After 60 hours here are my thoughts on the game

[The Key of Diary]

I cannot endorse this game. While the visuals are impressive, the actual gameplay falls far short of the promises made in the trailers and promotional videos.

Here are some of the issues with the game:

- Base sizes are limited.
- Crafting and building recipes are released gradually.
- Realms and biomes (Desert, Forest, Swamp) lack diversity.
- Quest lines are poorly written.
- Large maps feature repetitive Points of Interest (POIs).
- Combat feels clunky.

Building freedom is restricted; you can only construct within designated abeyance realms (level 1 realms) in various biomes. This limitation, coupled with a universal building cap for each realm, hampers creative expression. Even as a solo player, the constrained base size stifles creativity, making it difficult to envision accommodating six players within such confined spaces.

As you progress through realms, you realize that crafting recipes are drip-fed, requiring players to unlock basic sets before accessing advanced ones. This results in the frustrating process of dismantling and rebuilding bases, as changing styles involves removing entire structures, risking collapse due to the absence of blueprint overlap.

The game swiftly becomes monotonous, with combat lacking strategic depth. Boss battles exemplify this, relying more on luck than skill or planning. Quests, like the Lawman quest, offer minimal rewards, leaving players questioning the purpose of such missions.

Augmentations, though present, prove unnecessary for crafting, adding further complexity with the need for specific furniture. Limited base sizes and the requirement for designated furniture result in an unwarranted reduction of space within the already restricted bases.

Maps are uninspiring, and POIs remain consistent across realms and biomes, disregarding thematic coherence. Procedural generation seems lacking, with repeated patterns evident after exploring numerous realms of the same type.

While the game's price might be reasonable, the overall experience feels like a substantial time investment without meaningful objectives. Disappointingly, the game suffers from lackluster quest lines, a tedious crafting system, and base-building restrictions that undermine its potential.

EDIT:
Changed title to not offend some people below

EDIT:
I extend my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this discussion; there were truly insightful points shared.

In expanding on my original post, I wish to address certain omissions and shed light on two overlooked aspects. Firstly, during the testing phase before the Early Access release, a noticeable disparity existed in the hotbar's appearance compared to its current iteration. I am curious about the reasons behind this change and whether the developers have addressed or discussed it.

Secondly, despite the game aspiring to a Victorian aesthetic, the Points of Interest (POIs) encountered don't align with this theme. As highlighted by @Battlepaw, their lackluster nature is evident, and I agree that they lack the distinctive Victorian charm. Notably, structures like the floating giant white blocks and workbenches lack the elegance one would associate with the Victorian era. This becomes even more apparent when considering the exquisite craftsmanship of Victorian furniture, which spanned from 1837 to 1901 during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Victorian furniture was characterized by a distinctive blend of opulence and intricate craftsmanship. Dominated by dark woods like mahogany, walnut, and rosewood, these materials were expertly carved to create elaborate patterns. Decorative elements, handles, and supports often incorporated brass and cast iron. The hallmark of Victorian furniture lay in its renowned detailed carvings, featuring floral motifs, scrolls, and intricate patterns gracing chairs, tables, and cabinets.

Yet, within the game, elements like basic shelves and campfires lack the expected Victorian aesthetic.

Moreover, the color palette for upholstery reflected rich, deep hues such as burgundy, forest green, and navy. Wood finishes spanned from the dark richness of mahogany to the lighter tones of walnut, contributing to the overall luxurious and sophisticated aesthetic of Victorian furnishings.

However, the behavior of creatures, particularly the deer, deviates from the envisioned Victorian ambiance. Their excessive speed and early detection disrupt the expected elegance and methodical gameplay one would anticipate in a Victorian-themed setting. The current mechanics lean more towards a frantic style, which seems incongruous with the intended theme. This results in a gameplay experience lacking the anticipated elegance, resembling more of a frantic pursuit rather than the methodical approach expected in a Victorian setting.

[william_es]

There's a place to put reviews. This is not it.

[The Key of Diary]

Originally posted by william_es:

There's a place to put reviews. This is not it.

If its against the rules Ill gladly remove it, but I felt sharing my thoughts.

[Hides in Bushes]

Originally posted by william_es:

There's a place to put reviews. This is not it.

who are you? the forum police?
Hes clearly here because he wants a discussion, something that doesnt typically happen when you post a review especially if it gets buried and no one sees it.

[Quartercat]

Shocking... An early access game is not complete? That's the point of an early access game, you get access to a game that's not fully complete... essentially a beta release. Eventually the game will be complete and up to finished game standards. Bottom-line, if you're want a finished game don't get an early release.

[The Key of Diary]

Originally posted by Hides in Bushes:

Originally posted by william_es:

There's a place to put reviews. This is not it.

who are you? the forum police?
Hes clearly here because he wants a discussion, something that doesnt typically happen when you post a review especially if it gets buried and no one sees it.

Thank you, this was my intended purpose as I believe I raised a few critical downfalls which I hope the developers would look into, and perhaps the community could add their concerns as well.

[The Key of Diary]

Originally posted by Quartercat:

Shocking... An early access game is not complete? That's the point of an early access game, you get access to a game that's not fully complete... essentially a beta release. Eventually the game will be complete and up to finished game standards. Bottom-line, if you're want a finished game don't get an early release.

I appreciate your perspective on early access games, and I understand that the nature of these releases often involves experiencing a work in progress. My intention with the review was to highlight specific aspects of the completed features that, in my opinion, fell short of expectations, which are currently implemented.

While recognizing the game's early access status, I believe it's crucial to provide constructive feedback on the existing elements to contribute to the overall improvement of the game. My focus was on the completed aspects that, even within the early access framework, could benefit from attention and enhancement. I value the potential of early access titles and believe that addressing these areas can significantly contribute to the game's future success.

So not sure what you on about?

[VYM]

Early Access state is a cancer of modern game industry. Game companies are allowed to put any unfinished crap, even alpha or beta testing, under EA and gamers are paying for testing it.

[Smook]

The game is meh.. The worst part are the trailers, hyping us for years just to feed us disapointment. I feel like i got cyberpunked (my bad.. i know.. damn trailers)

No doubt the game will be "decent" in a couple of years. But this is deffo one of the worst EA i have done

[Gnollmar]

Gotta agree with this one, though I'm enjoying the game a lot, I'm also recommending people to stay away from now. Chances are, most people I know would give it enough time to still get a refund and not play again.

To me, the biggest issues is the unstable servers, network issues, and insane loading times ... for being a game all about realms, having 2+ minutes per loading screen between realms is insane.

[Bourrinopathe]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Your insights really shed light on the game's limitations and decisions that might affect my experience.

I considered purchasing the game to play with a group of friends, but after discussing with them, checking early reviews (one from Aztecross (YT)) and discerning a few red flags that didn't meet my expectations for certain aspects, I/we decided to pull the handbrake.

Your points among other reviews and opinions reiterate similar design choices and weaknesses.
I was especially interested in exploration, but the procedural generation of the worlds introduces some typical limitations (repeated assets, lack of organic/natural composition, paths, etc.) - still it can be fun to explore (I enjoy exploring in Valheim but the game mechanics there make exploration risky and thus somewhat exciting - and despite the procedural nature, it can be 'charming' with some lucky compositions).

In comparison, Starfield environments feel dull and empty. They don't feel organic (think Read Dead Redemption 2 where you cross people on the roads, animals roaming around, some hunting, random events, etc.) and design-wise it looks like Nightingale worlds are more like MMOs environments where enemies and NPCs (if any?) just stand around waiting for player(s) interactions (group spawns?).
While that MMO design can be enjoyable, that's not something I was looking for with Nightingale.
The building limitation is also a let down imho. And most probably a technical limitation/design choice to ease the online features. (Scum, another 'survival' game has been butchered due to server limitations (number of entities per server, roaming animals, roaming 'zombies', etc. all dialed down significantly overtime))

I suppose I'll revisit the game in a few months and see if the upcoming improvements address the initial design decisions.

[Gnollmar]

Originally posted by VYM:

Early Access state is a cancer of modern game industry. Game companies are allowed to put any unfinished crap, even alpha or beta testing, under EA and gamers are paying for testing it.

Yeah companies using EA for alpha testing IS a cancer and a problem.
EA is and have always been for beta testing though, you pay to be a beta tester.

Some companies used to call Early Release for Early Access though, but that wasn't the same afterall.

[Battlepaw]

I completely agree with the OP. And yea I think he clearly wants some discussion, and wanted to see what everyone else thinks of his perspective.

From my view, he is compltely right on most points. While this game is early acess, it has some serious fundemental flaws, that won't be solved by simply adding content or fixing existing bugs, etc.

It's a shame about how uninspired many of the POI designs are, you get the same types across all difficulty levels, but some are more interesting then others, even if they are just more tedious to complete. What I really would like to see more of are the small mini-instance areas you get sometimes.

The biggest issue I have with everything though is the fact that it takes 3-5 minutes sometimes to load areas, or just to return to your base. This is a causality of playing online, but it's kinda stupid if you have no interest in playing co-op. I can see having loading if your going to other players areas, but there is no reason why your own generated stuff can't be locally hosted on your PC, like almost every other co-op game in existence.

What really angers me about progression is the complete lack of recipes to progress out of basic gear early on. I't infuriating that you spend a lot of time working your way up the difficulty ladder and you clear entire areas, and you just get a bunch of junk recipes. I've literally not been able to make ammo for that stupid starter projectile weapon because I never found a recipe for any of it. I never did find any way to make ammo, but supposedly the firearms are in the provisioner areas. This entire thing is an systemic problem where you end up on a boring scavenger hunt for maybe getting a recipe.

Don't get me started on the aid quests, where you waste an immense amount of time gathering resources and before I got to the Astrolabe areas, I never even got recopies out of it, and certainly the pathetic amount of essences you get from them are NOT worth the time wasted. You can literally break down the materials you gathered for more then you are compensated for on the early ones, and the later ones are just as miserly.

The game has a lot of stupid time sinks that are just frustrating to try and complete. The number one way to loose your players is to waste their time with boring content. A person will happily grind away doing nonsense for hours, but you force them to do this with little to no reward, and they find other games to play. MMOs get a pass on this because you have larger community to work with, but you can't even do that in this game easily.

Players don't star their experience together, and you end up competing with your friends for recipe unlocks if you work with others. Quest can't be shared, and the only reason why you would play with anyone else is probably just to tour their base.

It's really a shame, I really want to like this game. It has it's own unique thing going on, when so many survival games do the same things. It has a decent item upgrade system and the gear score system for difficulty measurement is nice.

Where everything falls apart is that stupid recipe scavenger hunt. If it wasn't so moronic in design, and exploration was fun, it would be nice. But... it isn't and we have rants like mine. This is early game, and remember No Man's Sky had the same issue with lackluster exploration and being forced into the same gameplay loop before they figured out how to make it more fun and interesting. This game is still in it's infancy. If it can fix their early game retention, it would be interesting to play.

[Apox]

Originally posted by Quartercat:

Shocking... An early access game is not complete? That's the point of an early access game, you get access to a game that's not fully complete... essentially a beta release. Eventually the game will be complete and up to finished game standards. Bottom-line, if you're want a finished game don't get an early release.

lazyness polishment has nothing to do with not done if the publishers already are lazy in the early acces and coming thought with it cause of people like u that defending this bs it will not gonna be better later on

[Battlepaw]

Originally posted by Apox:

Originally posted by Quartercat:

Shocking... An early access game is not complete? That's the point of an early access game, you get access to a game that's not fully complete... essentially a beta release. Eventually the game will be complete and up to finished game standards. Bottom-line, if you're want a finished game don't get an early release.

lazyness polishment has nothing to do with not done if the publishers already are lazy in the early acces and coming thought with it cause of people like u that defending this bs it will not gonna be better later on

Agreed, I think a lot of steam users are fed up with the early-access excuse. In this case though the game just did launch, so It's not like it's been around a half-decade and is still early access like some titles that endlessly stay in perpetually unfinished state. I do think it's a bit unfair to expect Nightingale to be finished. One of the things I do agree with is many of the lazy design decisions. While asset design is top-notch, gameplay is tiresome and boring.

This isn't because of a lackluster environment to play in, but the way the environment comes together. It suffers the same problem many POI-centric games do. The problem is there is no real drive for progression. Your motivation is just the giant recipe scavenger hunt that may or may not immensely waste your time. The story quests trap you into that scavenger hunt, just to get your gear score up. It's just not fun. It's not enjoyable, you intend for everyone to play online, but you can't really start together, there is no central gathering place early on for new players, and that is the whole basis for your design of online servers, etc. It's backward and pointless.

[akanis]

Originally posted by Quartercat:

Shocking... An early access game is not complete? That's the point of an early access game, you get access to a game that's not fully complete... essentially a beta release. Eventually the game will be complete and up to finished game standards. Bottom-line, if you're want a finished game don't get an early release.

Yes, the game is understood to be incomplete, but the point of EA is also player feedback, as taken straight from the Steam Nightingale front page:

"How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“Early Access is an opportunity for the whole community to participate in the ongoing development of Nightingale. That’s why we encourage our Early Access users to join our Discord where they can interact directly with the development team and have a hand in how the game grows in the future. We’ll also be listening to players across our social media channels, and keeping a close eye on the Steam Community forums.”

Therefore, posts like the OP's is exactly what early access is about and is what the Devs are looking for.