Info about Nocturnal:

Official game description:
**Nocturnal** is an action game where you play as Ardeshir, a soldier of the Enduring Flame, returning to his homeland, Nahran, after many years of absence.
Following the appearance of a mysterious Mist, the island has recently fallen into chaos, and Ardeshir must wield his flaming sword and use powerful abilities to confront its mysteries and free Nahran.
Features:
---------
*   Repel a dynamically generated Mist that reacts to the flames of your sword.
*   Carry your flames across Nahran: your blade can also ignite the environment, activate mechanisms, and even destroy creatures born from the Mist.
*   Defeat enemies and explore the environment to collect ash, which can be offered to Phoenix statues. You'll gain new skills and bonuses vital for your survival.
*   Explore a compact island offering a streamlined experience centered around a singular concept. _(game length: around 3 hours)_

Release date: 7 Jun, 2023

Categories: Action Platformer, Platformer, Single-player, Linear Progression, Puzzle Solving, Real-time Combat, Character Progression, Environmental Combat


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly enjoyable and well-crafted (weight 1): Players consistently praise the game as a highly enjoyable, entertaining, and well-crafted experience. Its concise nature and engaging gameplay contribute to a satisfying and memorable adventure.
- Stunning visuals and art style (weight 0.4): The game receives overwhelming acclaim for its stunning visuals, art style, and atmospheric design. The use of fire and shadow effects, in particular, is highlighted as exceptionally beautiful and immersive.
- Innovative fire mechanic (weight 0.26): The central fire mechanic is lauded as innovative, well-executed, and integral to both combat and puzzle-solving. Its implementation creates a unique and satisfying gameplay loop.
- Fluid and dynamic combat (weight 0.19): Combat is frequently praised for its fluidity, dynamism, and smooth execution. Players appreciate the variety of enemies, unlockable abilities, and well-balanced difficulty, making fights enjoyable.
- Fluid and pleasant platforming (weight 0.19): The platforming elements are described as fluid, pleasant, and well-designed, offering a balanced challenge without being overly difficult. It's considered a strong aspect of the game's overall design.
- Captivating soundtrack and music (weight 0.11): The soundtrack and music are highly regarded for being captivating, emotional, and effectively complementing the game's atmosphere and overall experience.
- Tight and responsive controls (weight 0.08): The game's controls are consistently described as tight, responsive, and smooth, contributing to a pleasant and precise gameplay experience.
- Intriguing and involving story (weight 0.07): The game's story and lore are found to be intriguing, simple yet involving, and effectively captivating players throughout the experience.
- Good performance on various platforms (weight 0.05): The game performs well on various platforms, specifically noted for its smooth performance on Steam Deck and compatibility with different controllers.

Common complaints:
- Game too short for price (weight 0.51): Players consistently feel the game is too short (2-3 hours) for its price point, leading to a perception of low value. Many believe it feels more like a demo or a game that should be significantly cheaper.
- Repetitive, shallow combat (weight 0.24): Combat is described as repetitive, simplistic, and lacking depth. Players found it often devolved into 'attack, dodge, repeat' or 'roll and hit' with little satisfaction or need for strategic thinking.
- Weak and unclear story (weight 0.18): The narrative is frequently criticized for being underdeveloped, confusing, or cliché. Players felt a lack of explanation for the world and story, which hindered their engagement.
- Monotonous puzzle design (weight 0.07): The puzzle elements are seen as monotonous and unchallenging, often relying on the same simple mechanics. This lack of variety and difficulty made puzzles uninteresting for players.
- Poor visibility and lighting (weight 0.06): Poor visibility due to dark environments and excessive lighting effects makes it difficult to see enemies and their attacks, leading to frustrating combat and exploration.
- Limited enemy variety (weight 0.05): The game suffers from a lack of enemy variety and simplistic AI, making encounters feel predictable and less engaging.
- Low replayability, unmemorable (weight 0.04): The game offers little replayability, and its levels and music do not stand out, contributing to a forgettable experience.
- Small, linear map (weight 0.03): The game's map is considered too small and linear, limiting exploration and making the overall experience less engaging for players expecting a larger world.
- Clunky character controls (weight 0.03): Players reported issues with character control, including stuttering animations, animation pauses on hits, and a 'floaty' feeling during movement.
- Annoying camera movement (weight 0.03): The camera behavior was found to be annoying, particularly its 'rubber band' effect, over-swinging, and delayed reactions to player movement.
- Steam Deck technical issues (weight 0.03): Specific technical issues were noted when playing on Steam Deck, including HDR display problems (poor visibility) and audio corruption requiring frequent restarts.

Gameplay feedback:
- Short, Linear Gameplay Experience (weight 0.45): The game is consistently described as a short, linear experience, typically completable within 2-4 hours. This brevity is often highlighted as a feature that encourages speedrunning and makes 100% completion achievable in a single playthrough.
- Core Flaming Sword Mechanic (weight 0.36): The central and most unique mechanic revolves around a flaming sword. Players must keep the sword ignited to survive the pervasive darkness, illuminate environments, solve puzzles, and effectively combat shadow enemies. This fire mechanic is integral to both exploration and combat.
- 2D Action-Platformer Genre (weight 0.25): The game is primarily a 2D side-scrolling action-platformer. While it shares some visual similarities with Metroidvanias, it is explicitly linear, focusing on platforming, simple hack-and-slash combat, and environmental puzzles rather than extensive exploration or complex RPG elements.
- Functional Combat System (weight 0.1): Combat is described as functional and serviceable, relying on basic attacks, dodges, and parries. While not overly complex, it is generally considered satisfying and responsive, with an emphasis on movement and reflexes.
- Simple Skill Tree System (weight 0.08): The game features a small and straightforward skill tree. Players can unlock a limited number of abilities that enhance combat, and the skill tree is designed to be easily completed, often within a single playthrough.
- Post-Game Level Select (weight 0.06): After completing the game, a level select feature becomes available. This allows players to easily revisit specific stages to find missed collectibles, shrines, or achievements, facilitating 100% completion.

Performance notes:
- Minimal game bugs reported (weight 0.04): Players report a largely bug-free experience, with only isolated incidents of minor bugs or none at all. This indicates a high level of polish in the game's stability.
- Occasional game crashes observed (weight 0.03): Some players experienced game crashes, and in one instance, a full computer crash. This suggests potential stability issues that could disrupt gameplay.
- FPS drops fixable via settings (weight 0.01): Players found that adjusting video settings from 'Quality' to 'Performance' significantly helped in preventing frame rate drops. This suggests that default settings might be too demanding for some systems.

Recommendations:
- Recommended, especially on sale (weight 0.53): Many players highly recommend the game, especially when purchased at a significant discount or during a sale. They feel the game offers good value for its price point when reduced, making it a worthwhile experience for its length and genre.
- Sequel highly anticipated (weight 0.21): Players are very interested in and eagerly awaiting a sequel to the game, with some expressing a desire to support the developers for future titles. There's a clear anticipation for more content or a follow-up from the same creators.
- Mixed individual sentiment (weight 0.02): One reviewer stated they would not give a good review, while another did not regret their purchase. This indicates mixed individual sentiment that doesn't form a strong, actionable consensus.
- Evokes childhood nostalgia (weight 0.01): One player mentioned the game evoked childhood memories, suggesting a nostalgic appeal. While positive, this is a subjective and less actionable piece of feedback.

Other player notes:
- Mixed story reception (weight 0.07): Player opinions on the story are mixed; some find it interesting, simple yet engaging, or beautiful, while others feel it's just 'okay' or even non-existent due to a fragmented narrative. The lore, particularly around the mist, is noted as intriguing.
- Visuals evoke other games (weight 0.04): The game's visual style and atmosphere frequently draw comparisons to other titles, particularly Prince of Persia games from the 2000s, and also Himno and Children of Morta.
- Minimal narrative presentation (weight 0.02): The game lacks traditional cinematics and a narrator, with very few non-player characters who do not contribute to the story through dialogue.
- Small development team (weight 0.02): Players acknowledge that the game was developed by a small or tiny team, which often influences expectations regarding scope and content.
- Mixed music reception (weight 0.02): The music receives varied feedback; some describe it as enchanting and top-notch, while others find it to be merely medium or just okay.
- Average review scores (weight 0.02): Some reviews include specific numerical scores, with common ratings around 7/10 or 7.5/10 for the overall game or graphics.
- Sale purchase and achievements (weight 0.02): Some players mention purchasing the game on sale or having unlocked all achievements, indicating engagement with the game's completion aspects.
- Good atmospheric elements (weight 0.01): The game's atmosphere is generally well-received, with specific mentions of elements like rain, waterfalls, and cargo lifts contributing positively.
- Burnable objects lack purpose (weight 0.01): A specific gameplay mechanic, burning objects, is noted as having limited purpose beyond contributing to achievement progress.
- Middle Eastern cultural theme (weight 0.01): The game's cultural representation is noted as being in accordance with Middle Eastern culture.
- Played on Xbox (weight 0.01): One reviewer specified playing the game on the Xbox version.
- 21:9 presentation format (weight 0.01): The game features a 21:9 artistic presentation format.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.37): Players expressed satisfaction primarily due to the game's high overall quality, engaging combat, appealing visuals, and well-crafted soundtrack. The game's value for money, especially when on sale, and its concise yet enjoyable design also contributed significantly to positive experiences.
- Disappointment (weight 0.19): Disappointment stemmed mainly from the game's short length and perceived lack of content, particularly when purchased at full price. Repetitive combat, unrealized potential, and a lack of depth in story or mechanics also contributed to negative feelings.
- Frustration (weight 0.07): Frustration was caused by technical issues such as stuttering, poor visibility, and camera problems. Difficult or unengaging combat mechanics, confusing level design, and specific bugs also led to player frustration.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.06): Enjoyment was consistently linked to the game's fun and entertaining gameplay, particularly its parkour, platforming, and fire mechanics. The overall quality, art style, and engaging combat also contributed to a positive experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.05): Excitement was driven by the game's overall quality, unique gameplay, and the anticipation for a potential sequel. The engaging combat and captivating nature of the game also contributed to this emotion.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players appreciated the game's strong art direction, visuals, and music, along with its well-executed gameplay mechanics, including the flame system and combat. The overall polish and flow of the game were also highly valued.
- Admiration (weight 0.03): Admiration was expressed for the game's creative concept, beautiful design, and the team's effort. The novel gameplay and stunning visuals and animations were also key factors.
- Joy (weight 0.03): Joy was primarily associated with the game's concept, visuals, and audio design, particularly the art style. The overall positive game experience and the unique mechanic of setting things on fire also brought joy to players.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Anticipation was solely focused on the prospect of a sequel, indicating a strong desire for more content from the developers.
- Awe (weight 0.02): Awe was inspired by the game's perceived masterpiece quality, stunning artistic elements, and impressive visual effects. The overall high quality of the game's presentation contributed to this feeling.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love for the game stemmed from its unique 'playing with fire' concept, engaging story, and well-implemented flame-centered battles. The overall quality, mechanics, and visuals also fostered strong affection.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Interest was sparked by the game's innovative mechanics, graphical quality, and engaging setting. Specific mechanics like the fog system also captured player attention.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom arose from repetitive gameplay, including monotonous combat and level design. The feeling of the game becoming a grind also contributed to this negative emotion.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Hope was expressed for future improvements, specifically a longer sequel and enhanced combat mechanics. Players also hoped for more games from the developers.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret was tied to the overall purchase decision, primarily due to the game's short length and limited content, suggesting players felt the value wasn't there for their investment.
- Amazement (weight 0.01): Amazement was caused by the game's impressive visual effects, art style, and overall atmosphere, indicating a strong positive reaction to its aesthetic presentation.
- Helpfulness (weight 0.01): Helpfulness was observed when players provided solutions to performance issues or shared gameplay tips and collectible locations, indicating a desire to assist other players.
- Consideration (weight 0.01): Consideration was a factor related to the game's price point, suggesting players carefully weighed the cost against the perceived value of the game.
- Pleasure (weight 0.01): Pleasure was derived from the game's unique qualities, high artistic design, and well-executed mechanics, indicating a deep enjoyment of its creative and functional aspects.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Desire was expressed for more content, specifically due to the game's limited duration, indicating players wanted a longer experience.}