Gales of Nayeli

About

Gales of Nayeli is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Blindcoco Studios and was released on June 23, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Gales of Nayeli is a grid-based Strategy RPG where players customize a party from over 35 unique characters to face a growing darkness in the land of Iuven. Inspired by classic SRPGs and JRPGs, it features an interactive campaign with choices that have lasting consequences. Players must unite unlikely allies to restore order amid chaos and looming threats.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

86%

Audience ScoreBased on 70 reviews

story12 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

Gales of Nayeli offers a unique twist on the Fire Emblem formula with its Grievous Wounds system, allowing characters to survive battles with debuffs instead of dying permanently.
The game features a diverse cast of characters with distinct abilities and a robust support system that enhances character development and gameplay strategy.
The gameplay is engaging with well-designed maps, a variety of tactical options, and plenty of customization for units, making it enjoyable for both casual and hardcore SRPG fans.

The game suffers from technical issues, including lag during battles, clunky inventory management, and unreliable controller support, which can detract from the overall experience.
The pacing of the story is inconsistent, with some chapters feeling drawn out and lacking in meaningful character interactions, particularly in the second half of the game.
While the art style is charming, the overall presentation is hindered by the limitations of the SRPG Studio engine, leading to a lack of polish in certain areas such as fullscreen resolution and promotion animations.

story
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
79%
4%
The story of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its ambitious scope but criticizing its pacing and presentation. While some appreciate the character dynamics and the intriguing plot twists, others find the narrative structure confusing and lacking depth, leading to a feeling of monotony. Overall, the characters are highlighted as a strong point, but the story itself often feels flat and underdeveloped, with a need for better worldbuilding and clearer direction.
- “Nayeli is a fantastic three-dimensional protagonist, who makes mistakes and grows throughout the story.”
- “The game has really good pacing and slowly introduces new plot points as they are relevant.”
- “Overall, Gales of Nayeli is an incredible SRPG, with addicting gameplay, a great story, and fun characters.”
- “That being said, this game struggles with the main story side.”
- “The story structure is absolutely unbearable to slog through, and it's by far the worst part of it all.”
- “You go through the game with little explanation and minimal backstory about the world and its inhabitants for far too long.”
gameplay
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
61%
9%
The gameplay in "Gales of Nayeli" is highly praised for its depth and variety, featuring diverse characters with unique abilities and well-designed maps that offer engaging tactical challenges. Players appreciate the customization options and replayability, alongside a satisfying progression system, despite some minor bugs and a less compelling story. Overall, the game is recommended for fans of strategy RPGs, particularly those who enjoy the mechanics reminiscent of the Fire Emblem series.
- “There's plenty of gameplay modifiers so you can customize your experience if you prefer.”
- “The gameplay is awesome, there is a wide variety of characters with different abilities and skills that makes each of them feel unique, and the game doesn't shy away from having options that are usually not seen in this kind of game (a chicken! a naga! harpies!).”
- “You can clearly notice that this game was made by ardent fans of the genre from how much care and thoughtfulness goes into the mechanics you use on the battlefield.”
- “The elements are not well integrated into non-magical gameplay.”
- “Gameplay is open enough for different styles and strategies, but still challenging enough that you have to think it through.”
- “The avatar feels like a mostly gameplay-focused addition: a generic unit the player gets to customize and have fun with on the battlefield but doesn’t clutter the story with their bland, self-insert presence.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming retro art style reminiscent of Fire Emblem, which some players appreciate despite its limitations and occasional technical issues. While the visuals are generally well-received for their charm and ability to enhance the storytelling, there have been reports of bugs and crashes that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are a mixed bag, appealing to fans of the aesthetic but marred by performance problems.
- “The graphics/art style are more hit than miss, if you like the retro Fire Emblem aesthetic.”
- “Both the music and artwork are very good and help bring the story to life.”
- “The artwork is lovable like your grandma's baked pies on Thanksgiving and the dialogue is witty and intelligent to top it off.”
- “Limited visuals mean that the story is lots of descriptions.”
- “By the end of chapter 2, my game had crashed once, had exited fullscreen three times, and had pop-ups four times to let me know the graphic was missing for an enemy.”
- “A lot of people have reported some graphic issues on day one, although the dev has already pushed a patch that helped immensely.”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
38%
Character development in the game is praised for its thoughtful variety, allowing for engaging progression and unique class designs that enhance gameplay. Players appreciate the artistic and mechanical aspects of character designs, alongside a diverse inventory and meaningful skill differentiation as characters level up. Overall, the combination of well-crafted characters and strategic depth contributes to a highly engaging experience.
- “Character variety is well thought out and leads to some interesting character development, while making pretty much every character feel viable.”
- “Great character designs (art and gameplay both), unique class designs, great character progression (differentiating skills as you level, multiple promotion options, large cast with zero repeating classes that I've seen), hugely varied inventory (lots of weapons with special defining characteristics well beyond the traditional iron-steel-silver of Fire Emblem), good map design with a huge number of varied maps and some objective variety.”
- “I've been playing for about 12 hours so far and I love the character designs both artistically and mechanically.”
- “The character development feels shallow and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
- “I expected more from the character arcs; they seem predictable and uninspired.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices in character development makes the experience feel linear and unfulfilling.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
"Gales of Nayeli" offers significant replayability through its diverse gameplay options, a wide array of characters, and customizable experiences. While a single playthrough is satisfying, the abundance of content, including secrets and difficulty settings, encourages players to revisit the game. However, some reviewers suggest that reducing the number of maps could enhance the overall pacing and replay value.
- “The huge amount of playable characters, equipment, weapons, items, and difficulty settings also grant Gales of Nayeli a huge amount of replayability.”
- “The diverse (and I mean diverse) set of characters adds to the replayability of the game, and it gives you enough tools to customize your experience.”
- “The game probably could've been 2-4 maps shorter and it would drastically improve replayability and support conversation pacing.”
- “Lots of secrets to discover and a fair amount of replayability to try out the varied cast.”
- “Gales of Nayeli has plenty of gameplay options and choices for replayability, but even a single playthrough is satisfying enough to warrant a purchase.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is highly praised for its quality and fittingness, enhancing the overall experience alongside the visuals. Many reviewers highlight it as a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's atmosphere and storytelling.
- “The music of the game is very fitting; I really liked it.”
- “Both the music and artwork are very good and help bring the story to life.”
- “Between the art, the characters, and the absolute banger of a music track, I think we have a real hit on our hands.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including a problematic fullscreen mode and various bugs that can hinder performance, especially on lower-spec machines. While some players report manageable experiences, others note persistent visual glitches and occasional slowdowns, indicating that it may not be suitable for multitasking or less powerful systems.
- “As one or two others have noted, this game lacks any resolution options and has an extremely buggy fullscreen mode, making it impossible to play while doing anything (even letting a video play) on my other monitor.”
- “Even still, the game sometimes has some slowdown and engine-related glitches that can mount up after a while on weaker machines.”
- “That said, I played through most of the beta on my laptop, which is well below spec, and didn't have too many issues, beyond the visual glitches.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's optimization is hindered by its engine, leading to occasional performance issues such as lag during enemy turns and clunky controls, which are more attributable to the SRPG Studio than the developers themselves. While these issues are noticeable, they do not significantly detract from the overall experience, especially given the game's turn-based nature. However, some players feel the pricing is a bit high considering the performance shortcomings.
- “The price is a little steep - it's fair pricing for the large amount of content and bespoke art, but the price feels a little high for the game performance.”
- “The game is a little constrained by its engine in terms of performance, but it is largely ignorable when any issues do occur.”
- “There are some issues with SRPG Studio performance, but I'd attribute those to SRPG Studio itself, rather than the developers.”
- “The price is a little steep - it's fair pricing for the large amount of content and bespoke art, but the price feels a little high for the game's performance.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, comparing it to the cumbersome management systems of early Fire Emblem titles, compounded by poorly designed menus and unskippable, juvenile dialogue reminiscent of Dark Deity. This combination detracts from the overall experience, making the grind feel more frustrating than engaging.
- “Imagine the tedious management (including weapon durability) and the awful menu design of early Fire Emblem games mixed with the corny unskippable dialogue of Dark Deity, which feels like it was written for a target audience of age 10 and lower.”
- “The grinding in this game feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged with the story.”
- “I found myself spending more time grinding for levels than actually enjoying the gameplay, which really detracted from the overall experience.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the absurdity of characters using guns to shoot enemies, which many players find amusing. This blend of unexpected elements contributes to the overall comedic tone of the game.
- “No, I'm not kidding! There are some characters who can just shoot the enemies with guns, and I think that's funny.”