lone. The two escape and are chased by minions of the evil Queen Karmic. 

While the story isn’t exhilarating, it does provide a decent backdrop and motivation for the characters. The narrative doesn’t overstep its boundaries and sets up what it is meant to do. There’s even a nice twist at the end that suggests setting up a third entry in the series, which was exciting to see.

Dodge, Dip, Duck, and Dive

Similar to the first game, We Never Yield continues that simple, yet addictive, runner parkour formula. In the game, you will jump, slide, attack, and interact with objectives to stay alive during each level. Each action is color-coded which is extremely helpful. Purple infers a slide is needed, red is jump, yellow is for interactable objects like switches and zip lines,  while blue signals an attack is coming up. At the end of each level, you’ll get a rating (three-star system) based on your run. These stars can then be turned in for cosmetic goodies at safe zones.

Since you’re controlling both Wally and Lone, there are two sets of controls for each character. The arrow keys are set for Wally, while you control Lone through WASD. Since Lone is slightly ahead of Wally, I used him as a reference to time my inputs and it worked out well. The only input issues I faced involved the yellow interact button, which sometimes didn’t register the input. However, spamming the interact button ahead of time usually remedied any issue. 

We Never Yield Offers a Variety of Co-Op Options

The dual protagonists in We Never Yield naturally set up a co-op quite well. Players can control one of the characters or can divide the controls between one character. It’s a nice co-op setup. I tried it out with my 5-year-old daughter since she is familiar with games such as Subway Surfers. To both of our surprise, it worked very well and was quite enjoyable. It definitely was a proud gaming parent moment.

However, if controlling two characters at the same time becomes overwhelming, there’s a Chill Mode option available. This will dial back the stress and just pit one character for players to control.

Super Mode

We Never Yield features a “Super Mode” that becomes available once the meter is filled. Players fill the meter by pulling off consecutive actions without dying. In essence, Super Mode provides time-limited invulnerability. No doubt it is extremely useful, however, activating the mode has a long cutscene sequence that cannot be skipped. So, it can be a slight nuisance when activating, but the payoff is worth it.   

We Never Yield has five chapters with three levels. At a leisurely rate, I was able to complete the game in around two hours. I initially started on the easy difficulty mainly because of the explicit disclaimer from the dev team that the game is challenging. To my surprise, I found the easier difficulty was more of a nuisance than the middle “hard” difficulty. More specifically, the easy mode had long pauses before obstacles and that threw off my timing. After the second episode, I quickly changed to the hard difficulty and things were more my speed (pun intended).

Safe Zones

Between each chapter, there are safe zones where players control Wally from a third-person perspective. In the safe zones, players can talk to Lone, access the outfit and weapon shops, and even save the game via the drone. I accidentally stumbled across the save feature, as it was not clear. Moreover, there’s no clear benefit to creating a save file as you can access any level you like at a whim.  Admittedly, the safe zone segments are quite awkward to control as Wally feels stiff as a log when moving around. 

Safe zones are also where you can use the stars you earn to buy outfits and weapons. These are purely cosmetic options that don’t impact the gameplay at all. This was the right call since it kept it consistent with the simple nature of the gameplay. Conversely, safe zones are also where we get any semblance of character development. 

Sleek Presentation

No doubt We Never Yield immensely stepped up its presentation from its predecessor. Throughout levels, the camera will change angles, pan out, or focus on one of the characters. Naturally, this creates slick presentations that ooze with style. Though when switching angles, it can be discombobulating in terms of keeping track of which character input to overcome obstacles. In some of the later levels, there will be vehicles/mounts that Wally and Lone use, and those sequences were thrilling, despite no changes to gameplay mechanics.

Phenomenal Art Style and Mixed Graphics

There is a clear dichotomy when it comes to the graphics and art style in We Never Yield. When it comes to its art style, it is impressive. The anime/comic book-style character designs are phenomenal and distinctive. Wally, Lone, and Queen Karmic look immaculate and the cel-shaded art style complements character design beautifully. Even the giant head sculptures and 2D Chao-like creatures that are sprinkled throughout levels look fantastic. In contrast, environments look bland, dated, and uninspiring. 

The environments look like they would fit in with games from 20 years ago. Environments such as medieval-style bridges and towns were quite forgettable. It’s clear that the environment design didn’t receive that same attention compared to the characters. However, that is probably due to the game being a runner and the frame is constantly moving. 

We Never Yield Performance is Inconsistent

Playing the Steam version of We Never Yield seems to be a different experience from the Xbox Series X|S version. Running on a Radeon RX 5700xt, Ryzen 7 5700x, and 16 GB of DDR4 memory, I was averaging above 300 frames per second. However, it didn’t feel like a smooth experience.

Depending on the difficulty you set, there are slight pauses right before obstacles and sometimes they just feel prolonged and offputting. There’s a lot of noticeable clipping, especially when vaulting over obstacles. Moreover, the interact animation is also not authentic. For example, when pulling a lever, the character will simply move its arm and not actually grasp and move the lever. It’s a minor issue, but it should still be noted. 

Fantastic Audio Design

Unlike the predecessor, We Never Yield is fully voice-acted. Undoubtedly, this helps flesh out the twins and their relationship. Wally is more of an upbeat and charismatic character, while Zone is more reserved and stoic in nature. Both their unique personalities add banter to their relationship, but they eventually come to a common ground that is rewarding and well-executed. 

Hands down the We Never Yield soundtrack is phenomenal. Encompassing all types of genres, all the tracks hit. From hip-hop, jazz, and even some rock, all the tracks are top-notch. In fact, as mentioned in our preview, the We Never Yield soundtrack is available on Band Camp.   

Final Thoughts on Aerial_Knight’s We Never Yield

Despite some technical hiccups, We Never Yield is a simple, yet enjoyable, auto-runner. Its sleek presentation, art style, and phenomenal soundtrack are the true stars of the show. We Never Yield doubles the first game in every aspect and then some.

Final Score: 7.0/10

Pros

• Fantastic Soundtrack
• Great Character Models
• Solid Presentation
• Affordable Price Point
• Decent Amount of Cosmetics to Unlock

Cons

• Animation Issues and Clipping
• Bland Environments
• Terrible Controls During Safe Zones
• Interact Input Some Times Not Being Detected