The Neverhood is a point-and-click adventure built almost entirely out of clay. Designed by Doug TenNapel and Mark Lorenzen, it was published by DreamWorks Interactive for Windows on 30 October 1996. TenNapel had imagined the plasticine world back in 1988; after leaving Shiny Entertainment in 1995 he founded The Neverhood, Inc.
The developers said they used over three tons of clay for the characters and sets, and development took about a year. The soundtrack was composed by Terry Scott Taylor, frontman of Daniel Amos.
A PlayStation port by Riverhillsoft came out only in Japan, on 23 April 1998, under the title Klaymen Klaymen. The game was a commercial failure in the US, but it gained a cult following in Russia and Iran thanks to bootleg copies; in Russia it was known through two pirate translations with Russian voices. Its sequel is the PlayStation platformer Skullmonkeys (1998), and Armikrog (2015) is a spiritual successor.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | The Neverhood | Windows | Oct 30, 1996 | DreamWorks Interactive | 1 |
| JP | クレイマン・クレイマン 〜ネバーフッドの謎〜Kureiman Kureiman: Nebāfuddo no NazoJapan-only PlayStation port by Riverhillsoft. | PlayStation | Apr 23, 1998 | Riverhillsoft | 1 |
Also known as: Klaymen Klaymen JP1クレイマン・クレイマン 〜ネバーフッドの謎〜 JP1Kureiman Kureiman: Nebāfuddo no Nazo JP1The Neverhood: A Curious Wad of Klay Finds His Soul NA1Небывальщина RU2НЕВЕРьвХУДо RU2Неверхуд RU2
Box art by region
NA The Neverhood
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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ContentPlayStation (JP)
The Japanese PlayStation version removes the Hall of Records, the famously long corridor from the PC game.1
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GameplayPlayStation (JP)
Loading between rooms takes longer on PlayStation than on PC.1
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TextRussian pirate (Dyadyushka Risyoch)
The Dyadyushka Risyoch pirate translation replaces the history in the Hall of Records with jokes, adds nods to Windows and Tuborg beer, and even gives the silent hero a full spoken line.2
Translations
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cs Fan
—2026Windows · PC versionReleased
Fan-made Czech subtitles were released in 2026.1
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Russian Fan
—2022Windows · PC versionReleased
Fan-made Russian subtitles appeared in 2022, following a Russian dub from 1997.1
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Russian Pirate
Дядюшка РисёчWindows · PC versionReleased · complete
A pirate Russian translation with text and voice by Dyadyushka Risyoch, released as «НЕВЕРьвХУДо».2
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Russian Pirate
Фаргус / PC BohemeWindows · PC versionReleased · complete
A pirate Russian translation with text and voice released as «Небывальщина»; Russian Wikipedia credits PC Boheme and Fargus.2
How to run it today
ScummVM has supported The Neverhood since version 1.7.0 (21 July 2014), so the original game data runs on modern systems; a fan restoration project also added compatibility fixes in 2013.
- ScummVM scummvm.org
Reception
Critics praised the visuals and characters, but sales were weak: 37,000 copies in the US by August 1997 and just over 50,000 overall, although Gateway pre-installed hundreds of thousands of OEM copies. It won Adventure of the Year from Computer Games Strategy Plus and Best Adventure Game from CNET Gamecenter for 1996.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.