Harness the power of fire and steel as you cut your way through the dark and mysterious mist that has claimed your homeland.
In Nocturnal, you play as Ardeshir, a soldier who has returned to his home. Not to save it, but in the hopes that he can find his sister to hopefully spare her from the fate of the rest of the island’s denizens.
Nocturnal is set to a beautiful and atmospheric backdrop, with a captivating soundtrack that sets the ethereal and mysterious tone of the story. Beyond the beautifully designed landscapes, Nocturnal uses its main mechanic, the use of fire, to full effect throughout the course of the game. The inhabitants of the mist are weak to fire, and many of the platforming sequences and brief puzzles rely on the use of fire to complete them.
By striking torches and braziers with your sword, it becomes engulfed in flame for a brief period of time. During this period, you are able to fight enemies and light new sources of fire to rekindle your blade in. The puzzles throughout the game are rather straightforward, but it is oddly satisfying to spread flame, progressing forward. Even more satisfying are the effects of the mist propagation and how it interacts with the fire.
You get the picture, Nocturnal is a very beautiful game.
However, beauty is not the mark of a good game, so how does it play? Nocturnal is an action-platformer, which features a well-balanced combination of both combat and platforming sections. Oftentimes mixing the two. The real challenge of these sections comes from maintaining the fire on your blade to avoid being overcome by the mist or succumbing to the attacks of the enemies bathed in darkness.
Both the combat and platforming are fairly basic though. With the exception of only being able to damage certain enemies when your blade is coated in fire, the combat relies on simple attacks and dodge mechanics. There is no parrying system, and while you do unlock a throwing knife rather shortly into the game, it doesn’t expand on the mechanics much. There is a more significant boost to the combat that does occur late in the game, but for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I won’t go into details on that here.
Combat does start to feel a bit redundant because of this. Most fights consist of dodging behind an enemy, attacking them quickly, and then dodging again right away. There are some boss fights with slightly more complicated attack patterns to worry about, but overall it’s a lot of the same. Some enemies do employ screen filling attacks that need to be dodged, and these do mix things up a bit, but they don’t change the simple move set that you have.
The addition of something as simple as a parry system or maybe an additional attack or two could’ve really helped. The same can be said about the platforming sections. The chase style sequences and atmosphere of the more intense platforming sections are very well crafted.
The best of these are when the mist starts to fill up the room, rapidly extinguishing any flame and sense of safety. Many of these sequences focus on trying to outpace the mist while keeping a flame alive. Others involve avoiding and defeating enemies as the room collapses around you. These sequences do a good job of walking the line between being too easy and too hard. Most can be completed on your first try, but you might find yourself playing through some of them a few times.
While there is a decent variety and challenge to these sequences, too many more, and they would’ve started to feel a bit overbearing. This goes back to the previous issue of your very limited move set. There are only so many puzzles you can take in with simple jumps and attacks. Adding just one or two more mobility abilities into Nocturnal would’ve expanded on the playability of the game.
This is where Nocturnal’s relatively short run time comes in handy. It took me just under three and a half hours to finish the game, and I missed just a couple of the optional shrines hidden throughout. I’d say three to four hours is a fair amount of time to budget to complete Nocturnal in its entirety. It’s a tad on the short side, but it is enjoyable, and it doesn’t outstay any welcome.
That being said, adding an extra mechanic or two, even without expanding the length of the game, would’ve been cool to see.
The optional shrines hidden throughout the game are the primary way the Nocturnal’s story is told, so it does pay to find them if you wish to uncover more of what happened. There are a handful of characters scattered across your adventure, but they often speak in cryptic sentences. Nocturnal’s story is very much one that you need to piece together on your own.
Overall, Nocturnal is a short, yet enjoyable experience. The platforming and visuals are the best aspects of the game. While I wish there was an expansion to some of the mechanics, the fact that it doesn’t stretch out the playtime unnecessarily somewhat offsets that desire.
