Nocturnal Review (PC)

Nocturnal offers its own twist on the traditional platforming genre, something that not many games do these days. Taking risks is often rewarding and I think Nocturnal nailed the gameplay. Despite the game being a bit on the short side, it’s gameplay that matters and Nocturnal truly delivers.

The game puts players in the shoes of Ardeshir, a soldier returning home after he gets word about a mysterious force that took over his native island. Armed with just his sword, Ardeshir soon finds himself in a seemingly impossible situation: a black mist has almost completely engulfed the island.

As you can imagine, fighting the mist with steel is like Don Quixote’s charge at windmills. Thankfully, this is where the game’s main twist comes in: flame-engulfing swords. The mist can’t really be beaten, but it can be temporarily dispelled by fire, so having a sword engulfed in fire allows Ardeshir to access areas that are covered in mist.

The bad news is the fire will extinguish after a short while, so Ardeshir must find another torch to extend the duration if he needs to remain for a longer time in a misty area. When you add enemies in these areas covered in mist, gameplay becomes even more chaotic. It requires precise coordination to be able to get out from these traps.

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More often than not, you will not be able to leave these areas until all enemies are destroyed, so you’ll have to split your attention between enemies’ attacks and the fire bar. It’s a bit of a frustrating experience if you can’t handle watching multiple things at the same time. In the first levels of the game, you’re given a torch that allows you to keep your sword engulfed in flames whenever you hit it, but in the latter levels things become increasingly difficult.

Enemies are more agile and do more damage, fewer torches are available or none at all, so you need to be very quick and accurate with your attacks and dodges. Speaking of which, Nocturnal isn’t one of those games that features intricate combos, you just string your basic attacks and hope that the enemy will die first. There’s no blocking mechanic, but you can dash your way out of enemies’ attacks.

What I really love about Nocturnal is that it gradually introduces new enemies, which are not only increasingly difficult, but more often than not require a little bit of puzzle solving in order to get passed them. Although most of them can be killed by simply hitting them repeatedly with your sword, there are some enemies that either require your weapon to be engulfed in flames to damage them or other tactics that I won’t spoil.

The gameplay loop is easy to figure out, as it follows the traditional platforming rules. What Nocturnal adds to the formula is the need to light up the torches on your way to the next level to make use of the fire. In fact, you’re often required to light up certain torches in order to access the next level.

There are some light puzzles in the game too, which will give you some insight into what’s happening on the island when solved. Exploration is greatly rewarded because every “secret” area offers you invaluable resources that will help improve your character. Unfortunately, if you can’t backtrack your way to a crossroad, so if you have taken the path to the next level instead of the secret area, it’s forever lost.

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That’s a bit annoying because you never know where each path leads, so while exploration is encouraged, this particular aspect of the game is a bit of a mixed bag. Nocturnal does feature a rather basic skill tree where you can unlock various improvements for your character like more HP, prolonged fire burning, and even a healing mechanic.

Instead of healing potions, Ardeshir can use the power of fire to heal himself. By extinguishing his flame-engulfed sword, Ardeshir can heal a few points of his missing health. The ability can be improved to heal more, but that means the protagonist must be close to a torch in order to light up his sword again. The ability has a very short cooldown, so it can be used repeatedly, even in boss fights.

Every enhancement in the skill tree can be unlocked with so-called ashes, which usually drop from enemies or from … vases. It’s a bit weird to have to hunt down every vase in the game to get those precious ashes, but that’s exactly what Nocturnal is asking from you. Also, those upgrades are pretty expensive and require players to reach a Phoenix statue, the only place where you can spend ashes.

Bosses in Nocturnal aren’t particularly challenging, but they are well designed and require a little bit of a learning curve to get passed them. You can’t just brute force a boss encounter by simply slashing and dashing, there’s a lot more than that.

I got to appreciate the fact that Nocturnal has a very good checkpoint system. Every time you reach a saving point, there’s a high chance you’ll have to go through a rather difficult platforming sequence or a boss fight. Failing any of that won’t put you too far behind, so it makes the experience a lot less frustrating.

Nocturnal’s hand painted style is rather gorgeous. Both indoor and outdoor environments look very well and add to the immersion. Pity that the story is rather thin.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion