Nightingale takes a different approach to difficulty settings than Enshrouded and similar survival games. Rather than simply choosing a single difficulty setting and leaving it at that, how hard the game will be depends upon a couple of key factors. Whether you play solo or in co-op, spend most of your time in a Forest Abeyance, or dove headfirst into the desert, there’s a difficulty that’s right for you. Thanks to the Realm Card system, you can also further customize things after arrival. Here’s how all of Nightingale‘s difficulty settings work.
Nightingale Difficulties Guide
As anyone who has tried to split stacks in this game knows, some things in the game are easier than others. Two major choices determine the difficulty of Nightingale: your starting loadout and the Realm Power. You’ll have an easier time as a character who trained to survive in the Faewilds (Survivalist) than one who was tossed into fairyland in their pajamas (Late Sleeper). The harder your starting loadout, the worse your gear will be. That can make surviving monsters and the environment much more difficult. Here are the loadout options:
- Survivalist (Easy) – Your character has spent significant time preparing for the hardships to come and is well-equipped to survive
- Heedful (Medium) – Your character is somewhat prepared for the Faewilds and possesses decent gear
- Unprepared (Hard) – Your character is thrown into fairyland with little prep time and may struggle a bit as a result
- Late Sleeper (Extreme) – Your character starts with nothing but their nightclothes and is in for a rough time
In addition to your starting loadout, you also get to choose the Realm Power. Realm Power is a basic measurement of how challenging the world is relative to your loadout and expertise. Enemies will be significantly easier to defeat in areas with low Realm Powers (such as 0 or 10) compared to enemies in areas with Realm Powers of 25 or 40. You can therefore choose the combination of gear and Realm Power that’s right for the experience you’re looking for. To summarize, here’s how difficulty works in Nightingale:
- Starting Loadout determines what gear you start with and how well-prepared you are to face the elements and monsters
- Realm Power determines how difficult the Realm itself will be, irrespective of your gear
Nightingale is available for PC in early access.
