After a tough launch for gorgeous fantasy survival game Nightingale, developer Inflexion Games seems to have really righted the ship. Despite studio layoffs, continued updates including the major Realms Rebuilt overhaul have brought new life to one of 2024’s prettiest open-world games and restored player opinion along the way. As the year nears its close, Infexion CEO Aaryn Flynn and art director Neil Thompson reveal a final update for 2024, and there are a couple of very welcome improvements on the cards.
At the end of October, Inflexion confirmed that “dozens” of staff were being laid off as the game hadn’t reached the level of success needed to maintain its size. Despite this, work on Nightingale continues, and Flynn says the team is “proud of what we’ve accomplished to date.” In the new developer update, he notes that the survival game is now “the highest rated on Steam it’s ever been.”
83% of Steam reviews submitted for Nightingale over the past 30 days recommend it, and the overall score continues to climb – it’s now at 66% positive, and thus close to escaping the dreaded ‘mixed’ label at last. But there’s one more “very big” upgrade on the cards before 2024 comes to a close, and rather fittingly it’s called the Nightingale winter update.
Flynn says the biggest part of this patch is the new NPC automation system, which he notes has been in development for a long time. “We believe in the potential for NPCs to augment and enhance and really grow the world,” he explains. You’ll be able to recruit NPCs and assign them jobs to do. You can also set up a Listen server, allowing one player to host a world for all their friends to join, giving you more control over your co-op games.
Another very welcome change is a new version of build mode. Thompson calls this “a vast improvement” that “allows you to build faster [and] get access to your tilesets much quicker.” He notes that players familiar with the old system might take a little while to adapt, but that it will be well worth it in the long run. Augments can also now be assigned to tables to save you time.
The game’s first Fae tile set (called Obsidian) has arrived to enable some more fantastical designs. “I think the team continues to find really cool ways to dig into the Fae side of the game,” Flynn adds, “which is something I think we still haven’t really dug deep enough in yet – so all through next year I think we’ll try and explore more of that.” Building on this further are some Fae-themed ring courses that will put your gliding skills to the test.
To celebrate the season, there’s even a winter event. There are new wintery cards that can be used to bring snow to various realms, although you’ll need to watch out for surfaces becoming more slippery. You can throw snowballs around, and there are new outfits, decorations, and a pet to get your hands on. Hopefully, Inflexion will keep the trend from Halloween and allow these rewards to be earned even after the event comes to a close.
The Nightingale winter update is out now on the Public Test Realm, and will be made available in the full game on Tuesday December 17. If you want to give it an early look on the PTR, you can do so by right-clicking the game in your Steam library, heading to ‘properties,’ then ‘betas,’ and choosing the Public Test Realm option.
For even more magical realms to explore, find plenty of worlds to frolic in among the best fantasy games on PC. If scale and spectacle is your greatest desire, 2024’s best open-world games will be a wonderful treat.
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