Ex-BioWare Devs Criticize Nightingale's Open World

Significant alterations are underway in Nightingale, the innovative open-world crafting survival game from ex-Mass Effect developers. Read on to learn more about Nightingale and developer Inflexion Games' insights and future plans for the game.

Ex-Mass Effect Developers Disappointed with their “Nightingale” Fantasy GameNightingale Will Receive a Major Update this Summer

Nightingale, the new survival game from Inflexion Games, helmed by former Bioware boss Aaryn Flynn, will undergo substantial alterations shortly. Flynn and art and audio director Neil Thomson recently shared a YouTube video wherein the two evaluated Nightingale's current status and detailed plans to rectify in-game problems. The developers also conveyed their dissatisfaction with Nightingale's overall performance. A major update, scheduled for the end of summer, was declared to tackle existing defects and issues.

"We are not satisfied with where the game is at, we're not satisfied with the overall sentiment, we're not satisfied with our player numbers," Flynn declared. Since its early access launch in February, Inflexion Games has concentrated on quality of life (QoL) improvements and bug fixes. Furthermore, and much to fans' delight, the team also incorporated the highly-requested offline mode into the game a few months ago. Now, the team intends to better realize its initial vision and address the game's deficiencies.

Nightingale is an open-world survival crafting game where players explore the mysterious and perilous Fae Realms. Open-world games usually provide abundant content and a fairly non-linear gameplay experience. The game, however, is "almost too open world, too self-directed in terms of objective-setting," according to Thomson. To address this, Inflexion Games intends to incorporate "more framework" into the game. This comprises clearer advancement indicators, defined objectives, and improved realm designs which the developers stated players have found "uniform and monotonous."

"We genuinely appreciate the game, but we believe there's significant potential for enhancement," Flynn stated. "A primary area for improvement is to introduce more framework to the overall experience. By this, I mean a stronger sense of player progression; a better comprehension of available actions, and a clearer understanding of the distinctions between these Realms." Furthermore, Inflexion Games is reassessing the game's fundamental components and contemplating modifications. The update is also anticipated to feature increased build limits for larger, more intricate structures. Previews of this new content are expected in the coming weeks, said Flynn.

While Nightingale currently holds 'Mixed' ratings on Steam, the percentage of 'Positive' reviews is steadily increasing, with approximately 68% of recent reviews being positive. Flynn and Thomson expressed appreciation for the player base's support and welcomed all feedback. "We played this updated version recently, and there's still some work to be done, but I believe it's significantly improved, though ultimately you will decide when we release it," Flynn concluded.

Similar to fans and the developers, Game8 also found that Nightingale provides insufficient guidance and unnecessarily complicates straightforward tasks, such as crafting. For a more detailed perspective, click the link below to read our Nightingale review!