Nivalis Nights’ cozy cyberpunk world is perfect for big sci-fi nerds, but fans of Stardew Valley will also find plenty to love for several reasons.
Cyberpunk Meets Stardew Valley?
The best way for the cyberpunk genre to be effective is to capture the hopelessness of living in its “high tech, low life” world, but there should also be enough distractions to make ordinary people living in it call it a paradise on Earth. It’s a genre that’s not easy to adapt because it requires original worldbuilding, not just a setting plastered with big neon signs and tall buildings, something others of its kind failed.
Nivalis Nights captures the feeling of a cyberpunk dystopia by putting you at the forefront of its society. To put it simply, you're an ordinary person with nothing but a small-time ramen business to help you survive in its miserable world.
What sets Nivalis Nights apart from other cyberpunk games, however, is that it's not a first-person shooter like Cyberpunk 2077, which is the kind of game we've come to expect from the genre, nor is it an RPG like Deus Ex. Somehow, ION Lands has melded the appeal of management life sims like the critically acclaimed Stardew Valley with the bleak future we've all come to admire and fear.
In my 30 or so hours playing Nivalis Nights since its release, I’ve come to a realization that this game is just Stardew Valley for sci-fi fans. The way Nivalis Nights combines the cozy routine of waking up to the morning news with managing a cyberpunk restaurant full of patrons decked out in metallic and chrome gear mirrors the cozy farmhand experience of Stardew Valley, where you meet your neighbors and tend to your crops and livestock as soon as you wake up.
Games Like Stardew Valley
Ask anybody with decent gaming know-how about Stardew Valley, and they’ll have nothing but good things to say about it. It’s a hallmark of indie games. A magnum opus where its $15 dollar price tag is a haven to hundreds of hours of content plus a seamless multiplayer option to play with friends. Eric Barone’s cozy life sim has captivated millions of players around the world, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon with an average of 50,000 to 60,000 players playing on just Steam everyday.
The appeal was simple: manage a huge plot of farmland and build a life of your own in a small town. You get to meet the neighbors and find a potential partner to spend the rest of your life with, but the grind doesn't stop there, as the game features plenty of side activities to keep you busy, like mining and fishing.
Nivalis Nights follows that same level of management, with a boatload of busywork to keep you engaged for hours on end.
Both Games Love the Busywork and Growth
The moment I first woke up in the city of Nivalis, I was greeted by the sight of its neon skyline through the window, while my AI assistant welcomed me with a voice reminiscent of those you'd hear on ASMR channels. I already knew I was in for a great time when the synth music started playing and I headed off to work my first shift as the owner of a budding restaurant business.
In Nivalis Nights, you're not handed a plot of farmland by your dead grandfather like you are in Stardew Valley. Instead, Thaddeus, a confidant with a shady past, hands you a dilapidated ramen stall in the middle of the city's busiest district, with nothing but a single manager to help you get started.
At first, you and one employee work together, making the rounds, cooking meals, and figuring out the right menu for your restaurant until you have enough money to hire more staff. It’s a cyberpunk game, after all, and it builds on the fantasy of living a hectic, fast-paced life where the walls are constantly closing in under financial pressure, with backdoor deals involving criminals and secret government agents. Mind you, I still consider these moments in Nivalis Nights ‘cozy’ because there’s really not much you can do other than simply let it all sink in. You’re not playing an action game, but a game with light social sim elements where all you can do is talk to people and make choices.
This is unlike Stardew Valley, where you can take your sweet time growing crops and gifting precious rocks to your local teacher, Penny.
At first, these might seem like two different games, but when you look at their common denominator, which is waking up every day to get through your daily grind, it all starts to feel too familiar. Both games demand your attention because the only way to go is up, so you're constantly checking whether your daily profits are enough to buy better gear, upgrade your equipment, and live a more comfortable life.
Stardew Valley had us checking our crop yields, livestock hauls, and whatever juices we'd made in our machines before tossing everything into the shipping bin and seeing how much profit we'd made the next day. It has that same sense of incremental growth as Nivalis Nights, but instead of doing everything yourself, you manage multiple restaurant businesses.
Something Cozy and Romantic for the Future
There’s also the topic of romance. Nivalis Nights’ social sim mechanics serve as a breeding ground for romantic encounters with its various NPC candidates. Players need to talk to these characters every day to learn more about their lives and pick the right dialogue choices to improve their romance levels. In fact, you can even romance your AI partner, Ava, evoking the same kind of relationship K had with Joi in Blade Runner 2049. Whether that relationship is real or not is up to you.
Though these romance encounters are great because you have plenty of candidates to talk to, it’s disappointing that they add little to the overall experience of Nivalis Nights. They’re limited to just a couple of dinner dates rather than developing into something more permanent. In a way, it all feels very cyberpunk, where relationships don’t usually last and hypersexualization turns them into fleeting moments rather than lasting bonds. This contrasts with the more traditional appeal of Stardew Valley’s romance options, where you can start a family with your partner and even have kids.
To be fair, Nivalis Nights just came out, and ION Lands is adamant about adding more romance features in future patches. Adding marriage or even kids would definitely add to the sense of longevity in its world, but given how miserable that world is, it’s not always plausible. However, the developers could experiment with more ways to take your romantic interests on dates across the city, like going fishing on your boat or, better yet, having them help with some of the management work at your other restaurants.
Both games let you look forward to the future amid the pangs of everyday life. They constantly remind players that there’s an achievable endgame-like goal beyond being overwhelmed by farmwork or running a bustling restaurant business. You can even set up your own place in Nivalis, like an apartment with a gorgeous view of the city, similar to how you can expand your farm in Stardew Valley and decorate it to your liking for a more homey feel. It’s perfect for inviting your loved ones over after spending hours finding the perfect spot for that potted plant.
These bite-sized social moments add to the overall cozy feel of both games, further enhancing their slice-of-life experiences. That way, you’re not always burdened with material goals, but also have something that connects you as a player to each of the potential bachelors and bachelorettes.
Overall, these two games are more alike than I thought, and as someone who’s spent over a hundred hours playing Stardew Valley, there’s a good chance that Nivalis Nights will become another time sink for me thanks to its slice-of-life appeal. That said, ION Lands still has a lot of polishing to do in its neon-drenched world, as I’m still experiencing performance issues, which I noted in my review. But that’s beside the point.
Sci-fi fans who grew up reading the works of Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov, as well as newcomers drawn to the appeal of living in a world dominated by technology and evil corporate overlords, can feel right at home in Nivalis Nights. It’s obviously not the most ideal world to live in, but it’s a cozy cyberpunk take on the management sims we’ve come to love in games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and heck, even The Sims. Just expect to be welcomed into a world that’s much harsher than those of its contemporaries.
