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Review: Nightsky

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Everyone
Genre: Physics Puzzle / Platformer
License: Commercial
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2011
Review Published On: December 22nd, 2015
Played on: Martha

Available on:

Windows

Available from:

Humble Store
Steam

Areas of Concern:
  • Nothing of note


How to Save and Pause:

When you leave a level (either by completing the level, returning to the menu, or by quitting the game) your progress is automatically saved.

Time needed per session:

While this may look like a short game, it may take you a few tries to solve a level or find the hidden stars, so give yourself enough time to poke around - five to ten minutes ought to be a good start.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
Theres nothing offensive to be found in this dreamy little game - its just too simple.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
Navigating some hanging weights

[view screenshot]
These boards are balanced carefully

[view screenshot]
Spinning gears makes this Alternate level hard to navigate



Game Overview

Calling Nightsky a puzzle platformer feels like a bit of a stretch, but thats the closest one can get without coming up with an entirely new genre. After all, the gameplay revolves around rolling an unusual orb through a series of levels, all of which are filled with platforms of some sort. Note that while you can roll the orb around, there isnt a jump button -- youll need to find another way to climb over things.

Each level is three screens long, and once the orb has passed beyond the right-hand boundary of the third screen, the level is over. Getting to the right-hand margin is the tricky part: youll need to contend with ramps, boxes, hinged floors, hanging baskets, and other obstacles along the way. Most of the time, rolling over or against something will be enough to let you pass, but a level can also allow you to use powers. What powers are available depends on the level, and they can range from something as simple as being able to roll faster to something as unique as reversing the levels gravity.

Additionally, vehicles appear in some levels. When this happens, rolling around will control the vehicles gears and wheels, allowing you to drive these cars or fly different types of fanciful aircraft.

Overall, this game is very slow and dreamlike. Its a fun little game, but unfortunately, its also not very challenging; in some cases, there isnt anything interactive on the third screen, leaving you to just roll forward to victory. Thus, this game is probably only going to really appeal to casual gamers.

Points of Interest

Calm, relaxing gameplay

There are no enemies, nor are the levels timed. Everything moves along at your pace, and you can quit and resume at any time. The only risks youll be taking involve getting stuck in a place you cant roll out of, or falling out of the level.

Alternate mode provides a challenge

There are two campaigns; a normal set of levels for beginners and players that just want to relax, and an extremely hard alternate set for people that want to be challenged. The story, such as it is, will be the same either way and players are encouraged to try beating both modes.

Steam achievements

For those that enjoy collecting them, there are a number of achievements to earn. These arent very imaginative, simply being awarded for solving all of the levels in a stage, but not everybody can make it through both campaigns to earn the entire set.

Puzzles are often either too easy or too hard

The levels in the normal campaign are very easy. So much so that it almost feels like a slideshow of surreal backgrounds instead of a game. Most of the negative reviews Ive seen come from gamers that wanted to be challenged and were disappointed by what little challenge exists in the normal campaign. On the other hand, the alternate campaign is extremely difficult, sometimes to the point of being unfair.

Unexpected objectives

Chances are pretty good that youll reach the last stage before you discover any of the hidden stars. The problem with this is that in order to enter the last stage, you need to have found all of them! Theres no hint that theres more to Nightsky than rolling the ball until you hit the barriers. Many players didnt know they were supposed to be looking for anything until this point, and dont like having to backtrack to find something.

Bug with the ending cutscene

For some odd reason, the Steam version doesnt show the ending cutscene when you complete the final level. Nobodys quite sure why this is, and since what little plot is present is basically an excuse to roll a ball around, a lot of people dont really mind that its missing.

Concerns and Issues

None really.

When all you do is roll a little ball around, its somewhat hard to do something controversial or offensive.