ニュース
Upcoming survival bonanza Nightingale shuffles its biomes with the turn of a card
A
Ade Adeniji
Over the course of a couple of hours, I got acquainted with its funhouse twist on the 19th century Victorian era, where humans have lived alongside the magical Fae for generations. The Fae taught humans their magic. But now in the midst of pestilence—Pfizer unfortunately can’t crack this one—the surviving humans have to navigate through different realms to make it back to their beloved city Nightingale.
The story and lore are a lot more elaborate than that, and some games can overwhelm you with too much information too early. However, Nightingale's early moments are kept pretty simple, rather than being bogged down by too much backstory. I met a sprightly creature named Puck who served as my first introduction to the world, taking me through a portal and into an early training mode in the game. I arrived in a forest biome, which lived up to its name and then some. The graphics looked fantastic, particularly the foliage and trees in the distance. These nice-looking trees are actually the first resource you can gather. Soon enough, I was engaging in classic survival game activities like gathering scrubs and plants and lighting a campfire—I'm sure my old camp counselor is deeply proud of me for that.
My initial strategy was just to pick up everything I saw and figure it out later. There's a variety of resources to collect, including sticks, bark, grass, and pebbles. This first area is a safe space to work on your base. To engage with the survival aspects properly, I’d have to build another "realm."
I eventually stumbled upon a Card Reader—there’s one near every realm portal—which serves as a route into more varied territory. The Card Reader allows you to combine Realm Cards to generate a portal to a new dimension, modifying aspects like the biome, weather, resources, fauna, and more. There are a number of cards to play, though you only need the two main ones to create a level. The Biome Card will dictate whether you create a swamp, desert, or forest. The Major Card is responsible for quests, NPCs, and buildings.
Each level is procedurally generated, meaning the new dimension is unique. In this way, Nightingale is also a puzzle game of sorts, where you’re constantly learning more about the world you’re in and how to better navigate it. Each renewal can bring wild changes of scenery to adapt to.
I was warped to the swamp biome. The swamp didn’t look exactly like a stereotypical bog (like Florida) but rather a bright autumnal environment that dipped down into a valley. In the desert, your health depletes if you’re out in the sun, so you have to build a shelter or stick to the shade. The same effect applies to hail in cold environments. However, these meters are pretty forgiving. Even as your health or stamina falls, you can always take a healing potion while you look for the next shelter. You can also fast travel to a handful of locations.
Eventually, I came across some real enemies, from wolves to the more fantastic velociraptor looking creatures. Though these foes were intimidating, I managed to defeat them with a few swings of my trusty ax.
Puck came in and out of the game, delving more into Nightingale’s lore in long paragraphs of Shakespearean dialogue: “Fly Realmwalker, the fiends have caught your despairing stench!” Since I was in a hurry to see the rest of the game, I simply moved on without feeling like I was missing something critical to my understanding. This is a good thing, because it means that you can experience the story at your own pace and focus on the aspects of the game that grab you in the moment.
Like other survival games, Nightingale also has a perk system which can augment things like swim speed and gather rate when harvesting resources. The more you play, the more interesting the augmentations can be. These can also be controlled by Minor Cards, which can generate wild variations within the newly built worlds: gravity can be altered, or player strength increased. Wonderfully, you can experiment with these, swapping them out and changing a level while you’re playing. I didn’t get a chance to experience Nightingale’s co-op sessions, but you can also dive into its various worlds with up to six players cooperatively in the full release.
I left the Nightingale preview wishing that I could play more of the game. I was surprised at how excited I was about simply just moving through the world at my own pace, and I look forward to trying different portals and slaying more impressive enemies in the full release. I can't wait to dive back in when the game releases later this month.
Nightingale will come to the Epic Games Store on February 20.