Now I have over 200 hours and it's past the realm rebuilt update - (9/29)

Game better! Play!

They did some rebalancing along with the major changes, I've seen little things. Difficulty feels different. However, I am also happier playing on hard because I feel like you actually need to update your armor and make heal pots and upgrade your survivor's armor. You know, do the things. Instead of half-assing half of it. I'm not far in on a new playthrough though. The recruited survivor has some improvements. I think augs are better because it's clearer how things work. I had no issues up to sylvan's cradle boss with essence on balanced. I definitely burned through more essence on hard, but I don't think I would go so far as to say I had issues.

Game definitely rewards you for exploring now. And on hard there's sometimes I felt like the game was actively trying to kill me. Makes it more fun.

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Now that I've got like 60 hours in (4/1)

This is not a game in alpha as far as I think. It's beta. There's some clearly worked on parts and some clearly needs more work parts. If you're looking to speed run through, probably not great currently.

I ran into multiple dumb bugs that didn't break the game but made it more obnoxious. But then they just sorta fixed themselves. They were all early on. The game definitely has some details that could be obnoxious too but I think that's mostly because they are different. I started liking this game more when I stopped playing it like it was Valheim. (And started taking a maul to the stuff you can break down.)

I see people complaining about lots of different items not stacking in your inventory, well, they are different items, they have different stats. 75 inventory slots is quite forgiving and the first storage built upgrade is 40 slots. 40. Compare that to Valheim! You can't carry ♥♥♥♥ in Valheim unless you have mods.

I haven't run into any game breaking bugs, recent one is I have a POI with a chest that I've built everything but then realized there's no NPCs there so I can't finish it. I assume that's a bug. I also discovered that damage numbers are off by default so apparently I haven't been seeing any information about weaknesses? That could explain some things. Also missed the rewards in the menu for the longest time so I wasted some time farming bottom level essence - not a lot thankfully.

I don't like how a lot of the cool looking stuff is just that, but it's early access and I don't know what all their plans are. I'm assuming there's gonna be some additions. I played Planet Crafter which had lots of neat looking is this going to be anything? stuff.

How you unlock some recipes can be confusing. But it's also confusing because it's not like Valheim. I like the different sorts of mats you can use to get different stats on your armor. I do not like how you can't do anything with that solo fabled hide because nothing uses 1 hide. Maybe they'll do something about that later. Debating how to craft an armor upgrade is part of the fun I think. Armor colors need work. But there's dye later? The cheek/face makeup needs some work too. I ended up making another character with 0% intensity on makeup just to make sure she wouldn't have hideous makeup.

The few reviews I looked at didn't mention the realm cards so I wonder if anyone has really messed with those - I know I kept forgetting because I was trying to play Nightingale like Valheim and you miss a lot that way. Finally used the artisan card on my abeyance before I made some upgrades and wow the durability increase! The cards are one thing that makes Nightingale different from something like Valheim. People complaining about the tradeskill augment things could just use the artisan realm card.

I'm looking forward to the AI for the survivor recruits being upgraded. Maybe give us some tickboxes to enable. Side note: they will only add fuel to active fires. I control their access and don't let fires burning everywhere. I've also finally given my recruit a knife and a torch and I think I like that better. Their best purpose is pack mule but also it's worth it to upgrade their equipment so they can revive you or be a meat shield longer.

I wish the map was different. Maybe toggle a fog of war. Or toggle the dungeon type POIs (like the fae towers).

I kinda like all the info in the menu. I do like being able to plan. If I go for a walk in Valheim it's to search for mats to make something or to find not enough deer to feed the tame wolves. (in the world I played last anyway) That's it. There's nothing else. Nightingale has lore, interesting architecture, landscape that's not all the same - like way more varieties of the kinds of fallen logs you see in the forest compared to Valheim. It's just more variety in what I'm looking at. Lichen on rock? That's interesting.

I think building so you can set up a framework first is great. You don't need all the mats on you. You can get an idea of what it's going to look like before you farm all the mats. I wish there was some variation maybe on size of pieces? But it's no less than starting out in Valheim. (And the base square wood log building piece just looks flat and uninteresting now.) I only played the demo of Enshrouded - didn't see anything that made me want to buy it - but the building in Nightingale is better than the building was in the Enshrouded demo. Which based on some people saying this game is in alpha seems like a reasonable comparison.

All in all, if you're the sort, buy the game and support the game. And poke at it so you can see where it's at now. I wouldn't recommend it as your main one game to play through from start to finish this weekend. I've been loading it up and wandering around whatever biome/realm I have a portal to or doing some crafting upgrades or adding an addition to the first house I built in the abeyance. (No wait, that was the second. I made the mistake of building in the walking path of big moosey guy.)

If you expect a perfect polished game, don't buy it. Or rather, stop playing video games because that way leads to frustration and madness. But otherwise, I think it's definitely worth the price just based on the time you see people putting into it.

I'm excited to see where this game goes. The level of detail put into some aspects of the game shows the potential for other aspects of the game to be great once done.


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**FIRST IMPRESSION**

Good. Solid. Pretty! Still figuring stuff out but I haven't run into anything unstable (yet?). And I had no issues building. Curious to see how creative you can get with building but that takes resources and don't wanna do that yet. Puck is an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Now I have over 200 hours and it's past the realm rebuilt update - (9/29) Game better! Play! They did some rebalancing along with the major changes, I've seen little things. Difficulty feels different. However, I am also happier playing on hard because I feel like you actually need to update your armor and make heal pots and upgrade your survivor's armor. You know, do the things. Instead of half-assing half of it. I'm not far in on a new playthrough though. The recruited survivor has some improvements. I think augs are better because it's clearer how things work. I had no issues up to sylvan's cradle boss with essence on balanced. I definitely burned through more essence on hard, but I don't think I would go so far as to say I had issues. Game definitely rewards you for exploring now. And on hard there's sometimes I felt like the game was actively trying to kill me. Makes it more fun. ------------------------------ Now that I've got like 60 hours in (4/1) This is not a game in alpha as far as I think. It's beta. There's some clearly worked on parts and some clearly needs more work parts. If you're looking to speed run through, probably not great currently. I ran into multiple dumb bugs that didn't break the game but made it more obnoxious. But then they just sorta fixed themselves. They were all early on. The game definitely has some details that could be obnoxious too but I think that's mostly because they are different. I started liking this game more when I stopped playing it like it was Valheim. (And started taking a maul to the stuff you can break down.) I see people complaining about lots of different items not stacking in your inventory, well, they are different items, they have different stats. 75 inventory slots is quite forgiving and the first storage built upgrade is 40 slots. 40. Compare that to Valheim! You can't carry shit in Valheim unless you have mods. I haven't run into any game breaking bugs, recent one is I have a POI with a chest that I've built everything but then realized there's no NPCs there so I can't finish it. I assume that's a bug. I also discovered that damage numbers are off by default so apparently I haven't been seeing any information about weaknesses? That could explain some things. Also missed the rewards in the menu for the longest time so I wasted some time farming bottom level essence - not a lot thankfully. I don't like how a lot of the cool looking stuff is just that, but it's early access and I don't know what all their plans are. I'm assuming there's gonna be some additions. I played Planet Crafter which had lots of neat looking is this going to be anything? stuff. How you unlock some recipes can be confusing. But it's also confusing because it's not like Valheim. I like the different sorts of mats you can use to get different stats on your armor. I do not like how you can't do anything with that solo fabled hide because nothing uses 1 hide. Maybe they'll do something about that later. Debating how to craft an armor upgrade is part of the fun I think. Armor colors need work. But there's dye later? The cheek/face makeup needs some work too. I ended up making another character with 0% intensity on makeup just to make sure she wouldn't have hideous makeup. The few reviews I looked at didn't mention the realm cards so I wonder if anyone has really messed with those - I know I kept forgetting because I was trying to play Nightingale like Valheim and you miss a lot that way. Finally used the artisan card on my abeyance before I made some upgrades and wow the durability increase! The cards are one thing that makes Nightingale different from something like Valheim. People complaining about the tradeskill augment things could just use the artisan realm card. I'm looking forward to the AI for the survivor recruits being upgraded. Maybe give us some tickboxes to enable. Side note: they will only add fuel to active fires. I control their access and don't let fires burning everywhere. I've also finally given my recruit a knife and a torch and I think I like that better. Their best purpose is pack mule but also it's worth it to upgrade their equipment so they can revive you or be a meat shield longer. I wish the map was different. Maybe toggle a fog of war. Or toggle the dungeon type POIs (like the fae towers). I kinda like all the info in the menu. I do like being able to plan. If I go for a walk in Valheim it's to search for mats to make something or to find not enough deer to feed the tame wolves. (in the world I played last anyway) That's it. There's nothing else. Nightingale has lore, interesting architecture, landscape that's not all the same - like way more varieties of the kinds of fallen logs you see in the forest compared to Valheim. It's just more variety in what I'm looking at. Lichen on rock? That's interesting. I think building so you can set up a framework first is great. You don't need all the mats on you. You can get an idea of what it's going to look like before you farm all the mats. I wish there was some variation maybe on size of pieces? But it's no less than starting out in Valheim. (And the base square wood log building piece just looks flat and uninteresting now.) I only played the demo of Enshrouded - didn't see anything that made me want to buy it - but the building in Nightingale is better than the building was in the Enshrouded demo. Which based on some people saying this game is in alpha seems like a reasonable comparison. All in all, if you're the sort, buy the game and support the game. And poke at it so you can see where it's at now. I wouldn't recommend it as your main one game to play through from start to finish this weekend. I've been loading it up and wandering around whatever biome/realm I have a portal to or doing some crafting upgrades or adding an addition to the first house I built in the abeyance. (No wait, that was the second. I made the mistake of building in the walking path of big moosey guy.) If you expect a perfect polished game, don't buy it. Or rather, stop playing video games because that way leads to frustration and madness. But otherwise, I think it's definitely worth the price just based on the time you see people putting into it. I'm excited to see where this game goes. The level of detail put into some aspects of the game shows the potential for other aspects of the game to be great once done. ------------------------------------------------------- **FIRST IMPRESSION** Good. Solid. Pretty! Still figuring stuff out but I haven't run into anything unstable (yet?). And I had no issues building. Curious to see how creative you can get with building but that takes resources and don't wanna do that yet. Puck is an asshole.