After months of playtests and gathering vital feedback from the community, Inflexion Games continues to refine the upcoming Nightingale for its Early Access launch. To keep players abreast of some major changes and learnings, the team dropped several updates containing the valuable lessons learned as well as the plans for the future of this new title.
Launch Delay
Firstly, the biggest news is that Nightingale will now be pushed to a Fall 2023 launch instead. CEO Aaryn Flynn shared that the reason for this delay is that the “playtest process is working” and the additional runway will allow the team to continue its progress without “jeopardizing the health” of all the developers involved.
This push will allow Inflexion Games to upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.2 as well, which will leverage improved technology and new features to make the game even better. Players can also expect more quality-of-life improvements like crafting bench animations, more finely tuned progression and pacing, and more work being put in to make each Realm in Nightingale feel “as mystical and amazing as they can be.”
Playtest Findings
Although the delay may not be the best news, what it does is allow the playtests findings to inform the next waves of changes and tweaks that Inflexion can implement for the next tests and, eventually, the final product. Issues that have been since addressed include texture corruption and GPU crashes, UI improvements, and general quality-of-life tweaks.
The June playtests also helped revealed several significant obstacles that have since been taken care of. The server choke that restricted the number of Realmwalkers at any given time was fixed within a few hours, and the process of pushing out a live patch for the first time during a playtest also gave the team precious practice. No progress loss was reported, which should bode well for the future of Nightingale.
New Sights & Sounds
The biggest addition thus far is the much-requested third-person perspective in Nightingale, which should help those with motion sickness issues or the players who prefer the drawn-back camera. While the default way to play the game will be in first person, the team recognized that the alternative is a great accessibility option to have, and will be working hard to have everything up and running as much as possible when the launch comes around.
The vital workbenches in Nightingale, where players can craft and refine materials, will be even more important when it comes to matching the player’s playstyle. Placing appropriate environmental decorations and using upgrade slots can allow these workbenches to possess distinct traits, both positive and negative, that will further differentiate one Realmwalker from another.
“For example, the bench can get a sheltered tree if it has a roof overhead, which would, in turn, allow it to refine faster, or your tool bench could get the whetstone trait if you placed the appropriate decoration nearby, giving any bladed tool crafted on that bench a boost in damage,” said Maribel Diaz, Community Coordinator. New UI icons will also make it easier for players to understand the state of things at a glance.
As for creatures in Nightingale, the team is working hard to bolster the ranks of fauna that roam the different realms. The likes of the Hexham Mongrel, the Elephas, Leporidon, the Kheperis, Legionists, and Selqet are just some of the new creatures that can be stumbled upon. The new in-game starting point of the Nightmare Realm also provided more options for difficulty and loadouts, allowing for a varied experience.
