Nightingale has a few strong arguments: Ex-Bioware developers, an unused setting, cool ideas – but one day after release, the Steam reviews still look very poor
So if there’s one target group that shouldn’t be complaining in 2024, it’s survival fans. The market is currently flooded with so many favorites that we have to pin little reminders to our screens to tell Enshrouded, Palworld and now Nightingale apart. Just kidding, of course: Enshrouded was the one with the Pokémon
So: Nightingale. The survival game set in a kind of Victorian fantasy age just launched in Steam’s Early Access on February 20, 2024. The project is being developed by ex-Bioware employees, among others, who have formed the new studio Inflexion Games to create their own personal fantasy worlds
Nightingale has some pretty big plus points on paper: competent developers, an unused scenario, the game also looks very chic in the trailers, promises varied, procedural worlds, base building, cool battles – and all that even in the Early Access version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10wM2fsGRto
But not all players are satisfied with the initial result. On Steam, Nightingale currently has a measly 55 percent positive Steam reviews with over 2,000 reviews submitted.
What are Steam players annoyed about?
Interestingly, the three biggest points of criticism have nothing to do with the gameplay itself, but relate solely to the gameplay itself:
- The performance of the game: Many people complain about crashes, performance problems and bugs.
- Server and network problems: People complain about lags, server crashes and other connection problems – and these are particularly serious here because …
- The game is always-on: Even though Nightingale is great to play solo, you still have to be permanently connected to the online servers. That’s why you can’t pause the game to take your dog for a walk, for example.
Steam user Andevar is one critic among many:
I expressly disapprove of the always-on compulsion! Period! That’s not appropriate for games that you can also play solo. I haven’t had any lag or anything like that, but what if the servers go down? Your own internet goes on strike? You want to play a solo game comfortably in places without internet? The argument about ‘collecting development data’ puts me off. It should be up to everyone to decide whether they want to share data or not
Steam user Andevar
But there is also criticism of the game itself, especially the battles are still too fiddly, as are the controls, and some players criticize the lack of comfort features, especially when building bases.
There are also positive voices
There is also a lot of constructive and positive feedback about the game on Steam and Reddit. For example Reddit user Cannabination, who has written a very extensive post:
I find the pacing of Nightingale very refreshing, especially after the frenetic sprint through Enshrouded with quest markers everywhere and no need for base building. On the one hand I like to explore a world freely, but on the other I want to have to return to my base to upgrade and rest. I like the world with its ruined towers for a short rest or as a base for my own dwelling. And I like the graphics. And that I can dive in deep water. After Valheim, I’m a big fan of the atmosphere Nightingale wants to create with light and sound. The game doesn’t quite reach the atmosphere of Valheim yet, but it’s already much better than Enshrouded.
Reddit User Cannabination
Nightingale is certainly finding its audience, with almost 50,000 players logging in at the same time at launch. On the one hand, many fans are lenient because the game is in Early Access, while others see the current situation as proof that Nightingale has been built on completely false foundations from day one. What do you think?
