Recent reviews by ✪ RedR

I have been looking forward to this game for two years now and so glad it’s finally out. I was a part of the closed alpha playtest and participated in the server stress test as well. The game has come a long way. The devs listened to feedback and have changed things the community voiced, which I feel is a great sign for the future of Nightingale. I plan on updating this review the more I play but here are my thoughts on the game. Buckle up it’s long (TLDR at bottom)

The Servers: Let’s get what a lot of people are complaining about out of the way. It’s an online only game. For now. I do believe, and hope, that Inflexion is working towards being able to run the game off a local machine as well as set up dedicated servers, but for the time being it is online only. I personally do not feel this game deserves a negative review based on that. It should be based on the gameplay, not how it’s accessed (unless you can’t access it at all). I understand why that makes some people upset but let’s be real here, a large number of people have a good internet connection, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I don’t have that good of internet playing on WiFi (in NA) and have had 0 problems in all my time playing the alpha, server testing, and now EA release. This doesn’t mean that other people aren’t having issues and I’m bound to run into server problems eventually. As of 2/22/24, Inflexion put out a notice saying they hear people complaining about no offline play and will be “prioritizing and developing an offline mode that we plan to release as soon as feasible.”

The Tutorial/Character Creation: Character creation is great. Decently in-depth and the cool part is you can set up an ancestry and adjust your characters features based on family members. There are a few things that aren’t available on launch, which is to be expected for EA and isn’t a deal breaker by any means. One thing I would’ve liked to have seen is a HT/WT option, as every Realmwalker is the same in those regards. The tutorial doesn’t take too long and tells you just enough to get you started. Nothing super interesting to point out, it does what a tutorial should- shows you the bare bones of the gameplay and gives you an idea of how to navigate the menus. Nightingale gets more in-depth the more you play, so instead of showing everything in the tutorial, text boxes will pop up giving you a rundown when discovering new things. This was not in testing and is a welcome change.

The Environment: This is THE reason I love Nightingale. It’s so beautiful. Each biome is unique and has its own intricacies. Yes, there are only three biomes for the time being (I believe Inflexion is planning on adding more), however different major cards change the difficulty and appearance of each biome, making it feel unique enough. The puzzles scattered around the Realms aren’t difficult and repeat frequently, but for anyone interested in loot (and a bit of lore), it is worth the extra minute or so to do them. These puzzles also can give to crafting schematics upon completion. There are some naturally generated structures as well, to include other NPC Realmwalkers that you can help for a reward.

The Cards: A nice twist to the typical survival tropes. Instead of having one big map, they use smaller, procedurally generated Realms. Using minor cards at a Transmuter to instantly change how you want to play your Realm is huge. Having to complete Sites of Power to unlock different major cards is an interesting touch, instead of buying the recipe from a trader like most everything. If you find the Sites too easy, your Abeyance Realm (starting Realm) level can be scaled on character creation to your liking. Having the option to go back to a previous Realm or creating a new one after using the same combination of biome and major cards was a very welcome change, as it was not an option pre-EA launch.

The Crafting: A major focus of the genre that some things are done well and others not so much. There are TONS of items, to the point that some things that seem like they should be the same aren’t, which means they take up another inventory slot. Buying crafting recipes from essence traders is kind of a strange game mechanic to me, but it’s a way Inflexion can lock recipes behind harder Realms. The nice part though is in the Guidebook tab you can see what traders sell in each type of Realm, removing the guesswork to see if they will have what you want. That being said, the crafting is pretty in depth which I enjoy. Plenty of different crafting stations with unique designs, especially when you buy higher tier stations. One thing that’s a huge help to me is using the search bar in the building/crafting/glossary tabs. The biggest downside is I REALLY wish there was a way for items to be pulled from storage containers when crafting (Enshrouded magic chests). Hint- extract stone marbles for easy essence early game ❤️

The Building: The building is very much reminiscent of The Forest. The building itself is super modular, but each small item you place is very free to go where you please. Modular isn’t a bad thing by any means. It keeps the builds more realistic and seamless in the environment, and the buildings themselves are pretty too. The one thing that I was confused about at first was the difference between the crafting and building tabs. Crafting creates an item while building creates a placeable object in a Realm.

The Combat: Here is where I feel Nightingale struggles the most. While the combat isn’t bad, it isn’t super engaging. The AI overall isn’t great. The early game is very basic- hitting enemies that lunge at you. As you progress, the enemies gradually become more varied and dynamic. You start learning how to use enchantments, which makes it feel better, but the harder enemies still feel like they’re just a big health bar. I haven’t gotten to mess around with the firearms too much, but during alpha testing the shotgun seemed way too close range to be worth it and the pistol’s dps was just not good. The rifle though had a good weight and damage, and was by far my favorite weapon. Some enemies are susceptible to specific damage types, so choosing the right weapon is important and adds a bit more depth to the combat

The NPCs: I haven’t had much experience yet on the story NPCs but will also update as I play. Puck’s VA is great though, he truly does feel like who he is meant to be. Much like combat, the follower AI is lackluster and needs some work. Unsurprisingly, they will hold items and you can equip them with different gear. To get them to do specific things in kind of annoying as they essentially mirror whatever the player is doing. Oh, you’re crafting or building items? Let me put more wood on the fire (if they have a fuel source in their inventory, otherwise they will pull from a chest if you check a box that allows them to) or put some materials on a schematic you put down (this part is actually pretty helpful imo). Oh, hey, you’re cutting down trees? Let me collect materials for which ever tool I have equipped. This means if your follower has both an axe and a pickaxe in their inventory, but has the axe equipped and you’re going around collecting stone, they will only cut down trees and probably leave some logs on the ground. Early game they’re ok for combat scenarios, but later down the road if you don’t give them better gear they’re not super helpful. Which I guess makes sense

TLDR: Nightingale in its current state is an 8.5/10. There are definitely things that need worked on and some things that are done well. Online only kinda sucks but that alone does not constitute a negative review. Yes there may be some things missing, but you are buying an early access game, and it’s only $30. AI isn’t great but the building/crafting is decent and the environments/lore is phenomenal. All in all, I can easily see myself putting 60+ hours into it, and trust me, I will probably hit that number pretty quick.

You click cookies

Absolutely stunning

I need a weapon.

Bad game its gr8 m8 ign r8 8/8

All that is needed to know- The cake is a lie

Unfortunately a short story compaired to Portal 2, but is extremely fun and a ust play for any gamer

Skyrim has given me hours and hours of entertainment. There are so many different quests available, so if you get bored with the really long Thieves Guild quest, you can put that on hold and do the much shorter College of Winterhold quest.
WARNING: This game can cause high levels of anger and accomplishment when fighting/ beating difficult enemies above your level

Also be wary of extremely long missions (Yes, Im looking at you, Alftand...)

Mods make this game so much more fun, adding hours of endless entertainment and unsurpassed visials