Nightingale’s early access release is here, and the (already huge) community has had a lot to say. There are demands for tweaks to the UI, greater server stability, and various other tweaks have been demanded, but one request stands out as a big priority.
Inflexion Games conceived of Nightingale as a multiplayer experience at its core, which is fair enough, but a lot of gamers (myself included) were disappointed to learn that the game was going to be online only. Not only has this made it difficult for people without top-tier WiFi to get the best experience, but it also scuppered my plans to play on the go via my Steam Deck,which the game will eventually have support for.
Imagine my surprise and delight then, when Inflexion announced that an offline mode is coming and that they are making it a top priority. In a statement (which you may read below), they say that they “are now prioritizing and developing an offline mode that we plan to release as soon as feasible”. They haven’t given out any more details on when we can expect this to happen, but it sounds like it’ll be soon.
They also mention that they are aware of the discussions being had about the game and explain why they felt the need to have it be an online-only experience, citing their desire for “a universe bigger than a single Realm or server”. Several green flags are raised here. First, the promptness of the response to player feedback, kudos there, and second, the fact Inflexion took the time to explain their original decision.
It’s never a bad thing for a developer to be honest and keep their player base in the loop. If this is in any way indicative of how Inflexion is going to approach early access more generally, I see positive things in the future. Nightingale is in good hands.
