Nightingale News

Welcome Realmwalkers, to the second of our two blogs unveiling our next update Nightingale: Realms Rebuilt.

The ancient Crossways await

Our approach to Realms Rebuilt is to retain the core fundamentals of what players enjoy about Nightingale while refining, expanding, and enhancing the structure to create a more immersive experience. This is the biggest and most significant update to Nightingale’s Early Access experience to date.

In the last blog, we dug into several major changes coming to the Realms, including a new progression system, structure limit increases, information on the progression reset, and highlighted a trove of new weapons and magick you’ll have at your disposal.

Today, we’re stepping into the Realms themselves. From the moment Realmwalkers set forth in Realms Rebuilt, they’ll notice a very different Faewilds than the one they’ve become acquainted with in the past six months. From gravity-torn deserts to corrupted forests, the world of Nightingale is changing.

Let’s take a look at these improvements in detail.



[h2]Handcrafted Realms[/h2]

We’ve previously discussed that one of our major goals moving forward is to make Realm exploration a more rewarding and immersive journey for players. As part of that work, the team has been exploring different ways to make the Realms feel more unique and differentiated throughout the game, elevating the sense of adventure for Realmwalkers. The foundation of this approach is our new ‘Storied Realms’.

Realmwalker’s taking a brief glide through one of the new Storied Realms, Sylvan’s Cradle

The Storied Realms are handcrafted Realms set within the existing biomes, each designed with its own theme, aesthetic, and challenges. Storied Realms will be introduced as part of a new campaign that will arrive with the next update (more on that below). As you progress through the main questline, you’ll unlock unique Realm Cards - each leading to a new Storied Realm to discover and explore.

Your journey through the Storied Realms begins as soon as you step into your new Abeyance Realm. Every player now starts in a Forest Abeyance housing the important mystical landmark: The Crossways. This collection of ancient portals is your gateway to the Storied Realms, acting as the hub of your new adventure.

Early steps of a new journey to come

That’s not the only location worth paying a visit to. Among other sights to see and discoveries to be found, this handcrafted Abeyance also features a number of locations where tools and recipes can be unlocked as part of your Progression Tree, including the new bow.

The Bow Tool Site offers up some target practice for Realmwalkers

While Storied Realms become the defacto worlds for mainline quests, procedurally-generated Realms will still play an important part in your journey as a Realmwalker. Their role remains the same - use Realm cards to open Portals (either your own or ones you discover in the environment) and explore each location for further adventuring, new challenges, collecting valuable essences, and to harvest rare resources.

As with everything else in Early Access, we’ll continue to refine and expand Storied Realms content. But this is very much a big step forward for Nightingale. The handcrafted approach creates a more immersive environment, offering more opportunities for meaningful discoveries and adventures. This new approach also benefits future updates, increasing the speed the studio team can create new biome and Realm content.

Finally, for players who like more options when it comes to planting their roots and setting a Respite Realm, you’ll be able to set your Respite point at any of the Storied Realms or player-opened Realms you discover on your journey.



[h2]A New Campaign[/h2]

As mentioned above, Storied Realms are a central part of a new campaign in Nightingale: Realms Rebuilt. Puck is back with all new voice work from the incredible Marc Warren. He’ll be guiding Realmwalkers through each of the handcrafted Realms, featuring a series of new quests and challenges, while encountering some familiar faces from Nightingale’s cast of stranded survivors out in Faewilds.

While the fundamental premise of the story remains the same (Earth has fallen, the Portal network collapsed, and what remains of humanity is adrift looking for Nightingale), in Realms Rebuilt the player journey has been…well….rebuilt! As a Realmwalker, you will reawaken the ancient portals of the Crossways, recover secrets long buried and reclaim wonders once thought lost. This new adventure takes you across previously unexplored Realms from the corrupted woods of Sylvan’s Cradle, to the gravity-torn desert of Welkin’s Reach, and beyond.

The chaotic deserts of Welkin’s Reach

We hope your love of discovering the unknown will continue to guide you through these fantastical new Realms where Fae creatures roam, fellow survivors await salvation and deadly threats lurk in the shadows. We look forward to your feedback on the new campaign and can’t wait to hear about your new adventures.



[h2]Sites of Power and Boss Battles[/h2]

The more structured approach to the main campaign opened up the opportunity to punctuate each story milestone with a challenging finale. We’ve seen how much players have enjoyed some of the more formidable creature encounters in Nightingale, whether stumbling upon an Eoten in the forest or taking on an Apex creature in one of the Hunt Realms. We wanted to expand those types of encounters and weave them through Nightingale’s revamped story.

The first part of this is new Sites of Power, providing engaging combat encounters and intricate puzzles that test the skills each Realmwalker has developed up to this stage. These dungeons replace the current Sites of Power that were found across the Abeyance but are now set within new environments and contain different content.

The entrance to the new Abeyance Realm Site of Power

Each one of these dungeons also culminates in completely new boss battles. We wanted to bring more variety to boss encounters in the Sites of Power and these deadly adversaries are designed from the ground up and are set within distinctive locations, and pit players against creatures with unique abilities.

One of the new Site of Power boss arenas



[h2]New Points of Interest[/h2]

Another part of these changes to the Realms will be more Points of Interest (POIs) and the challenges you find within them and elsewhere in the Realms. The favorites are still around - the Bastille of Intellect and Agility sites, etc - but we’ve bolstered the range of POI challenges with new activities.

Concept art of a Bound Heart, which spawns Bound until it’s destroyed

As mentioned in the previous blog, we wanted to put more emphasis on Essence rewards when completing POIs, whilst expanding the type of encounters that players can expect. So we hope you both enjoy the new challenges you’ll face and feel suitably rewarded for your time exploring the Realms.



[h2]Next Steps[/h2]

While we still have new biomes and other content in the works (triangular tileset pieces are coming soon), we’re excited about the new adventures Realms Rebuilt will introduce to players once it goes live later this Summer. We’ll talk more about some other features to expect in our upcoming Dev Update, and you may want to keep your eyes peeled at Gamescom for a sneak peek at what’s to come.

We look forward to everyone sinking their axepick into this new update we’ve been working hard to bring you. It’s been a tremendous effort from the studio team that marks a step forward for Nightingale’s Early Access, as we continue to add and expand to the game on the road to 1.0.

Until next time, fare thee well, traveler.

- The Nightingale Team

Heya Realmwalkers,

Today we rolled out a small game update for the following item:

• Added a notification to the main menu to alert users about an upcoming progression reset with the next major update
  

There are no other changes at this time, but you can read more about the next update here.

Welcome, Realmwalkers, to the reveal of our biggest update yet!

Today, in the first of two blogs, we’re going to discuss some details of our much anticipated next free update coming to Nightingale later this summer. ‘Part One’ will take a look at one of our most requested features and then talk about our new approach to how progression works throughout the game. In next week’s ‘Part Two’, we’ll be diving into the Realms themselves, discussing story updates and other exciting things you can expect to discover when venturing into the Faewilds.

Let’s have a look at what’s coming!



[h2]Nightingale: Realms Rebuilt[/h2]

We’re happy to reveal the title of our next update will be Nightingale: Realms Rebuilt.

This is our largest and most significant update since we launched into Early Access, and we wanted to give it a title that made it clear that we’ve been up to important stuff - tinkering, improving and rebuilding large parts of the Nightingale experience (we’re also increasing build limits, so it doubles as a bit of on-the-nose wordplay). Our goal for the update was to take a holistic look at what’s working and what’s not in the game, making valuable changes and introducing new features that add more meaning and substance to our Faewilds.

A glimpse at the mystical Crossways...

It’s all thanks to a huge effort from our studio team over the last few months - and it feels great to finally reveal it to all our intrepid Realmwalkers. While we’re launching the update later in the Summer, we’re still in Early Access, so the whole team is eager to hear your feedback so we can continue to make the right improvements and adjustments as we continue this journey to 1.0.

Now, time for details…



[h2]Progression Tree[/h2]

When the Portals open to Realms Rebuilt, you will notice that there has been a change to the way that you unlock recipes and progress your Realmwalker and Estate on your journey. In the current system, players unlock recipes either by completing quests or by purchasing them from Traders scattered across the Realms.

While that was a functional way to unlock new tools and equipment, in reviewing the system we felt that the reliance on Traders created a disconnect between how players increase Gear Score and how they progress through the game. Our aim is to make progression unlocks more intrinsic and overall feel harmonious to the player journey.

The Realms Rebuilt update will debut our new Progression path for players.

Unlock new gear, tools, augmentations, and more via the 'Progression' tab


Tech tree? Skill path? Ability aurora borealis? While there are lots of different terms and visual representations of the same basic idea, we’ve gone with the straightforward ‘Progression’ tab that you’ll now find in your Guidebook. By having a clearer understanding of how you progress your tools and equipment through the game, we hope that it will empower players with more autonomy over how they progress through Nightingale.

In practical terms, how this works is not totally unlike the current system. Essence is used as a currency, and as you gain Essence you can use it to unlock new benches, tools and gear on the Progression tab - Tier 1 Essence unlocks Tier 1 items, Tier 2 Essence unlocks Tier 2 items, etc…

We know what some of you are already thinking - time to put the Boomsickle to use and vacuum up a bunch of grass and sticks to harvest for Tier 1 Essence. Puck would approve of your cunning. Well, your lawnmowing days are over. Plant fibre, rocks, and sticks no longer extract into Essence. You can still extract Essence from other items and resources but there will also be more emphasis on completing points-of-interest (POIs), quests and challenges to reach Essence goals while reducing the overall grind - but we’ll talk more about what to expect from the new challenges and POIs in the next blog.

One other note is that we're changing the role of Augmentations in Nightingale. Augmentations are no longer required for crafting specific items. Now, players can attach Augmentations to benches to gain a variety of buffs in the crafting process. Additionally, we've also revisited the number of Augmentations in the game.



[h2]Structure Limit Increase
[/h2]
We’ve been working hard to bring you this update as quickly as possible. For the last few months, we’ve been asked the same thing again and again: “When are you going to increase the structure limits?”. That moment is just around the corner as the Realms Rebuilt update not only brings along a bunch of changes and new content but also marks the inclusion of this much-requested expansion.

We’re now simplifying the system to two limits instead of three. The first limit is how many individual pieces you can have in a structure. This has been increased to more than triple what it is right now. The second is a Realm-wide weight limit that includes both building pieces and freestanding structures (like workbenches). If a player approaches the new limit a UI indicator will appear (you also have an option to display this information at all times).

A Realmwalker overlooking their much larger estate (hey - that tileset looks new...)

For those interested in the technical effort, we’ve achieved this by reducing the underlying data required to represent the game state of an individual structure piece by 80%, which allows for a significant increase to the number of building pieces per structure. We’ve also changed how structures replicate, allowing us to further increase the limit in future updates based on data from large builds. And by implementing a weighted system, we’re giving the player maximum flexibility in what they can build in a Realm.

Overall, these new limits will ensure that players - whether alone or playing together - can expand their architectural imaginations significantly once the latest update goes live.

We’ll continue to work on further expansions and updates to the build system as we continue to move forward in Early Access. Happy building, folks.



[h2]Realms Reset[/h2]

As this update improves and enriches the world of Nightingale by introducing a number of new features discussed here and in the next blog - such as the Progression Tree, new maps, as well as new Realm content - plus the significant backend work that was required to achieve the higher structure limits, the Realms Rebuilt update will implement a player character progression reset, requiring players to start a new character. This was the only way to ensure that existing players would be able to experience the breadth of new content available within this update.

As we know a lot of players will want to keep their existing Estates in some form, players will have the ability to save their current Respite Realms and use them in Offline Mode. However, this parked save will not receive any future content updates. More details on how this will work are coming closer to Realms Rebuilt’s launch.

[08/08 EDIT: For players who have unlocked Twitch Drops, these will be available to claim again in the Realms Rebuilt Update. Previous event items, such as Spark of Hope, will be available for all players to unlock in the regular Progression tab.]



[h2]Regency Tileset[/h2]

We couldn’t make the change to build limits without giving Realmwalkers something new to play with. Introducing the Regency Tileset.

This elegant design finds its roots in 18th-century Georgian architectural fashion with a dash of Italian inspiration. All very befitting any Realmwalker looking to bring a bit more nobility to their Estate. Take a look!

What better way to celebrate the new build limits with a fancy new tileset



[h2]Weapons and Magick[/h2]

We know that Realmwalkers relish the opportunity to wield more might and magick as they brave the perilous unknown of the Faewilds. So we’re delighted to bring you fresh additions to our expanding range of tools and spells.

Firstly, any survival game worth its wasna has a bow and arrow strapped across its shoulders. It’s the familiar starter weapon of many a survivalist and we’re excited to be introducing this deadly, primitive combo to our Realmwalker arsenal. Find the bow and arrow in your Abeyance (more on that next week) and take aim. It’s an exciting time for any hunters in our community and a terrible time to be a deer in the Faewilds.

Concept art of the Mystic Shortbow and Longbow upgrades. Shortbows and Longbows are available across different tiers.

If you’re looking for a little more firepower, a whole bunch of weapons have had additional tier upgrades added:

• Dauntless: Slingbow, Lancaster Pistol, Winchester Rifle
  
• Mystic: Slingbow, Double-barreled Shotgun, Blunderbuss Shotgun, Lancaster Pistol, Revolver Pistol, Bolt Rifle, Lever Rifle
  

Each one of the above is a completely new weapon model and design, creating more distinct aesthetics and expanding the range of weapons with a huge amount of diversity. A big shout-out to the design and art teams for all their amazing work!

Dauntless and Mystic weapon concept art

And that’s not all. We’ll also be introducing the new Refined Revolved (previously called Colt Pistol), which you can see in action below. 



We’ve also got a couple of new spells magicking their way into Realmwalkers’ hands.

• Immolation: A powerful fireball that can be launched at enemies setting them on fire.
  
• Fionn’s Wrath: We’re not going to make this sound fancy - you’re gonna be hitting Bound with fish missiles!
  

We hope you all enjoy the additional firepower.



[h2]Reawaken the Ancient Crossways[/h2]

Realms Rebuilt is our 0.5 update and has taken a little longer to cook than usual - this is due to the scope of the update, which includes a lot of new features and adjustments to some of the fundamentals of the gameplay experience. “But wait, what happened to 0.4?” we hear you ask. Well, the 0.4 update ended up being rolled into the larger update of 0.5, so we’ve jumped straight to 0.5 to keep our internal milestones aligned with our external naming.

A look at one of the new Sites of Power

But the good news is that the wait is almost over and it won’t be long before you’ll be able to jump through a Portal into the update we’ve been working so hard to bring you. Next week we’ll be back with more information on what you can expect in Realms Rebuilt, including new ways to experience the Realms, creatures, POIs and more!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this first taste of what’s coming in Realms Rebuilt, and we look forward to seeing your new adventures in the Faewilds.

Until next time, fare thee well, traveler,

- The Nightingale Team