Summary
Just a couple of months into 2024, this year has already seen several massively successful video games.Survival games, in particular, have experienced tremendous growth in popularity, as titles likePalworldandEnshroudedhave effectively taken over, setting new precedents for survival as a whole. Now, despite the sturdy competition it faces, Inflexion Games’Nightingalehas marched onto the scene with a rather unique take on the survival genre.
Nightingalebrings a host of distinct features to the survival genre that others don’t, with its unique Realm mechanics being one of its most prominent trademarks. However, there is one feature that currently sets it apart from its competitorsEnshroudedandPalworld, and that’s its complex weather mechanics.
WhileNightingale’s biggest current competitors have both proven to be excellent games in their own ways,neitherEnshroudednorPalworldpossesses a weather systemof any kind. As a result, some fans have taken to Reddit to express their discontent with the developers' choice not to implement a weather system into their games, as weather is often considered a key feature of the survival genre. However, likeNightingale, bothEnshroudedandPalworldare currently in early access, which means weather could be added later. Even still,Nightingale’s weather system is ultimately one feature that puts it ahead of its current competition in the survival genre.
…Nightingale’s weather system is ultimately one feature that puts it ahead of its current competition in the survival genre.
Nightingalearguably leans more heavily intotraditional survival mechanicsthanEnshroudedandPalworld, as it not only requires players to keep a constant eye on their hunger and rest meters but also encourages them to be aware of and even avoid various environmental hazards. While these hazards include typical survival perils like tall cliffs and falling trees, storms will also occasionally occur inNightingale, which often exposes the player to potential harm and disadvantages.
Nightingale’s Weather Could Still Use Some Work
When a storm happens inNightingale, rain falls, granting players caught in it for too long the “Wet” debuff, which inhibits their stamina and stamina regeneration. In addition to the lightning and thunder that can occur for added visual and auditory immersion, hail also has a chance to fall, which will damage exposed players and deteriorate their tools, weapons, and armor in the process. This is just one of the many features that setNightingaleapart from 2024’sbest survival games. That being said,Nightingale’s weather system is not perfect by any means, and could still use some added diversity to spice things up a bit.
Currently, there is only one weather pattern that players will experience inNightingale: rain, lightning, thunder, and hail. Apart from that, the constant day and night cycle is the only other atmospheric modifier. If Inflexion were to incorporate even more hazardous weather systems intoNightingale, like tornadoes or windstorms, it could add to both the immersion of the game and its challenge. As a player’s Estate Cairn currently discourages enemies from spawning near it, perhaps it could then double as a way to protect the player’s base from destructive weather as well.
Whether Inflexion continues to evolveNightingale’s weather system is neither here nor there, as what this unique survival adventure has at the moment is enough to set it apart from its current competitors. UntilEnshroudedandPalworldsee weather systems implemented (or if they never do), players can continue to enjoy an immersive survival experience inNightingale.
Nightingale
WHERE TO PLAY
Nightingale is a PVE open-world survival crafting game played solo (offline or online), or cooperatively with friends. Build, craft, fight and explore as you venture through mystical portals into a variety of amazing and fantastical realms.You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the collapse of the arcane portalnetwork. This catastrophe has left you fighting to survive in a labyrinth of beautiful and dangerous Fae realms.Your goal: become a skilled Realmwalker, and navigate the web of transdimensional portals. Only then can you discover your way to the magical city of Nightingale, the last known bastion of humanity.Prepare to make your way through Faewild forests, harrowing swamps, and shimmering deserts as you unlock the portals leading deeper into the lands of Fae. Cook meals, build shelter and muster the spirit to persevere in the face of adversity.
