Nivalis Nights Review: Cozy Cyberpunk, Heavy on the Kitchen

Six years ago, *Cloudpunk* had me flying a hover-car through the vertical neon city of Nivalis, delivering packages and listening to strangers' sad stories. Nivalis Nights takes you back to the same city, but this time you land, park and open a noodle stand. Developed by Berlin studio ION LANDS and published by 505 Games, it launched on Steam on September 29, with an Epic Games Store version promised later. Before release it passed a million wishlists, so expectations were high.

What it is

A cyberpunk slice-of-life sim. You start small, with a street food stand, and work your way up to restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Around that you source ingredients by shopping, growing or fishing, decorate your apartment, make friends (or more than friends) among the locals, play mini-games against NPCs and even enter a chess tournament. You get around on foot, by public transport or by boat through the waterfront districts. It is largely open-ended: the game rarely tells you what to do next.

The highs

The city is the star, exactly as it was in *Cloudpunk*. ION LANDS' voxel style, all chunky pixels and soft neon haze, looks even better at street level. Walking the canals at night with rain on the water, while a vendor argues with a drone next to you, is the kind of mood no big-budget cyberpunk game has quite nailed. The writing still has that melancholy streak, and the characters I got to know over my first long sessions were worth the time.

The early business loop is calming in the best way: buy, cook, serve, reinvest, repeat. It is the "one more night shift" kind of game.

The lows

The management side eats the rest of the game. Once your business grows, far too much of your evening becomes menus, stock and staff, and the moody, slightly dangerous city from the trailers fades into a pretty backdrop for spreadsheets. Some players on Steam have voiced the same complaint - that the darker tone of earlier footage has been sanded down - and I share it. If you wanted *Cloudpunk 2*, this is not it.

Performance is the other problem. The minimum requirements ask for 16 GB of RAM and a GTX 1660 Super, the recommended spec is an RTX 4070, and the install is 42 GB - hefty for a voxel game. User reports so far range from smooth to rough, so check your hardware first.

Price and availability

It costs 24.99 euros on Steam, with a launch discount at release. German interface and subtitles are included, while full voice audio is English only. That is a fair price for the amount of content, as long as your PC can carry it.

Verdict

Nivalis Nights is a lovely place to live and a slightly less lovely place to run a business. If you want a cozy management sim with an unusual, atmospheric setting, go for it. If you came for the noir, wait for patches and see where the updates take it.

Score: 7/10

Image: PattayaPatrol / CC BY-SA 4.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DFC_0505_Neon-lit_city_street_at_night_reflected_in_a_rain_puddle_colorful_signs_and_lights_mirrored_on_the_wet_pavement.jpg