Edmonton's Inflexion Games remodels Nightingale with Realms Rebuilt update

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After an intense eight months, the developers at Edmonton-based Inflexion Games hope to rejuvenate their game, Nightingale, with its massive Realms Rebuilt update.

The update, released on Sept. 12, fundamentally overhauls the user experience in Nightingale based on months of player feedback. These changes include entirely redesigned progression and crafting systems, additional weapons and materials, new enemy types, all-new handcrafted realms, dungeons, boss battles, and more.

“It’s been a wild journey so far, and we’ve definitely learned a lot about player expectations,” said Aaryn Flynn, CEO of Inflexion Games. Flynn is no stranger to high-pressure game development, having previously worked at BioWare leading the team behind 2017’s Mass Effect Andromeda.

“The feedback we’ve received has been invaluable in the direction we’ve taken with Realms Rebuilt, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue building the game alongside our players.”

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Early access to player feedback

In February, the studio released its first game, Nightingale, an open-world survival crafting game within a fantasy setting draped in dieselpunk esthetics and features. To add even more pressure to the project, it was released as an Early Access game — which means it’s playable but unfinished, similar to a Kickstarter, inviting consumers who purchase the game now to participate in its further development through feedback and direct communication.

The game launched on Feb. 20 to some success but also faced plenty of criticism for the complexity of its systems and a sense of aimlessness from players. On Steam, the game’s current overall user rating is mixed, with 64 per cent of 11,788 users leaving a positive review. The criticism was sometimes harsh, Flynn said, but also came from an audience he feels wants to see the game succeed.

“You have to balance a lot of different perspectives while retaining a clear creative vision, and that’s a hard task,” Flynn said. However, he points to a game like 2023’s smash hit Baldur’s Gate 3, by Larian Studios, which spent three years in early access, using player feedback to iterate on the project until they deemed it ready for final release.

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By using the early-access model, Flynn says, Larian “used that feedback to refine and expand their experience, before releasing a final product that just blew everyone away. I think as a developer you have to see the value in that model and take the idea of it very seriously.”

Rebuilding realms and relationships

Flynn says much of the feedback he and his team got from players had to do with a need for more structure, both metaphorically and literally. In a literal sense, users wanted to be able to craft larger and taller abodes and buildings. Metaphorically, players wanted to be guided along the beaten path a little more than the team had originally assumed.

“Choices we made that we thought gave players more freedom and more of a sandbox experience ultimately were causing confusion and friction,” Flynn said. That realization led the team to the Realms Rebuilt update, which adds a new handcrafted story and progression system that lightly but more clearly guides players along their journey.

“Ultimately, players should feel a greater connection and purpose to both how they progress through the story and how their character evolves over time.”

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As of Friday, Nightingale’s most recent reviews give it a mostly positive rating on Steam, with 75 per cent of 164 users giving it positive reviews.

“We hope that players embrace it, as we feel this is a new start for Nightingale,” Flynn said. “It’s a very exciting time.”

rostad@postmedia.com

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