Nocturnal Interview – Art Style, Combat, and More

One look at Sunnyside Games’ upcoming sidescrolling action platformer Nocturnal is enough to grab your attention. There’s little doubt, of course, that the genre in and of itself that almost always has the potential to impress, but there’s plenty that the game is doing itself outside of that that piques our curiosity as well, from its gorgeous visual design to its fascinating setting. Set to launch sometime this year, we were curious to learn more about Nocturnal and what makes it tick, and recently reached out to its developers with some of our questions about the game. Below, you can read our interview with Sunnyside Games co-founder and Nocturnal’s lead artist Gabriel Sonderegger.

"The inspiration mainly comes from our travels to Iran, we got inspired from the architecture, colors, culture to the myths surrounding the country. From a visual standpoint, we wanted to bring our love for 2D animation to a video game, we worked around the idea of having something visually simple but with a strong emphasis and mood and lighting."

Nocturnal sports a gorgeous art style. How did you settle on this look for the game? Were there any particular inspirations for it?

Thanks! The inspiration mainly comes from our travels to Iran, we got inspired from the architecture, colors, culture to the myths surrounding the country. From a visual standpoint, we wanted to bring our love for 2D animation to a video game, we worked around the idea of having something visually simple but with a strong emphasis and mood and lighting.

The central concept of a dangerous mist shrouding the world is a fascinating one, especially from a narrative standpoint, but how will the game make use of it from a gameplay perspective?

Sure, we tried to use it as much as possible in the gameplay. It works somewhat like water. Once you enter it, you’ll have a few seconds to find an exit before dying. However, wielding a flame will help you to explore within it. We use this idea in different sets up and situations, for instance with fragile torches that will be broken once you grab the fire, letting you only a couple of seconds to find a way out or a next fire source.

What should players expect from Nocturnal’s combat variety, especially when it comes to things such as weapons, abilities, and enemies? 

As a small studio we tried our best to bring as much variety as possible, mainly in enemies and situations. There are no different weapons but you’ll be able to unlock new abilities.

"As a small studio we tried our best to bring as much variety as possible, mainly in enemies and situations. There are no different weapons but you’ll be able to unlock new abilities."

How expansive will the game’s progression mechanics be? How much variety will they enable in terms of how players wish to play?

The game is meant to be short and intense, so we aimed to make the game as polished as possible. Thus, we decided to create a hyper focused game centered around a particular play style with fire.

What sort of a balance will the game strike between combat and exploration? 

The game is rather linear, exploration is not a key part of the experience. We worked hard on the flow of the game so expect more a mix of combat / lite puzzling / platforming and narration bits

How does Nocturnal approach difficulty? Is challenge inherently baked into the game’s design? Can players expect difficulty options? 

There are no difficulty options, we worked super hard on balancing the game around a specific difficulty that we hope you’ll find challenging but still pleasing!

What can you tell us about the speedrun mode and what features it will add to the experience?

We thought a lot about speed-running, when we played the game over and over, we noticed that there was an interesting sensation of flow, so we’ve added several options to let players improve their time.

About the features, we integrated:

• Option to skip Cutscenes & fast transitions
• Option to stop timer during pause
• Perma Death Option
• Time and death count per level summary + export

"The game is meant to be short and intense, so we aimed to make the game as polished as possible. Thus, we decided to create a hyper focused game centered around a particular play style with fire."

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

Roughly 4 to 5 hours.

What frame rate and resolution will the game target on the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch?

60 FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, 30 FPS on Switch.

What are your thoughts on the Steam Deck? Do you have plans for any specific optimizations for the device? 

Definitely something super interesting, we love the hardware and the idea and we think that it would be a great fit for Nocturnal. It’ll depend on the reception of the game but we would love to port it to the Steam Deck.