by These days I have been playing Nocturnal , an Indie Video Game developed by «Sunnyside Games» and whose publisher is «Dear Villagers» that the truth is that it has left a good taste in my mouth after finishing it, although it is also true that it has its problems as for example the duration that is somewhat short.
In general terms, I found it to be a good game, in fact there are things that I liked a lot, but as I played it, I had the feeling that the game could have been much better if more hours of development had been devoted to it. It seems to me that it is a very good idea as a game, but that it has not tried to exploit that idea to the maximum.
Anyway, now in the analysis of the game I will try to better explain my conclusions and as always we will see both its positive and negative points. Let’s go there!
WHAT IS NOCTURNAL ABOUT? THE MECHANICS OF FIRE
Nocturnal is a 2D side-scrolling Indie action-adventure in which the main mechanic revolves around fire. Our character will have to take advantage of the fire to obtain several benefits, we will find torches around and when we see one we can hit it with our sword so that it is imbued with fire temporarily, thus obtaining the following benefits:
- You’ll see better in dark areas : The game constantly plays with the fact that you need fire to be able to see properly in dark areas, which are not exactly lacking in the game.
- You can burn things : I didn’t know that burning things was so much fun, I think I discovered that I have a bit of an arsonist side, the case, that we can burn various elements of the environment. In some cases it will be necessary to advance and in others it is simply to burn for the sake of burning (the effect is very successful and its own is cool). Of course, we can also light other Torches that we see in order to have more sources of fire in which to “recharge our sword”.
- You will deal more damage : I think melee damage as such is not increased, but hitting enemies will burn them, so they will take damage over time.
- You’ll dodge better : The typical cartwheel dodge will become a faster dodge (more like a dash ).
- You will be able to use more abilities : You will unlock most of them as you gain experience, such as a cure or a kind of very powerful fireball (with the drawback that when using each of them we will lose the fire effect on our sword, which will not be a problem if we have fire nearby to re-imbue the sword).
As you can see, fire is extremely useful to us and when you play the game, you’ll quickly notice its lack when for whatever reason you can’t count on it. Especially considering that the darkness and the enemies will not be our only problem.
THE DARK MIST
The Dark Fog (I don’t remember if it was called that) will be our main enemy, it is a kind of very dense and dark fog that will cause us damage simply by being in contact with it (you will die in a few seconds ) . The thing is that the fire will protect us from it again, but as I have already told you, the time in which our sword is imbued is limited (in fact it is not a long time), so you will have to manage your time very well and find torches to have more sources of fire.
SHORT BUT INTENSE
It is a game with a short duration (3.2h marks Steam in my case) but despite this it did not seem like a bad game to me, although of course I would have liked it to reach at least 8 o’clock. My point is that a game does not necessarily it has to be bad for being short (Journey would be a wonderful example of this), if the idea is to create a short but very intense experience, that’s fine with me. The fact is that I think they could have lengthened it a little more without losing… “that intensity” and I don’t think the idea was to create something like Journey really.
It is true that it has a speedrun mode , which adds a lot of replayability for those who like that, which is not my case.
Anyway, I prefer it to be short and intense than to start putting boring filler in the middle (something super common in the industry). It’s been 3.2h, but I’ve enjoyed every minute .
THE FINAL PART (NO SPOILERS)
A short game must be enjoyed from start to finish to be worth it and I wanted to talk a bit about the final part without going into any kind of spoilers because the truth is that I liked it a lot and I think it’s important that a game leaves you with a good taste in the mouth when finished . An example of a game that in my opinion spoiled everything in the end, is ” Eastward “, a game that I quite liked in practically every way but the ending spoiled everything for me and I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth.
Going back again with “Nocturnal”, the final part (the last hour perhaps) I quite enjoyed since you get a power up that’s pretty cool and the events and battles that take place in this last period of the game, the truth is that I found them very good (although the battle against the final boss I would have polished it a little more, the battle itself, what revolves around that battle seems excellent to me). In fact, I really liked what would be “the final ending”, a typical ending that touches your heart a bit and leaves you a little thoughtful (a bit like what happens, for example, with Shadows of the Colossus so you understand me ), those types of endings touch me very deeply and I enjoy them a lot.
TYPICAL ANALYSIS
Now let’s go with the typical analysis in which I will give you my opinion on the aspects that are usually analyzed in games, with my personal touch of course because I would say that the “setting” (something vital for me) is not something that is common analyze in this medium. The case, let’s get to it:
- Artistic section : It’s very good, the light effects of the fire, things burning, the darkness… the truth is that it’s very well done and visually it looks great. The only thing is that I think that except for this aspect and although the design as such in general seems very good to me, it’s like things don’t look clear at all, like it lacks a little more resolution to be perfect. So he gets an A, narrowly missing an S, but ultimately an S is perfection.
- Music : I really loved it, it’s a 10 for me, very good songs and especially at the end they managed to make my hair stand on end. It is true that it is somewhat scarce, but it is what has a short game. Total, that an S like a house.
- Playability : It is one of the aspects where it falters the most in my opinion. It’s not that it’s bad at all, but it’s true that I think that more types of attacks, skills and a little more fluidity would suit the title divinely. The issue of fluidity depends a bit, sometimes it feels very fluid and sometimes not so much. We will leave it at a B, being a bit generous in my opinion, but a C seems too little to me.
- Setting : It seems very good to me, the effects of light and darkness, the rain when it appears, the loneliness that this kingdom gives off, those moments of sitting in the chair next to another person and simply sharing a moment of peace, the music, the lore (I haven’t found out much about it, but it seems interesting, it’s the typical game in which you have to discover it little by little)… Overall, I think it creates a fantastic setting. Nails.
- Duration : One of its biggest problems, but at least I give you the point that even though it is short, the experience has been very good. Nor does it seem to me that it is a “Journey” type game in which the duration, in my opinion, takes a back seat. We will leave it in a C for what has been said, it is short, but at least the experience has been very good and it has not been boring at all at any time.
- Overall : B+.
It seems to me a very accurate note because it is just what I was saying, it is a game that is good, but it shows that it could have been much better if some aspects had been polished.
If a Nocturnal 2 was released, improving that gameplay a bit, extending it more and of course maintaining the quality in the rest, it would probably be a great game. More variety of scenarios, more progress improvements, a city to visit or something like that (those things are always cool) in which you can interact a bit… that said, it would have been nice to have put maybe another year of development in it, something could have come out very good.
Oh, one additional note. The healing mechanic is too broken, that you can heal as long as you have a fire source nearby (only penalty is losing the flame on your sword, but come on, you can usually go back to your torch to get it back and that’s it) seems to me that makes things too easy (and when you have the power up let’s not even talk). I would have added a penalty like for example when you heal you also reduce your maximum health by 1 or something like that (at least until you reach the checkpointon duty, perhaps with a limit so that you can’t literally stay at 1 maximum either… although the truth would be cool); or finally, anything, but some penalty (the same thing happens with the issue of dying, the fact of dying doesn’t really imply anything negative, sometimes it even pays off because you come back with life to the fullest).
By the way, I haven’t talked about bosses in general; Well, the truth is that they seemed quite good to me, except for what I have already commented on, that the last of all of them lacked a bit more because given what happens before and after, well, I don’t know, it could have been a little more epic, but Anyway, he still seems like a good boss to me. And there are bosses that are good, there are surprises that I shouldn’t mention, but they are cool.
