With the big summer update, Nightingale is set to experience a second spring.
The studio behind the survival game Nightingale is preparing for a major update: The game, developed by former Bioware developers led by Aaryn Flynn, has been in Early Access since February and has received mixed reviews.
Despite praise for the world design and crafting mechanics, the game has not been completely convincing so far. It has 63 percent positive Steam reviews and of the almost 48,000 simultaneous players at release, only a fraction remains – currently only around 150 players are online.
How to get Nightingale back on track
In a recent video update, Flynn admitted that the team is unhappy with the state of the game so far.
Link to YouTube content
Both the number of players and the general mood of the community do not meet the developers’ expectations.
That’s why Inflexion Games is planning extensive changes to the game’s core systems, including the procedurally generated worlds, called Realms, that you visit in the game.
The focus is particularly on adjustments that are intended to bring more structure into the game.
Flynn explained that the team is working to give players a clearer sense of progression and to make the differences between realms more prominent. Player feedback had suggested that the worlds often feel too similar and repetitive.
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Nightingale: We fight wolves, collect resources and return home
Neil Thompson, Art Director and Head of Audio at Inflexion, added that the game has so far almost too open and self-motivated
which made it difficult for some players to set clear goals.
To counteract this, a traditional yet exciting structure is being developed to improve the gaming experience.
The update, which is planned for the end of the summer, will, among other things, loosen the restrictions on base building to give you more creative freedom when building your virtual home.
However, the team stressed that a lot of work is still needed to seamlessly integrate the planned improvements. However, Flynn and Thompson are optimistic and describe the new version as Nightingale, but better.
