Nocturnal 2

My first instinct after finishing the original Nocturnal was that Sunnyside Games had built something that deserved more room to breathe. The first game was a tight, almost demo-sized proof of concept, and reviewers at the time kept saying the same thing in different words: wonderful, but where's the rest of it? Nocturnal 2 looks like the answer to that question, and from everything visible so far it is a considerably more ambitious swing. The setting shifts from Ardeshir's home island of Nahran to the cursed city of Ytash, a place that, in the lore, essentially consumed itself from the inside out. That thematic rot carries through the level design: Ytash is an interconnected vertical world built for Metroidvania backtracking, where locked doors become invitation letters you cash in later with a new ability. The Enduring Flame that defined the first game is now threaded through every system rather than sitting on top of them. Lighting torches to unlock passages is still present, but now the flame powers a parry, feeds into the Sun Slash ability, and interacts with the environment in ways the original could only gesture at. Combat rewards players who stay lit: a burning sword deals more damage over time, while extinguishing it doubles as a defensive resource trade-off. New mobility tools, including a double jump and what appears to be a wall-slide, open up the precision platforming the series has always leaned on. Enemy encounters are built around readable attack telegraphs and positional dashes rather than raw aggression, so skilled players who enjoy launch-juggling and air combos will find real depth there. The art direction is still the series' quietest superpower. Sunnyside uses hand-animated 2D visuals rather than pixel sprites, which gives the game a modern, almost painterly quality while keeping the animation expressive and intentional. The darkness in Ytash is not lazy black fill; it is layered, smoky, and alive, and the contrast when your sword finally lights a room is genuinely satisfying every time. Sound design earned consistent praise in the original, with the mist demons in particular given their own unsettling audio identity, and the sequel appears to carry that care forward. The one honest caveat worth naming: Nocturnal 2 is still unreleased at time of writing, and the available impressions come from a demo build that the developers themselves flagged as incomplete. The first game had real friction around collectible placement, with lore-critical notes easy to miss permanently, and the sequel has acknowledged that clarity concern directly with an improved map, a custom marker system, and a teleportation network tied to Sun Child checkpoints. Whether those fixes land cleanly in the full release is a question the demo cannot answer. If you are coming in cold, the original Nocturnal is worth an hour of your time first; it establishes the world and tone quickly, and its brevity is no longer a complaint when you know the sequel exists.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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