Nightingale is finally upon us and we here at Hardcore Gamer have jumped straight in to explore the realms and report back. As expected, there have been a lot of twists and turns already, and all kinds of mind-boggling phenomena to wrap our heads around. Alien worlds, magical creatures, snappy blazers, it’s all there.
For now though, let’s focus on something more fundamental, namely, Realm Cards. They’re at the very core of the Nightingale experience, and it’s important to get to grips with them as soon as possible. Here’s a quick guide to everything you need to know.
All Realm Cards | Nightingale
A list of all realm cards available in Nightingale
What are Realm Cards? Put simply, they are how a Realmwalker constructs a new realm, a realm being one of Nightingale’s enclosed open-world areas. Each player will have a home realm which they are free to return to at any time, but Nightingale’s real draw is in progressing ever deeper into the Fae lands and seeing what each new realm has to offer.
Perhaps surprisingly for a game with that kind of set-up, Nightingale allows a significant degree of agency on behalf of the player in deciding what their next realm will look like, even down to the NPCs it will contain. You don’t have total control, and can’t micromanage absolutely everything, but with the right combinations of cards, you’re able to tailor things to suit your needs nicely.
Finding A Portal Structure
Before you may use any of your cards, you’ll need to find a portal structure. These are large archways with a corresponding console where you can play your cards. Once you have done that, a portal to the realm you have designed will appear. Bear in mind, however, that opening a portal can summon hostile Bound, so always make sure you are equipped to defend yourself before traveling to a new realm.
The structures are huge, so they’re usually pretty easy to find. Get to a high place and have a look around and there’s a good chance you’ll spot it. They’re also marked on the map if you’re having trouble. Every realm has a portal structure, so no matter where you are, you should be able to find one.
As for where to find cards, that’s a slightly different story. Some will be unlocked automatically as you play, while others can be crafted via recipes acquired from Sites of Power, a kind of mini-dungeon. Once you have a few under your belt, head to a portal structure and you’re all set.
Card Types
The most basic type of Realm Card is the Biome card. As the name suggests, these determine the landscape and wildlife of a given realm. There are currently three in the game and they are as follows:
At the moment, the Forest biome is by far the closest thing in the game to a"beginner" realm. There are fewer environmental hazards, less aggressive enemies, and more familiar surroundings than in the other two realms. It’s probably a good place to put your home base and to spend the early game getting to grips with the basic mechanics.
You can change a lot more than the biome, however, and that’s where Major Realm Cards come into play. These can be played alongside a biome card to modify the particular challenges you will face in the next realm. The Antiquarian and Astrolabe cards, for instance, increase the difficulty (and the subsequent rewards) in various ways. The Abeyance card, on the other hand, generates a relatively safe realm where players can place an Estate Cairn from which they can spawn a home base. There is also a Hunt card which spawns an Apex creature, a challenging boss fight.
Finally, (barring special late-game varieties of the cards mentioned above) we haveMinor Realm Cards, which work a little differently. These are not played when creating a new realm but are played instead through the use of aRealmic Transmutor. These machines are found randomly throughout the realms and can be used to modify the world you are currently in, as opposed to the one you visit next. These effects include things like increasing the yield for a particular resource or increasing the potency of your magic. Beware, however, as many minor cards include a negative tradeoff, like increasing enemy damage or reducing the effectiveness of your tools.
That’s the basics covered. It’s a fairly simple system once you get the hang of it, but there are a few nuances to watch out for. Hopefully, this guide helps ease you into your journey through the realms.
