Aaryn Flynn, the CEO of Inflexion Games, spoke to MeinMMO in an interview about the upcoming survival game Nightingale. We talked about the world, the story, and the gameplay.
What kind of game is this? Nightingale resembles a bolder version of New World in its unique “Gaslamp Fantasy” setting. You play in a world where the Earth is on the verge of destruction due to a magical storm.
You are supposed to be the vanguard in a new world, ensuring that a safe haven for humanity is created. However, this world is already populated by fairy creatures and other magical beings.
As a survival sandbox game, you are to build your own base, craft equipment, and explore various worlds that you shape yourself. The head of the studio behind the game, Aaryn Flynn, has now spoken with us about what makes Nightingale so special. Here, we have summarized the most important points for you.
Here is the latest trailer for Nightingale:
“It is important to us that players have the power to make decisions”
Nightingale places great emphasis on teamwork and is so far a pure PvE co-op game. The whole world is filled with fairy beings that you can encounter.
In the gameplay shown after the Summer Game Fest, you can see how a giant interacts with the players: once friendly and once hostile. It even destroys the players’ home. We asked Flynn about this, how the NPCs react to players:
With creatures like the giant, you have a choice. Respond to him kindly or in conflict. It is really important for our game that players have the power to decide what they can do. So they decide how to deal with the giant.
In this specific case, in the trailer, there is a scene with a gift for the giant. He bends down and extends his hand towards you. And then there is a scene where he goes berserk and tramples buildings.
If you attack the giant or do something to provoke his anger, he will come to get you and kill you. So it is up to you to start this conflict and decide whether you want to initiate a fight with the giant and bear the consequences.
Similarly, this should work with other factions as well. You will find NPCs like fairies and automatons in the world that you can engage with. However, the head of the studio did not reveal how exactly this will look.
PvP is not planned, according to Flynn, at least not for now. If at all, it might come later.
Looks like New World, but is very different
From the first images of Nightingale, comparisons to New World quickly arose. The visuals strongly resemble Amazon’s MMORPG, and both games thematically draw from historical precedents. Flynn explains how the games differ:
[Nightingale] is fundamentally cooperative with many opportunities to ally and undertake things together – similar to New World. But we do not rely on PvP. We want to provide people with new adventures, let them meet new characters, and see new places.
There are also significant structural differences. New World is a world with a single, elongated continent. With us, everything revolves around realms. Each realm is connected to the others through portals.
You control the portals with the realm card system that we presented at the Summer Game Fest. With those, you determine the procedurally generated realms. If you want to go to a swamp, play a swamp card. Want to go to the desert? Play a desert card. And if you want to adjust the time to make it permanently night because maybe there are certain mushrooms that only appear at night, play a card that changes the time.
I would say these are the main differences. Both games draw inspiration from certain eras as a basis, but that’s where the similarities mostly end. New World also has fundamental survival and gathering gameplay, but beyond that, it becomes very different.
Nightingale is also not an MMO, but a co-op game. You play together with others, build a base collectively, and go on exploration. Through equipment, enchantments, and skills, you decide what role you take in a group.
Even in the first trailer, many fans – including editor Benedict Grothaus – thought of New World and Valheim:
Story, Bosses, and Personalities in World History
The story will make up a large part of Nightingale, although Flynn did not yet want to reveal what the game is actually about. Only that there will be new chapters ever so often, even post-release.
Part of the story will be boss fights that fit into the world. Similar to the bosses of Valheim, you will receive special resources for crafting from them.
However, the special thing about Nightingale is the world. The game is set in the Victorian era of the 19th century and takes place in a parallel world. Nevertheless, you will meet well-known figures there – for example, Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize multiple times as the only woman ever.
When will the game be released? Nightingale is set to enter Early Access on PC on Steam and Epic sometime in 2022. A specific date is still pending. Console versions are not outright ruled out, but currently, there are no plans for a port.
By the way, MeinMMO was already able to talk with Aaryn Flynn earlier. In the last interview, it was about what makes Nightingale special:
New survival game in a unique setting is coming – it will focus mainly on co-op, teamwork, and PvE
