Are the Realms in Nightingale Procedurally Generated?

It’s easy to get lost in Nightingale‘s expansive realms, teeming with peculiar creatures eager to make you their next snack.

Once you step into the Victorian gaslamp fantasy world of Nightingale, you’ll be off to an adventure to explore mystical realms. All you have to do is mix two Realm Cards together and a portal to a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious realm will pop up. However, you’ll soon start to notice that despite using the same combination of cards, realms look different. Or perhaps you joined one of the game’s Twitch streams to get the lavish purple outfit and pet drops for Nightingale and noticed that, hey, that desert realm looks nothing like yours. In this guide, we’ll explore whether Nightingale‘s realms use procedural generation.

Are the Realms in Nightingale Procedurally Generated?

Yes, as confirmed by Inflexion Games’ lead Aaryn Flynn, Nightingale Fae Realms are procedurally generated. 

In early June of 2022, a Nightingale promo trailer revealed that procedural generation would be a “sophisticated” feature of the game. 

Procedural generation ensures that no two journeys are ever the same. With each playthrough offering a different world layout, enemy placement, and unique events, Nightingale encourages repeatability and discovery. The vast and seemingly endless worlds, made possible by procedurally generated content, promise boundless exploration and extended playtime. 

This isn’t new territory; I mean, even Minecraft did it way back when. However, Nightingale puts you in charge of procedural generation. With Realm Cards, you can wield control over the attributes of each new world you discover. Whether it’s altering environment types, tweaking weather patterns, or adjusting available resources and challenges. 

Giving us the power to procedurally generate a functional realm in Nightingale is a tremendous feat. As the devs have put it, it’s hard to validate the functionality of worlds that haven’t been created yet. As the developers have expressed, validating the functionality of worlds that haven’t yet been created is challenging. They reveal that they’ve envisioned Realm Cards since the project’s inception, but implementing them “took a lot longer.”

Of course, the downside of procedurally generated realms is inescapable — Nightingale has bland and unpolished areas. You’ll sometimes find yourself walking in the empty sands of the desert for several minutes, with nary a point of interest to be found. 

Related: How to Respawn at Your Backpack After Dying in Nightingale

During the development cycle, this concern arose, as Flynn questioned, “Is it fair to players to encounter something a kilometer and a half away from where they spawned due to random placement?” As Nightingale journeys through its Early Access era, I’m sure we’ll see the game’s procedurally generated worlds improve over time.