Nightingale's visual is undoubtedly the most stunning feature of the game, and its 'Victorian gas-lamp' atmosphere pervades throughout. Even though you go from one dimension to another in the hopes of returning to your home planet of Nightingale, everything feels like it belongs and fits in.Your first experiences are with hostile animals that resembles Lovecraft creatures, and the Bound - interdimensional entities that exist between worlds - may easily be from Call of Cthulu. You'll also face far more powerful enemies, such as a Sun Giant, whom we first meet in the middle of a marsh.
There appear to be two methods to approach such a beast. You can make an offering, in this case a spyglass. If the present appeases the giant, you will be awarded with resources. Otherwise, the giant grows enraged, forcing you to run or battle. Naturally, the sun giant ignored the meager spy glass, and things swiftly worse.
Gameplay :
Combat is quick but mindful: because ammo is incredibly limited, every shot counts, thus targeting one of the Sun Giant's vulnerable points - in this case, either its skull or the pendant around its neck - is critical. Every time you land a hit, numbers appear on screen, and when the sun giant fires a blinding blast from its medallion, devastating rays of blazing light arc across the battlefield. But those blasts generate heat, which you can exploit to your advantage by riding the updraft into the sky with your umbrella and attacking from above. Link would be proud.
Although killing such massive and terrible animals is difficult - and the game does not scale difficulty if you're in a startup - the prizes are plentiful, and frequently aid in the crafting of new gear that allow you to explore deeper.
Victory also grants you realm cards, which may be used to unlock additional dimensions through portals you can construct. There are several varieties of realm cards, such as biomes that impact the appearance of the planet and those that influence the type of species you'll encounter, and they all work together to establish the dimension to which the portal travels.
Despite being a survival game, the emphasis is on exploration and having a wonderful time. Yes, you must eat and relax, as well as modify your tactics based on the surroundings (again, echoing Zelda, you must dress for cold weather), but this never interferes with absorbing what is around you. That is something I totally support, and if the plot matches the ambition of the exploration, Nightingale has a lot of potential.
Requirements for Nightingale:
Minimum:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: 3.0 GHz Quad Core
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD RX 580 (or greater)
DirectX: 11
Storage: 100 GB available space
Network: Broadband internet connection
Recommended:
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Memory: 32 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD RX 580 (8GB VRAM)
Storage: SSD
Additional Notes:
An SSD is strongly recommended for optimal performance.
The game is still in development, so the final system requirements may be higher than this.
Nightingale's release date :
The release date for Nightingale is Thursday, February 22, 2024.
So mark your calendars and prepare to visit the amazing Fae Realms shortly!
