A survival crafting journey through the ethereal Fae realms, Nightingale released in Early Access on Steam back in February 2024 – one of several survival crafting games to come out at the time. In my Nightingale review, I had mixed feelings about the game, praising the aesthetic and presentation while simultaneously feeling it struggled to exhibit the same creativity in its survival crafting mechanics, which could feel a bit rote and by the numbers. But that was then – Nightingale has since received multiple game-changing updates, and is now building towards its biggest one yet: Realms Rebuilt, a patch that will massively change and expand the way that Nightingale is experienced, with new narrative, characters, and feedback-driven overhauls.
With Realms Rebuilt coming six months after Nightingale's release, I had the chance to speak with Aaryn Flynn, CEO of developer Inflexion, about Nightingale, the Realms Rebuilt update, and his long history at BioWare.
Into the wilds, together
Right off the bat, Flynn explains the ethos behind Realms Rebuilt: an audience-driven rethink of the way that Nightingale plays. "Unfortunately, our player numbers are not where we want them to be, and we think a lot of it's due to the fundamental nature of some of the decisions we made," he concedes. "This update means to address those things and provide players just an overall better experience."
The result is a multi-pronged approach that's been driven by player feedback across the last few months. Inflexion's first goal is "to make the Realms more compelling," as Flynn explains that Realms Rebuilt will keep the procedurally generated worlds and biomes that Nightingale is known for, but alongside a new campaign – called Storied Realms – with fixed locations. "They've got more adventure, greater challenges," says Flynn. "We've been able to place discoveries and rewards in there in a very, very handcrafted, very bespoke way."
The choice to move towards more structured experiences isn't universal though, and some less popular elements have been streamlined or even amputated altogether. "We used to have a tutorial level that we've chucked out, just thrown that into the bin, and we now have you just jump into the action," Flynn admits. Likewise, the progression system is now less obscure and a lot more direct. Rather than seeking out traders and buying blueprints off them, there's simply a tech tree you access and invest in through the pause menu, "to reduce the grind."
"It's having to always thread that needle and ask yourself: what is our most vital aspect of our vision?"
Most of the justifications and explanations behind these changes ultimately come down to giving the people what they want. Folks want bigger crafting projects? Inflexion triples the build limit so players can make giant mansions. Players find the starting crossbow unsatisfying? Here's a bow and arrow as an alternative option. Enjoying the historical and literary icons? Expect to see Nellie Bly and Victor Frankenstein in the new update (albeit alongside a new bear boss with tree roots for a head).
Flynn admits to the challenge of balancing audience demands with Inflexion's goal of a "great Victorian gaslamp-fantasy adventure", but ultimately says that if any community suggestion doesn't directly contradict that, it's at least worth considering. "It's having to always thread that needle and ask yourself: what is our most vital aspect of our vision? What's the core of that vision? And does this change harmonize with that, or is it antithetical to that? If someone said they wanted to travel to space in our game, I think we'd have a harder time harmonizing."
Crafting and survival
Realms Rebuilt marks "0.5" in Nightingale's ongoing development, and is such a drastic step forward that an once-planned 0.4 update has been skipped altogether. Flynn laughs when I ask him if Nightingale's original development plan and internal roadmap resembles their current trajectory. "As they say, everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face!" At one point Inflexion even considered a Palworld-like system wherein NPCs would help build and maintain your base, "but it was just always a bridge too far" – although a moment later, Flynn admits the team would love to explore something "similar" in the future.
More broadly, Realms Rebuilt seemingly marks the moment of getting back on course for Nightingale, an attempt to address essential audience feedback so that Inflexion can start building on that foundation in the updates to come, rather than just responding. "I think once we get a new biome out there, that will cement the last piece of the puzzle in terms of how we will create content going forward," Flynn muses when asked about 0.6 and beyond. "There's a volcano biome, there's an Arctic and a jungle biome, all currently in discussion right now as to which one we'll do first."
Journey through the past
As the interview draws to a close, we chat broadly about Flynn's time as a director and general manager at BioWare. While he reveals his favorite creations – Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire, for those curious – he also touches on "frustrations" with the company that he's previously spoken about. Part of this stemmed from an apparent disconnect between the developer and its audience, which is something he's been pleased to correct at Inflexion.
"We're benefiting hugely from connecting with players through [live updates] and that was something that was much harder at BioWare," he explains. "I think Baldur's Gate 3 did an amazing job of that by still being a story-driven game that went to Early Access, and that was just never in the cards for us at BioWare, at least to my belief. So I think it's that element that was getting me frustrated. You could see the benefit of these other teams having such success by connecting so deeply with their communities and learning from them, trying things out with them. And that just wasn't something we did at BioWare, and I don't think they're still doing that. Still, [it's a] super talented team, and I'm excited to play Veilguard."
At the close of the interview, Flynn speaks of the importance of flexibility and creativity in game development. "Don't be shy about trying new things and experimenting, and finding new sources of inspiration!" he says earnestly – and when you take a look at Nightingale's latest changes and the path it's forging, it's easy to see that philosophy at work.
Nightingale is available on Steam Early Access now, and the Realms Rebuilt update will be live on 12 September 2024.
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