Nivalis Nights by developer ION LANDS and publisher 505 Games—PC (Steam) review written by Mike with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
“Anyone can paint garbage, it takes true Artistry to paint garbage beautifully”
Nivalis Nights is an experience that gives a strong sense of what a talented team of visionary minds can create. Nivalis Nights crafts a living breathing painting of neon basked splendor with a futuristic new art style of game that is both beautiful and urban futuristic.
Nivalis Nights is a slice-of-life simulation set in the cyberpunk city of Nivalis where you will spend time growing your future business. Your story begins with you waking up in Lowtown, traveling to Meridian Market sector and taking over "Ramen Noir" from Thaddeus the old owner. He hands over the business to you happily, along with the debt attached to the business. After meeting your first and only employee, Banor, you start setting up the seating area, shopping for ingredients, furniture, and adding to your overall menu thereby increasing the quality, comfort and popularity of your Noodle Bar.
AVA, a digital
automata assistant communicates frequently with the player to steer them in the
right direction when all seems lost, or new information needs addressing. Conversing with certain residents and customers can lead to a pleasant outcome of improving your reputation with the locals.
As you begin to collect staff and ingredients in order to begin your management of this restaurant, recipes will need to be learned by word of mouth with the city's citizens and rival food vendors. It doesn't just stop there, though. You also need to buy tables and chairs. Purchasing machines, such as a drink machine, food chopper, extra stoves, and various other upgrades will keep you wanting to return to make the noodle bar of your dreams.
I started exploring off to the side after a few shifts and discovered the docks. After talking it up with a few locals, they handed me a boat. Different areas on the water presents optimal fishing locations for different varieties of fish. There are also Loot zones that allow the player to fish up treasures such as Jewelry, Garbage, or even ancient technology scrap to sell off. A fishing rod is a great way to make easy cash when the restaurant is running low on funds.
So not only am I chasing fish, I'm also chasing profit at the restaurant. Once you hire a manager as well as wait staff and another cook you can start to accumulate a far greater profit. Things become less stressful with more cash flow. Be cautious on giving the staff a raise right away though, if you don't have enough money to pay them, they might not return and just outright quit.
The city is filled with Neon lights and massive mega structures housing the citizens, their personalities ranging far and wide. I found myself discussing with a social influencer whether her band deserves a 10% discount at my restaurant. The next moment I was running dirty mugs to the sink to ensure the area of operation remained clean and tidy.
There's danger in the town though. Due to a serial killer stalking the regions, a curfew is put into place, so time management is a key factor in running your potential enterprises. Yes that is a plural. You have a large list of potential shops to purchase in the many outer areas as you grow your monopoly on the major sector. Many NPC's are wandering the environments, allowing for a living breathing city utopia filled with citizens. I found myself often times looking at every moment of this game exuding a picturesque beauty with the smallest details taken into account in a successful immersive environment.
I did find myself at times a bit overwhelmed with the number of side quests and objectives flowing in at me in the beginning of the game. Discovering how to manage and multitask will ease off any stress this may present. It seems every single patron that has something to say has a want or need of your assistance. Being a people pleaser will have you charming the masses by offering restaurant discounts, pleasant conversation or appealing to the persons better nature. You must also keep in mind to keep the rent paid on your apartment or you might encounter an early eviction or a visit from the landlord. There is a loan shark that can help you with a bit of interest, but I have a belief that if the player avoids taking out loans, it might save them additional pressure for their business's success. The interest may just outweigh the earnings.
Everything from the user interface to the controls is very clean and feels natural. The team clearly put a lot of time and effort, as well as energy, love, and care in crafting this wonderful experience. The animated skyline of the mega structure apartments and skyscrapers dance with light amid the sorrowful and downtrodden street life bustling below. Contrast is a key player in this moving painting of a city. The musical score is a fine blend of synth-wave mixed into an ambient saturated living world. The game comes with a Photo Mode as well, allowing the player to admire and explore the areas highs and lows in leisure without losing valuable money-making hours in game. If you are not a big fan of Store management, gardening, fishing or exploring, this title is still a great addition to anyone's game collection for the presentation and delivery of this polished creation.
Controls: 9/10 - Managing staff, keeping track of social influence, adjusting menu item costs and movement feel proper and flow nicely. Collision with NPCs is non-existent and it works well with the flow of the games population.
Audio: 9/10 - The music and sound effects are placed accordingly further saturating the player into the environments and overall emotion breathed into this game. Spending hours with the music playing in the background and never noticing time flow away fluidly is a true skill in musical arts.
Graphics: 9/10 - A voxel graphics style captures a spectacular presentation of this game that every scene is meticulously made with time and care. A UI interface clean and organized that takes little to no hand holding.
Overall I personally could count this as a top 5 contender for game of the year in 2026. The team has been hammering away at this title for a while and the end resulting presentation is well worth the wait.
Score: 9 / 10
