Nightmare

About

Nightmare is a multiplayer open world role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Magework Studios and was released on September 6, 2021. It received neutral reviews from players.

A revolutionary open world MMORPG with night-time PvP mechanics. Customize your character & enter the world of Sylvenus. Go on quests, find treasure, & party with friends. The sky is the limit.

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53%

Audience ScoreBased on 186 reviews

story6 positive mentions

grinding14 negative mentions

The game has a nostalgic retro aesthetic that appeals to fans of classic RPGs.
The developers are actively working on updates and responding to community feedback.
The community is generally friendly and helpful, making it easier for new players to get assistance.

The game suffers from severe login issues and server instability, making it unplayable for many users.
Kill-stealing is rampant, as players only receive credit for kills if they land the final blow, leading to frustrating gameplay.
The game lacks sufficient content and polish, feeling incomplete and unbalanced, especially for new players.

story
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
86%
6%
The game's story and quest structure have received significant criticism for being repetitive, dull, and plagued by bugs, particularly in the main quest line, which often follows a monotonous pattern of dungeon crawling and boss fights. Players have noted that side quests lack depth and engagement, and many quests are poorly designed, leading to confusion and frustration, especially with mechanics like last-hitting for quest completion. While some users appreciate the potential for future updates and the nostalgic feel of needing to read quest prompts, the current state of the story and questing experience is seen as lacking and in need of improvement.
- “Fun game, neat story and unique classes.”
- “I really like how you need to read the quests and figure out where to go, like old MMOs.”
- “The game will accompany you with tile markers for your first main quest and show you where you need to be, but it will not hold your hand as you play through it.”
- “The main quest line is incredibly dull and repetitive: talk to the king, you skip the 2/3 text prompts, he sends you to a dungeon, you go beat the dungeon boss and run back to the king, and this goes on for at least 10 quests or so before the main quest line continues in another place and keeps the same pattern.”
- “Quests and the worldbuilding are kind of bland in my opinion, and it doesn't help that if you are exploring around and find a quest-giver there's a chance that no quest is actually given, being marked as not ready yet.”
- “How can you mess up the most basic problem of an MMO that has been solved for years now? The kill stealing is so bad that it takes you half an hour just to complete a simple quest. It's such a problem that you can't advance at all, and since most of your experience comes from quests, you're just stuck in the same area.”
music
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
37%
19%
The music in the game is generally praised for its catchy and nostalgic quality, reminiscent of classic console games, with many players enjoying the open world themes and art style. However, some find certain tracks, like the main city and castle music, to be repetitive or jarring, and there are mixed feelings about the appropriateness of certain styles, such as dubstep in a medieval setting. Overall, while the soundtrack has standout moments, there are suggestions for more mood variation and smoother transitions between tracks.
- “Music: it gets stuck in my head like every old school console game (which is a good thing because it's good music).”
- “I loooove the music in the open world areas and all of its variants that I've enjoyed.”
- “The music is beyond excellent, and I love the pixel art style of the game.”
- “Instead, I have a marching band music all the time, like I'm on a parade.”
- “The only two places I could do without are the loudly obnoxious chat sounds of the main city and the castle music gets old real quick.”
- “Bad ambient music; a character in a medieval world having dubstep-themed music in medieval towns just does not click.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their retro 2D RPG aesthetic and beautiful pixel art, appealing particularly to fans of classic RPGs. Many reviewers highlight the art style and music as standout features, contributing significantly to the game's charm. However, some players note that technical issues can detract from the overall experience, despite the strong visual appeal.
- “The art style is cool, probably the best thing about this game.”
- “The music is great, the artwork is beautiful and the map is huge.”
- “They nailed the retro 2D RPG aesthetic and there aren't a whole lot of games like it on the market.”
- “So yes, the art style and old-school charm is hard carrying this game right now; if you don't like the art style, you have no reason to even touch this.”
- “They nailed the retro 2D RPG aesthetic, and there aren't a whole lot of games like it on the market.”
- “If you like the art style but don't have a friend, play it (it is an MMORPG, so even though we're gamers, socialize).”
grinding
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is a mixed bag; while some players enjoy the retro-style grind for experience and loot, many find it tedious and frustrating due to a lack of player base, convoluted progression systems, and unbalanced mechanics. Players often feel overwhelmed by the number of quests and the difficulty of finding teams for raid bosses, leading to a repetitive cycle of grinding that can feel unrewarding. Overall, the enjoyment of grinding is heavily dependent on personal preference and the game's ongoing updates and balance adjustments.
- “In an ideal world, when you have a decent player base, it shouldn't be so hard to find a team for grinding raid bosses. But here, with less than 40 people online, what am I supposed to do when I need a drop from a raid boss?”
- “Right now, as it stands, you may initially be overwhelmed for about 20 minutes, then drastically underwhelmed when you start farming the first dungeon, until you realize after leaving the first dungeon that you have 20+ quests in your log and are suddenly overwhelmed again.”
- “First and foremost; the progression; as of right now the progression is as such: 'spam main story quest until you're level 27, and then suffer your way through mob grinding/boss grinding until you hit a new side quest.' This isn't terrible, except the fact that the reason the progression is this way is through the game's use of 'exp tokens' which give varying amounts of experience ranging from 250 to 25,000 (I believe there's diamond ones later that give more).”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay is generally considered better than many pay-to-win mobile MMOs, featuring a tight gameplay loop, though it suffers from clunky mechanics and a lack of players. While the interface is improved, some users find the auto-attack system for certain classes frustrating, and ongoing development efforts are focused on refining gameplay mechanics and addressing player feedback. Overall, the game shows promise but still requires further polish and player engagement.
- “The gameplay loop is really tight, especially for an MMO.”
- “I already played this game for about 2 days, and I would say I have 8-10 hours of gameplay. I just installed it on Steam because I find the reviews to be unfair.”
- “It already has a better interface and better gameplay than a huge chunk of pay-to-win nonsense and mobile MMOs; however, it is still in development and the only thing this game lacks is players and a fitting equipment table.”
- “Things that I personally was annoyed by in my 10 levels of gameplay:”
- “Clunky slow gameplay.”
- “I would be less opposed to this mechanic if there was more skill to getting the killing blow - on cleric with auto attack there is not much you can do about it.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game has been widely criticized as excessive and cringeworthy, with users finding it more pathetic than amusing. Many express concern that this style of humor will continue to dominate the game's experience.
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, lag, and frame freezes, leading many users to feel it was released prematurely in an unstable state.
- “The game is a buggy mess and should have never been released in this state.”
- “Lag is horrendous and frame freezes are quite common.”
- “The game has its glitches and bugs; after all, it's version 1.0.0.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the monetization strategy to be unclear and lacking transparency, leading to confusion about how it impacts gameplay and player experience.
- “Monetization is ambiguous.”
- “The in-game purchases feel exploitative and are not clearly explained.”
- “It's frustrating how much you need to spend to enjoy the game fully.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization of the game has received negative feedback, with users reporting significant lag and poor server performance, indicating a need for improvements in this area.
- “I also hope that the server performance gets better because I am lagging a lot.”
- “Performance is terrible.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised, particularly for its captivating nighttime ambiance, despite some minor bugs present in the experience. Overall, players find the atmosphere to be a standout feature that enhances their enjoyment.
- “The overall experience and atmosphere is amazing.”
- “The atmosphere at night is incredible.”