Nightingale
Nightingale is a PVE open-world survival crafting game played solo or cooperatively with friends. Build, craft, fight and explore as you venture through mystical portals into a variety of amazing and fantastical realms.
You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the collapse of the arcane portal
network. This catastrophe has left you fighting to survive in a labyrinth of beautiful and dangerous Fae realms.
Your goal: become a skilled Realmwalker, and navigate the web of transdimensional portals. Only then can you discover your way to the magical city of Nightingale, the last known bastion of humanity.
Prepare to make your way through Faewild forests, harrowing swamps, and shimmering deserts as you unlock the portals leading deeper into the lands of Fae. Cook meals, build shelter and muster the spirit to persevere in the face of adversity.
Craft tools to harvest trees, ore, and plants, along with rarer resources found deep in the realms. Discover new schematics and assemble the equipment and weapons you need to survive. Using specialized ingredients and arcane technologies, you can enhance your gear with magical properties.
Design and construct an impressive estate from a variety of styles and tilesets. Upgrade and customize your structures, and form communities to safely live off the land. You can even recruit NPC workers to help harvest resources as you work to expand your property.
Freely roam expansive realms, where stunning visuals will transport you into a mystical Gaslamp Fantasy world. Find the abandoned remnants of past Realmwalker expeditions, investigate mysterious Fae architecture, search shadowy subterranean caves, and scout derelict ruins. Through every new portal, beauty and danger await you in equal measure.
Adventure solo, or play cooperatively with your friends in an online shared-world realmscape. Combine your strengths, skills, and resources to survive and thrive together. Work together to build communal estates, join up in uncovering the mysteries of the realms, and unite in facing the challenges of the Fae.
Craft and wield a variety of melee weapons and firearms to confront the fearsome creatures that lurk in the portal network, including twisted Fae mimicries of humanity known only as the Bound. Gather your strength and join other players against colossal apex creatures found in the deepest reaches of the realms.
Assemble a miscellany of Realm Cards to reshape the landscape of your next destination. While each realm will feature new dangers, discoveries, and surprises, you have the power to influence its design, including prevalence of hostiles, abundance of resources, and even the environment itself.
Steam User 1376
Very long post -- verdict -- Greatest potential in a game ever. Top rating.
Finally. I'm 70 years old and have been gaming since my Amiga computer in the '80s. I do NOT play 1st person games because I suck at them. I love crafting and building. However, my 2nd most played game (following Rimworld) is 7 Days to Die with 2600 hours. I don't really like 7DtD. I'm not into the whole zombie thing. I don't like the run-down broken environment. I don't like the whole horde attack thing. The character graphics really suck and, after 10+ yrs in EA, there's still no story at all. I do like the survival aspects, provided I can dial them down to grandma level, which I can do in 7DtD. And I love the voxel-based crafting and building that does not look like Leggo.
I always dreamed of a game where I could actually be a character in a beautiful world. Not a linear story RPG, but an RPG-like game with progression, good graphics, and Nightingale gives that. The gear-based progression is as good as any other system of character growth. The grind is the same as in any crafting/gathering game. And I actually get that "Gee, I wonder what that is over there!" feeling...often. Even though there's a lot of unfilled space, there are enough little encounters with animals and sites to keep the exploration great. I like the building mechanics; not as fiddly as the voxel-style. I don't see 3D irl, so this is much easier.
There are obviously issues. Some examples: The keyboard keys lose focus frequently (ESC stops working periodically...thank you for the Close button). It's 50/50 whether you load properly or get a tool bar of shovels (TAB, run cursor over them brings back the icons). The slight rest potion does nothing at all. How to close a window is very inconsistent. And I will very often lose connectivity when changing realms. So the game isn't what I would call "stable" yet. And if you remember the launch of any MMO back a few years, you'll recognize the feeling of frustration with servers that won't let you in. But the game works pretty well for me. Yes, I play on grandma difficulty, but the realm tailoring is what stands out. I can adjust difficulties in-game. The crafting system is quite fiddly -- OK by me -- and the interface is funky but I got used to it.
All in all, this is the game I've been waiting nearly 40 years for people and technology to make. Thank you Inflexion Games. I don't know how much time I've got left, but you've made the gaming ride worthwhile after all.
Steam User 600
I Like It So Far....BUT
Have dropped a few hours in now and want to give some honest feedback.
The Good
First, the graphics are damn good, I mean their in the holy hell look at that category of good. The building mechanics are nice though early game your options do limit your creativity a little. The soundtrack similarly is very nice. Character outfits are great with the capacity for a lot of customisation.
The Okay
The harvesting mechanics though grindy are fairly easy to grasp. The weight of the melee weapons/tools feels good. It feels like your hitting stuff when you use it. The stamina system is not to punishing and makes you approach fights slightly carefully.
The Character creator is ok, but needs some more customisation options. In particular in designing the players eyes and jawline. It also needs a wider variety of voice options.
The Bad
The start of the game is dull, very frigging dull. This is very concerning as I can picture many players refunding the game before the time limit simply because of how dull the opening is. I hope the Dev's add some spectacle or drama to the start. I'm not talking Michael Bay levels of spectacle,but something that will grab a new player like say a Christopher Nolan movie ;P.
Tying into this, is the whole Puck as a guide thing. He is far from a likeable or interesting character. A central character such as this needs personality alot of personality. This again may put players off of the game. Though I get this is the aesthetic and style the Dev's are trying to imbue the game with, I would be concerned it may appeal to a limited audience.
The enemy AI is weak, very weak which is a shame as they look amazing.
I urge people to get past the opening stages of the game and give it a good try, though this does remove the refund option. Perhaps Steam should look at extended refund windows for survival crafters.......
Steam User 746
Very much enjoying the game so far! I do see alot of negativity but almost all of it seems to be a lack of prior research into the game. For anyone reading this, i want to give a quick explanation on the basic mechanics and the pain points often mentioned, so:
Always Online:
Every "Realm" is a server, every combination of cards is like a server code basically. So, yes, the game needs to be online even if your single player, I sure wouldnt want my PC running the 5 different servers im going between at my base currently lol I can understand that some people are bothered by it, but I have also had no server issues at all in my experience so far.
Crafting:
This isnt a "Survival Lite" game. It is not palworld or Enshrouded at all. This game is like an older style survival with many layers of in-depth crafting and building. For example, One Saw Table can have 5 or more modifying building pieces. These are usually a fun decoration to go with what its modifyng, like a saw horse or a saw stand and things. Building these gives new recipes for the saw stand. If the Saw Stand has lights you put up nearby, and a roof, it modifies the crafting time! You also need to Realm-Travel for new recipes for the saw table, what wood you use on the table also changes the look of the outcome item, such as purple wood, or orange etc. Once you make a product, lets say its equippable, you then can make an augment for the product and also level up the product to increase its level. Augments have their own crafting station and there is tons of recipes to learn and make. These are like modifiers to increase damage, durability, weight, even playstyle on weapons and many other things. All of that to make one product your proud of on the Saw Table. Then, you can start going to even higher tier realms and find an even better table to do even more! So, with that small example, you see that there is a ton of depth to be had here that I have personally been looking for in a survival game for a while.
The Exploring:
It's fun and the environments are very pretty, there are dungeons to delve, Magical creatures to behold and even interact with, quests to follow, puzzles to solve, hidden caves to find, NPCs to aid and even recruit and bosses to find and defeat! As you get into higher tier realms, you start running into mobs with better ai and that are much more threatening than the grass hoppers trying to eat you in your desert starting realm. Mobs also take better damage from different damage types which can be a fun challenge when all you brought was a maul and this hippo could care less lol
Building:
The system I have also found quite enjoyable. It uses a blue-print system similar to Day-Z, so you can fully sketch out what you want to build first, and then you and your friends or even your NPC buddy can get the needed mats and just interact anywhere in the 3D blue-print. This will auto-take all those materials you carried and apply them. Rinse and Repeat and now your beautiful box, or family home, is complete :) You can find more detailed and better Tile-sets as you progress into harder realms. So yes, inverted roof pieces, pillars, railings, and triangle pieces exist for those builders who know the potential that means! There is also a farming system for my fellow players who get too caught up hand-watering 45 plots/flower pots and cooking things lol
Survival Jank:
It is a survival game. If you have EVER played one, there is a special jank that they all have sometimes. Like your NPC follower will teleport to your roof for some alone time, or a boss yeeted you down a mountainside, or your NPC vanished when you dismissed him and you come home to him trying to harvest your decorative trees much to your horror, or a tree monster has opted into the new air travel program. Sometimes you travel to your home realms starting point instead of your assigned Respite. It happens, and honestly, the jank in this game is much much less obtrusive than other games in the genre that have been out for years now.
The UI and Sorting:
It is a little different than other titles, which I like. We need more creativity and less copy-paste. It uses a folder system similar to current Ark's engram system when looking for blueprints, unfortunately, it defaults to some folders being open so it can get a little cluttered when trying to find the correct "folder". This is remedied by just using the search bar offered above the blueprints. The crafting table UI does have some quick buttons in the bottom, so I had no issue quickly making food or just quick inserting mats to make for a item I just needed in bulk. The quick buttons have a "Fill All Slots" and a button to make as many as you have mats for. You can take your time to put in higher quality or specific mats if you so choose for a higher quality or different looking item. The game does have a challenge system similar to Conan to follow for some simple goals but you do need to find it in the guidebook.The game wont tell you. For sorting, ive seen some pain-points about it but all chests have the ability to label them and when your in the chests inventory UI, or your own, you can change how you want to view the items as a sorting method. I.E ABC, Weight, Newest etc.
The Tutorial:
Its fine? Does it give you a good sense of the game? not really. It's a small lore intro to get you some context of the world and shows you the very basics of the game and as well as small bare-bones versions of 3 of the biomes. Magic was never really explained, nor how to use umbrellas, and the in depth crafting is up to the player to discover. This is very fine to me, but I see alot of people complaining about it. At least it even has a tutorial lol lots of Survival titles simply do not, especially in an early access launch.
The Combat:
Have you ever played Skyrim? pretty much that with a little extras. You can headshot, and heart shot for some extra interest, the knife has a built in dash/dodge, and guns can be pretty fun. The combat opens up once you get modifiers into your weapons. For example: An Augment can give you a dps boost after blocking, or the more you shoot with a gun on a crit spot, your dps stacks higher and higher, or your hammer now has a big aoe ground slam. But the early game, its gonna be the ol classic, dodge left and hit enemy, rinse and repeat. Your early mobs have very simple "jump at you angrily" ai until you get into some of your dungeons and harder worlds. The mobs also don't seem to have a proximity spawn to the player, so you will encounter them just kind of appearing on top of you sometimes when they spawn in. For what this game wants to be, its pretty decent overall! If you really want a fun an in-depth combat focused Survival game, thats Conan Exiles.
Followers:
You can have one NPC that you recruit. They carry ALOT of supplies. They can be given different tasks determined by what you equip them with (this is very limited though, they are not that great at it) Pick=mine stuff as you travel, Axe= Harvest Wood, A Weapon=help me fight, and so on. They also put the mats from their inventory into a blue-print that you interact with. Thats about all. Their AI is pretty lackluster overall and they dont speak. They have a short tether range to you and will teleport to you when you are too far from each other. They don't always finish harvesting what they were working on either. If they go down in a fight, you can just help them up and they will help you when your down as well. Needs a bit of work still but im happy for the helping hand regardless and its a good start for the devs to build upon.
In Summary:
I'm enjoying my experience with the game, but the game style isnt for everyone and thats okay! The Survival genre has all kinds of games with their own specific focus. I have already found the game worth the price and I haven't even gotten to Nightengale yet! haha
I might add more details and format better later on <3
Steam User 226
For all my chill builders who want a pretty new world to explore and love building mansions on waterfalls this game is for you
I am a conan exiles, ark, no man's sky, gamer and I played all for the building and exploring. Nightengale is a great addition to your library if you too love building and exploring with your friends in a pretty chill environment.
My breakdown
*The lore is very compelling, I hope that is expanded upon.
*Being able to place down building pieces as an outline and then add resources to multiple blocks at a time, chefs kiss.
*Sure your AI recruit might be an idiot, and will definitely cut down your tress, but they will also carry your stuff, rezz you, and you can steal their cool hats. They'll also help you build your house. Don't want them to deforest anymore? Just take their axe away, give them pickaxe instead, watch them work like a doedicurus.
*Getting mocked by Puck? Am here for it.
*Combinations of realm cards for more POIs to explore? All the dopamine.
*Tracking down vendors to get those sweet furniture blueprints, I know that's right.
*Ability to put every realm you visit on easy mode? Nightengale can we get married?
It's not without it's flaws, and the devs have plenty of work to do to really make this polish, but it's a fantastic start, worth your money and really fun to play. Plenty of reviews have talked about the things that this game needs, but if you're a chill gamer it really shouldn't turn you off of picking this one up. I expect this game to give me plenty of dopamine for a good long while, and I'm very excited what the finish product will look like.
If all you wanna do is build, chill, explore and none of the old games in your library are scratching the itch for you anymore, this will give you dopamine.
Steam User 1641
Nightingale is a striking game with some obvious - yet fixable - problems.
I've been following the game for a couple of years now, but the closer it got to launch, the more skeptical I was. It promises a lot, and I went in with my guard up fully expecting it to fall flat and feel sterile and dull.
The first few hours were enjoyable, but nothing revolutionary. Nothing was lighting a fire beneath me. At some point, when you start hopping through portals and discovering new realms, everything clicks. This game puts a compelling spin on a tiring formula - and the deeper I got, the more engrossed I was.
The game has some real problems. Follower and enemy AI is rudimentary. It's missing some key quality-of-life features. The crafting system has so much to it, but it's a slog to use because it's impossible to find which chest you left your materials in. The menus need work, and some systems aren't well explained.
These are all things that I hope will be addressed by the dev soon. Currently, they're stopping a good game from being great. The issues are hard to ignore, but they don't outweigh the strengths of the game in my opinion.
If you're on the fence, it's probably wise to wait for some fixes and improvements to smooth out the experience. If you're excited and able to look past these things - I'd say dive right in. It's a really enjoyable game despite its flaws.
Also - the realm card system is some excellent game design. Oh, and Puck is excellent. Be nice to Puck.
There's also a Shrek easter egg if that sways you one way or another.
Steam User 235
Quirky, weird, sometimes ugly (Character creation needs serious help), sometimes breathtaking (environments). I'm having fun exploring and surviving, and that's what it was advertised to be. I haven't been following this for tons of time or anything, and don't have too many expectations beyond it not being a technical mess. I have had no bugs thus far at all. I'm happy with it.
I have personally not had any technical issues, nor lag, but that doesn't mean that some people aren't. If it suddenly becomes a huge issue I'd change my review, I'm on mostly last gen hardware. People probably need to update drivers.
My personal experience has thus far been enjoyable. I really love survival crafting games, and it's an interesting world worth seeing with puzzles and systems complex enough to entertain my mind for a good while. And it is more fun with friends.
Steam User 238
It's better that the reviews make it seem and so far I am enjoying my time. (I play Solo)
There is actually lots of really interesting concepts and ideas in here.
Further, I really like the Steampunk / Fantasy cross, even if it takes quite a while until you don't feel like a cavedweller anymore...
Once I understood some mechanics it helped a lot:
- essence dust (grey) can be farmed easily with a swamp biome and sickle (water spinach is woth a lot and can be farmed quite fast) or by converting a base resource worth nothing into anything that results in multi-products e.g. rocks to stone pebbles for the slingbow.
- (keeping "interact / e) pressed to collect all items around me made combat, harvesting animal parts and collecting trees a lot more enjoyable and faster.
- if I am travelling over the map I usually have a one-handed dodge weapon (jump up then dodge) and umbrella combo for fast movement and a mini-parachute ;)
- upgrading bench to upgrade the gear to get above the 40 power score needed for the first set of better materials helped a lot
- understanding that the damage weakness of enemies is MORE important than to have a single strong weapon. I used to tackle everything with a sledge hammer as it had the most melee damage BUT i made way more damage by using my lumber axe or pickaxe depending on the enemy vulnerability. Just look if there is an indicator arrow pointing upwards when hitting an enemy to see if the weapon is effective.
- companions are (at least to me) super important as mules (carry weight doesn't matter to them), they can pick you back up and you can quickly pick them up if needed.
But yes there are also a bunch of flaws to be ironed out, some mindboggling.
Here my biggest gripes:
- Bug reporting needs you to register somewhere else and looks like a chaotic mess (at least to me)
- farming plots without cards are a net loss and time waste if you craft the seeds yourself and you don't plan on switching the minor realm cards around.
- some realm cards are broken balancing wise
- some enemies are crazy strong compared to others with AOE through wall attacks and such
- companion AI seems to be broken (they still walk to the next tree after collecting wood even if they only have a sledge hammer in hand) AND they desperately need to have some form of player set behavior. They fill up all fired work stations (even of random NPC camps) with burnable material even rare and high tier material and you then need to actively get it out of the crafting stations and replace it with stuff you don't mind burning. ADDITONALLY they also dump high tier and rare materials into building projects they pass by or need to be build for settler NPCs. Super frustrating if you remembered picking up some new biome material and then its all gone.
- Speaking about building projects, I would love to not have the "auto fill" option as default and the manual select by keeping it pressed. The amount of times I was mad because the smart "auto fill" took something I really didn't want to use because I did not keep it pressed for long enough or accidentally hit e to collect stuff while being to close to a project. Alternatively allow us to get the material out until it is actually completely full and under construction.
So now back to the realms for me, while it could be better it is still an interesting world to discover.
If you are enjoying the game: great.
if you are still undecided or disappointed at the current state, wait for a sale or come back in a couple of patches.
The foundation is good but there is still some work ahead.