Nightingale, the eagerly anticipated open-world crafting survival game from Inflexion Games, led by former Bioware boss Aaryn Flynn, is set to receive a major update this summer. Flynn and art and audio director Neil Thomson recently shared their insights in a YouTube video, expressing dissatisfaction with Nightingale's current state. The game, which entered early access in February, has seen a series of quality of life (QoL) improvements and bug fixes. Notably, the much-requested offline mode was added a few months ago, much to the delight of fans. Now, the team is focused on enhancing the game to align with their original vision and address its shortcomings.
"We are not satisfied with where the game is at, we're not satisfied with the overall sentiment, we're not satisfied with our player numbers," Flynn stated. Nightingale invites players to explore the mysterious and dangerous Fae Realms. However, Thomson pointed out that the game might be "almost too open world, too self-motivated in terms of goal-setting." To address this, Inflexion Games plans to introduce "more structure" to the gameplay. This includes clearer progression indicators, specific goals, and enhanced designs for realms to combat the feeling of repetition that some players have experienced.
"We do love the game very much, but we do think there's a lot of room to improve it," Flynn remarked. "One big way that we want to improve it is to bring more structure to the overall experience. What I mean by that is more sense of you as a player progressing; a better understanding of what you can do, a better understanding of the differences between these Realms." The upcoming update will also feature higher build limits, enabling players to create larger and more complex structures. Flynn teased that previews of this new content will be available in the coming weeks.
Despite its 'Mixed' ratings on Steam, Nightingale is seeing an increase in positive reviews, with about 68% of new reviews being favorable. Flynn and Thomson expressed gratitude for the player community's support and welcomed all feedback. "We played this new version really recently, and there's still a bit more work to do, but I think it's elevated it quite a bit, but obviously you'll all be the judge of that when we bring this thing out," Flynn concluded.
Echoing the sentiments of both fans and the developers, Game8 also noted that Nightingale currently offers little guidance and overcomplicates simpler aspects like crafting. For a detailed analysis, you can read our comprehensive review on Nightingale by clicking on the link below.
