Nightingale has gotten off to a good start. The horror-themed multiplayer survival and crafting game became available early this week on Steam and has peaked at over 32,000 players to date. But like many online games, it has had a rough first week. One of the most common complaints from users (one of the usual fare for early access, such as the lack of certain quality of life features), according to Steam forums, is the “always online” requirement, which requires even solo players to join a server.
However, the developers at Inflexion Games have noticed and are working on some changes. In a blog posted on the Nightingale website On Thursday, the team announced that it would focus on implementing an offline mode sooner than expected.
“We are now prioritizing developing an offline mode that we plan to release as soon as possible,” the announcement said. In an update to the post and on the official Discord, it was reiterated that the change in direction does not mean that other updates would be ignored. “The development of offline mode does not mean that we are ceasing or deprioritizing regular development of features, updates, QoL updates, and bug fixes,” community manager Steph H wrote on Discord.
The post explains the original reasoning behind its creation Nightingale online only. Essentially, the developers envisioned a game consisting of a series of interconnected Realms (that is, the various instances in which players can explore the game) that users could share with others. So you can share a Realm with a friend in your group, and they can explore it on their own without you having to be there to host it. There are also cards that allow you to apply effects to certain realms, so the fact that they are separated can also be used in the game. Overall, it’s a unique way to play an open-world survival game.
It also meant that the team had to focus on implementing their version of co-op or working on offline mode for the early access release.
“Cooperative gameplay associated with having party members in multiple realms was the most technically challenging issue and so we chose to tackle it first,” the post said. However, given the feedback, the developers say they “misjudged what some of you were looking for in your experience.”
It’s unclear on the timeline for this feature addition, but it will be welcome. Not only have solo players had to deal with server and network errors that seem unnecessary, but there are also bad optics if a game is online-only because not everyone has stable internet with high speeds.
