Finally free from 'mixed' Steam review purgatory, a new Nightingale update turns its biggest frustration into a strength

A new Nightingale update has just launched, and it's starting to feel like Inflexion's 'gaslamp fantasy' adventure is finally beginning to achieve what it set out to do. Launched in 2024, it struggled to compete in a year absolutely stacked with some of the best survival games. Against Palworld, Enshrouded, Once Human, The Planet Crafter, Sons of the Forest 1.0, and fresh updates for established stalwarts like Valheim and Rust, Nightingale's beautiful visuals weren't enough to compensate for a lack of depth. Yet a year and a half later, its Steam reviews are finally sitting in the blue, and now there's yet another reason to check in.

Perhaps you managed to snag Nightingale during the recent free Epic games giveaway, or maybe you've been eyeing it up with recent sales. Or perhaps you bought it at launch but fell off, waiting for more substantial overhauls and additions to the core systems. Since launch, we've had big building upgrades (including a more flexible build limit), a more directed story campaign, NPCs that you can assign to automate tasks in your base, and cosmetic customization. Inflexion has even opened the doors to Nightingale City. It seems to be working; Steam reviews finally have a 'mostly positive' 71% recommendation rating among respondents.

It's been a while since the last major overhaul, with Inflexion launching dedicated server support in July, but now the November Nightingale update has arrived, bringing a range of new charms and decoration sets with it. Ever been frustrated by carry weight? Of course you have; it's an inconvenience we've all dealt with in numerous RPGs, and Nightingale's Charm of the Mule has long been one of the most-used options for its ability to increase your capacity to hold stuff. But what if you could turn that problem into an advantage?

Enter the Charm of Sisyphus. Unlocked in the Gloriana's Tears realm, this increases your melee damage based on your current carry weight. You can go one step further once you make it to The Watch, where you're able to pick up another new addition, the Charm of Atlas, which removes penalties for being over-encumbered. You can therefore think of this as an endgame replacement for the Charm of the Mule.

Elsewhere, there are several other build options introduced by the new charms. The 'Nimble Jumper' allows you to double jump, the 'Laborer' reduces your requirements to eat and sleep, and 'Arcane Overcharge' allows you to expend stamina to pour extra oomph into your magical abilities. Personally, I'm most eager to try the 'Zephyr' charm, which "allows the player to remain airborne while casting spells and boosting damage while doing so." If that's the closest I can get to feeling like a Destiny Warlock, I'll take it.

Inflexion also addresses Welkins Reach, a zone it describes as "a divisive realm, especially for newer players" due to the sudden leap in challenge it presents. In order to "soften players' first impression of the realm," it's dramatically increased the duration of the Empyrean Favor buff and stopped it disappearing on death. The umbrella you get from Aurelio will now also come with the speed-enhancing Charm of the Wind attached.

Inflexion has made a range of balance changes to weapons and spells. Most notably, you'll find one-handed armaments much stronger than before. It explains that initially, this disparity was to balance "the versatility of having an off-hand weapon or utility tool," but the team admits that it may have "over-evaluated" how important these were. Weapons that have lower or no critical damage such as mauls get an extra boost "to give them an opportunity to see use in the late-game."

Several old charms get some love, with the Charm of the Assassin's poison effect boosted by 300% and the magic damage bonus from the Charm of Blood doubled to 50% of health lost. Fire and poison ammo has been made much stronger to help them compete with cold and lightning options. Finally, backpack durability has been boosted to limit instances of it breaking mid-fight and leaving you encumbered.

The Nightingale November update is out now. You can read through the full patch notes courtesy of Inflexion Games on Steam for a complete list of bug fixes and smaller tweaks. It might have had to walk a rocky road since release, but I'm hopeful that Nightingale is on its way to fulfilling the potential it always had.