Survival game Nightingale has delivered a feature players have been waiting for since its early access release in February: offline mode. Starting today, Solo His Survival fans will no longer be at the mercy of the server's whims to dive into the fairy world of Gaslamp Fantasy Base Builder.
Offline mode isn't the only new feature in Nightingale version 0.3.0. Players will be able to build from storage. This is also a highly requested feature and means that resources can be used for construction even if they are not in your inventory. You can also switch based on proximity. This means that if you are saving resources for other purposes or don't want to accidentally use your friend's stash while building, you can allocate containers that you don't use for construction.
New monsters have also been introduced to the world, with three tiers of apex creatures, with higher tiers dropping better quality items. There are also new NPCs, including famous historical figures like Edgar Allan Poe and Joan of Arc. Help them on their quests to earn new gear like Poe's Writing Desk and J of A's Sword. (Can I call her J of A? Probably not.)
Important for such a stylish game, the patch adds new clothing items, including a snazzy sniper hat and an elegant scarf that replaces a jacket. You can also now adjust your character's appearance from the main menu, so you can tweak or completely redesign your face and body at any time.
But among all these changes, offline mode will be the highlight of the patch for many players. Initial response to Nightingale was positive, but server issues were an early issue, doubly so for those playing solo. There are few things more frustrating than trying to play a game by yourself only to have your fun interrupted by a server issue that shouldn't affect you.
We spoke with Inflexion Games CEO Aaryn Flynn today about the new patch, and he told us that creating an offline mode was always the intention, but was originally planned for further into Early Access. Nightingale was “deeply envisioned as an online experience from day one,” he said. “As an Early Access title, that's where we wanted to start: [online only] and bridge ourselves [to offline mode] over time. “
Those plans changed when Inflexion realized how many players were interested in an offline, solo experience, and the studio prioritized community requests. Now, Flynn is hoping to lure back players who may have drifted away from the game shortly after launch.
“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” Flynn said, “and that's human nature. So the responsibility now is on us to communicate with them and let them know that what you were looking for might be there now. That might be offline mode, that might be other changes we've made, other tweaks, bug fixes.”
But there's more to come. Flynn said the team is working on new areas, additional endgame activities, improvements and expansions to Nightingale's building system, and features like cloud saves and character migration tools. For a full rundown of everything in today's update, check out the full patch notes.
