Nivalis Nights has finally arrived, the long-awaited sequel to the fantastic Cloudpunk from developer ION Lands. And while Cloudpunk had you exploring a gritty and futuristic dystopian mega city as a delivery driver Nivalis Nights sees you rise through the ranks of the cutthroat noodle bar scene. There is plenty of mystery and suspense around every corner, right from the start you are woken up by your AI companion AVA to be told you are late for work at the Raman Noir and not for the first time! heading straight to the noodle bar expecting a written warning you are instead told by the bar owner Thaddeus he is mysteriously leaving and you are now the new owner of the noodle bar.
Who knew being a noodle magnate could be so fun!
Luckily, you also inherit the resident ancient staff member Banor who teaches you the ropes about recipes and ingredients so before you know it you will running back and forth between the markets for fresh ingredients, recruiting new staff members and buying new furniture and kitchen appliances all to improve your budding business. What I loved about the day to day running of the restaurant is the trips back and forth often bring you into contact with one of the frankly absurd amounts of NPC’s wandering around all with interesting voice acting and futuristic cyber punk style. Each has dialogue you can get snippets of info about business rivals, new recipes, gossip and small pieces of information that becomes important as it turns out that as well as Nivalis being run by the oppressive and faceless corporation CORPSEC there is also a serial killer stalking the streets at night therefore each night CORPSEC enforces a mandatory curfew to keep the streets safe.
There is a huge amount to do in Nivalis Nights in fact it’s almost overwhelming, between fishing, cultivating mushrooms, running your bar there are options to romance NPC’s and huge array of side quests. AVA your AI assistant does help with hints along the way but there has been many in game days i spent with a goal in mind only to be waylaid by a massive rush of customers so spent my time taking orders, clearing dishes and running back and forth for more ingredients. It’s very relaxing though I will say the in game quest menu has no option to minimise so you are constantly reminded about what the game wants you to do rather than what you want to do which can become a bit annoying as you sometimes feel forced to complete a task just to remove the item from your screen.
Bladerunner meets Tavern manager.
The setting for Nivalis Nights is just wonderful, I could and often did spend hours wandering around the different districts enjoying the futuristic sights and sounds. If you are a fan of films like Bladerunner, Fifth Element or Heavy metal you will love the bright Japanese inspired Neon lights on almost every building you can almost imagine being soaked by the constant rain as you look up to see cars and bikes hovering in the skies above. The graphics are a fantastic blend of futuristic with a pixel art element when you look closely and it just works. The attention to detail is fantastic and you will often find switches and things to interact with off the beaten track, and it gives you a real reason to explore and while doing so you often rewarded by discovering interesting NPC’s or new vista to take an in game photograph of to look at later.
Fantastic futuristic setting with a wonderful sci-fi atmosphere.
The music and sounds are great too, there is a constant sci-fi cyberpunk style soundtrack playing that barely covers the hum of the city but if you listen you can clearly hear the hustle and bustle of a busy town in the background and it all lends to the immersive atmosphere which encourages you to stop and take a break from running your business’s or quests and take things in once in a while, I would often spend the first 5 minutes every day by opening my apartments windows and listening to the rain hammering on the metal roof above while looking down at the street below it’s all very peaceful and relaxing. The huge cast of NPC’s also boast decent voice acting throughout which I thought was a great touch.
As great as the game is there are a few odd choices that unfortunately do detract from enjoyment, such as the aforementioned unremovable quest bar, the game does suffer performance issues and I did experience the odd spike on mid-range equipment this was on medium settings so I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to expect a smooth performance. And there were a few bugs I encountered one game breaking such as if you get stuck outside during curfew with no apartment to sleep in you are essentially stuck. The security lasers that search the streets will pick you up, but nothing happens and time doesn’t change so you are forced to load an old save to get around this which was frustrating and you will lose a days progress.
If you enjoy a game where you can explore an interesting and immersive sand box you will enjoy Nivalis nights, the game is defiantly suited to someone who enjoys management and simulation games as a huge part of day-to-day gameplay is about running and managing your ever-expanding property empire and it does do this very well. Overall, I would recommend Nivalis Nights and I often find myself logging in just for a wander around the rain-soaked neon drenched streets and if you want to try the game out for yourself you can find it here.
