Ex-Mass Effect Devs Criticize Nightingale's Design

Big changes are brewing in Nightingale, the new open-world crafting survival game from former Mass Effect devs. Read on to learn more about Nightingale and devs Inflexion Games' insights and future plans for the game.

Former Mass Effect Devs Dissatisfied with their “Nightingale” Fantasy GameNightingale Will Receive Major Update this Summer

Nightingale, the new survival game from Inflexion Games, led by former Bioware boss Aaryn Flynn, will undergo significant changes soon. Flynn and art and audio director Neil Thomson recently shared a YouTube video wherein the two assessed Nightingale's current state and outlined plans to fix problems in the game. The developers also expressed they are not satisfied yet with Nightingale overall. A major update, planned for the end of summer, was announced to address existing flaws 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 stated. Since its early access release in February, Inflexion Games has focused on quality of life (QoL) changes and bug fixes. Moreover, and much to fans' delight, the team also added the highly-requested offline mode to the game a few months ago. Now, the team aims to better fulfill its original vision and address the game's shortcomings.

Nightingale is an open-world survival crafting game wherein players adventure across the mysterious and dangerous Fae Realms. Open-world games typically offer a wealth of content and a rather non-linear gaming experience. The game, however, is "almost too open world, too self-motivated in terms of goal-setting," according to Thomson. To remedy this, Inflexion Games plans to add "more structure" to the game. This includes clearer progression indicators, specific goals, and enhanced designs for realms which the devs said players have found "samey and repetitive."

"We do love the game very much, but we do think there's a lot of room to improve it," Flynn said. "One big way that we want to improve it is to bring more structure to the overall experience. What I mean by that is more sense of you as a player progressing; a better understanding of what you can do, a better understanding of the differences between these Realms." In addition, Inflexion Games is re-evaluating the game's core elements and considering adjustments. The update is expected to also include higher build limits for larger and more complex structures. Previews of these new content can be expected in the coming weeks, said Flynn.

While Nightingale currently sits at 'Mixed' ratings on Steam, the numbers for 'Positive' reviews are gradually racking up, with about 68% of new reviews being positive. Flynn and Thomson expressed gratitude for the player community's support and welcomed all feedback. "We played this new version really recently, and there's still a bit more work to do, but I think it's elevated it quite a bit, but obviously you'll all be the judge of that when we bring this thing out," Flynn concluded.

As with fans and the devs themselves, Game8 also felt that Nightingale offers little guidance and overcomplicates what should be much simpler things, like crafting. For more on our thoughts, click on the link below to read our review on Nightingale!