Nightingale, the fantasy survival game from former BioWare developers, is delayed

Nightingale is a faux-Victorian crafting and survival game being developed by Inflexion Games, a studio founded in 2018 (as Improbable Canada) by a group of former BioWare employees, including former Bioware GM Aaryn Flynn. The basic mechanics seem fairly straightforward—chop tree, crush boulder, pick berry, get gored—but the promise of travel between strange, dangerous realms gives it a sort of "Steampunk Stargate" aesthetic that could be genuinely interesting.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait longer than expected to find out if Nightingale can live up to that potential. It was expected to arrive in early access later this year, but Nightingale announced today that it has decided to delay the launch until sometime in the first half of 2023.

"The move is based on two considerations," the studio wrote on Steam. "The first is an upgrade to Unreal Engine 5. After reviewing the potential UE5 has to offer, we decided on upgrading now rather than waiting until after release.

"Second, Inflexion Games is committed to delivering the best possible experience and fulfilling the promise of what Nightingale's universe of realms has to offer players. To achieve that the additional time will allow the team to make key improvements, bolster content, and polish gameplay."

A delay is always unfortunate, but it beats getting a crappy game that you don't want to play in the first place. Nightingale said that it will share more about the game and development process "in the coming weeks," and a more specific launch target will be revealed "at a later stage."