WARDOGS
WARDOGS
Game
Game2026
Nivalis Nights
Developer ION LANDS
Grow your business, manage restaurants and nightclubs, make friends and enemies, buy and decorate apartments, go fishing and maybe even find love in a cyberpunk city that stretches from the ocean to the clouds. From the Steam store page
1,085 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
685 positive · 259 negative
95% range 70–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 685 | 259 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 42 | 7 | 76 |
| Mastodon * | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 6 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
2,621 of 3,314 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Mixed reception: praised for atmosphere and depth, but criticised for performance and overwhelming design.
Many players praise the game's immersive cyberpunk atmosphere, detailed worldbuilding, and deep restaurant management mechanics. One reviewer calls it 'everything I’ve ever wanted for cozy Cyberpunk' and notes the city is 'wayyy bigger and denser than I anticipated'. [3][22]
However, performance issues are a major complaint, with many citing low frame rates even on high-end hardware. One player reports '20-120fps with the average being around 40-50', while another with a top-tier rig sees drops to 35 FPS. Others criticise the overwhelming quest load, fast time scale, and shallow life-sim elements, with one saying 'the game isn't really what it promises on the store front'. [36][27][26]
Praised atmosphere and worldbuilding · depth of restaurant management · cozy cyberpunk aesthetic
Criticised poor performance and optimisation · overwhelming quest system · fast time scale · shallow life-sim elements
Summary drafted by an AI model from the 36 reactions it cites ([n] links open each post), then checked by code: every paragraph cites real posts and every quote is verbatim. Written Oct 9, 2026. Method
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Nivalis Nights sits at 73% positive across 944 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 1,085 · most liked firstI wont refund because I want to play more but will leave a downvote for now until it's fixed. I actually have higher FPS in CP2077 with path tracing on than in this game when looking somewhere with more than 5 NPCs.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →update a week after launch: theres been 3 fix updates now, and the games performance has improved a lot! I get a little under double what I did on launch day. so averaging about 100 in general, or 40-50ish when looking at crowded areas now. still not perfect but theyve done a lot of work to make it better -------------- this is one of the coolest games ive ever seen but the performance is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ MISERABLE they need to optimize this game so bad how do I get worse frames on this than…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is.... rough. And rougher to review. Especially because I was genuinely looking forward to it, massively so. Ever since it was announced, I would check its Steam page constantly and everytime they would push back the release date it would hurt me. Let's start with some hard facts. As mentioned by a lot of people, performance is not great. Now typically I roll my eyes at early performance complainers, especially when they complain about ultra high settings not working on their high…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game isn't really what it promises on the store front. The life simulator and business management aspects are all really shallow and not the star of the show. Instead, it's more of a VN Lite that centers around dozens of side quests. An overwhelming number of them. Talk to a person, they offer you a quest. I don't like it. They went for quantity over quality here - many characters are shallow and you churn through them quickly, and after they've had their quest(s) done, they literally…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately the game has very poor performance. In quite a few areas I go below 60 FPS with the lowest hitting 35 FPS while on high settings. There also seems to be no difference in performance regardless of what settings i use. PC Specs: 1440p Resolution Ryzen 9 9950X3D RTX 5090 64 GB RAM I've tried some of the fixes that the developers have recommended but nothing has worked.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the time constraint is insane in this game. 1 second = 1 minute. the game begs you to soak in its atmosphere and relax but you can't because you have to sprint everywhere or you're inefficient. the food rots crazy fast too. i bought 69 food items (none of which were about to rot) for the first checklist and deposited it all in the pantry and fridge at like 11pm before curfew. the next morning i had lost 53 items to rot after losing the whole previous day sprinting around looking for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its just sad. The game itself seemed fun, i liked the atmosphere so far and the shop manegement also seems fun. The performance kills it for me. idk.. At least there could be framegen or something, but the options are very limited. The game looks like it should run fine (no offense, i really like the style) but FPS dropping so much with many NPCs around that it becomes unenjoyable. I suggest waiting if you are interested.. because there is a good game there.. hopefully it can get some better…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some cyberpunk style graphics and small animations I created for IONLANDS’s new game Nivalis Nights.
neutral · AI labelView post →Wake up, samurai. We've got a city to feed. Now we went from being a taxi driver/courier to a food vendor. Here's to hoping Jackie Welles becomes a dedicated customer to my shop. I just wish we were able to work for Cloudpunk and fly around the city in our own HOVAs again like the first game, or had the freedom to enter a train, sit down, and watch the city from inside the train. Also, it would have been cool to own a pet like Camus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve made it to day four, and it’s everything I’ve ever wanted for “cozy Cyberpunk.” The game is wayyy bigger and denser than I anticipated. You manage a restaurant (grocery shopping, staff, menu, decor, locations etc.). There are vast amounts of ingredients, furniture, restaurant equipment from so many vendors to track down. I’ve only explored a small portion of the map; the city of Nivalis is sprawling (and split into manageable districts that you’re meant to familiarize yourself with via…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game of all time, and I have over 1,000 hours in it. Ever since I first started playing Cyberpunk 2077, I dreamed of living in a place like Night City — not just visiting it, but actually living there, working, making friends, having a job, and experiencing everyday life in a cyberpunk world. When I first heard about Nivalis Nights and read the first news about it, I was incredibly excited because it felt like a dream I had been waiting for years to finally…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waiting on this game for what feels like forever only to find out it's very poorly optimized and unless you have a great system then it's constantly at 20 frames with everything on low and reducing the detail completely destroys the game with out any frame boost. Can't recommend in current state. Can't reply for some reason so will add my reply here. I've already refunded. As you can see multiple ppl are having issues in the reviews with preformance. I appreciate what you guys did for us…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →God I love this game but it needs work. 1) It throws way too much at you at the beginning - start the noodle cafe, talk to 3000 npcs, which tell you to talk to 3000 more. All that while time is running every day and u have to keep the cafe stocked. 2) Something's wrong with "happiness indicator" of the customers. No matter how fast I serve the dish - they are always unhappy, but can still leave a 4-5* review. 3) Staff. This is a big one. They are slow af. Picking up one plate as a waiter is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Massively enjoying this so far. What I thought was going to be a simple slice of life cyberpunk restaurant sim has so much more depth to it. Few little things here and there, such as restocking the noodle stand the first time won't complete unless you buy extra ingredients because your cook is using ingredients while you shop, but overall nothing so far that has stopped me from wanting to get lost in this world. It's really scratched that Cyberpunk itch. I have not had any performance issues.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, only very rarely do I make an effort writing up a 'serious' review, but this game has been on my radar for the longest time and even after tempering my expectations with what to expect from a small indie team, I still ended up disappointed. With around 20 hours of time invested already, I don't expect the overall experience and loop to suddenly change and improve without patches. My summary is as follows. The Pros: The art and world overall is really, really good. It's clearly made with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nivalis Nights is one of the games I’m most hyped for in 2026. That’s why it’s tough for me not to recommend the game in its current state. First of all, I absolutely love the gameplay loop. You’re managing a business while completing side quests, all under time pressure. This gameplay loop is quite addictive. The city is also gorgeous. The atmosphere, the design, and the overall aesthetic, I love it all. Now for the issues: Quality of Life -Navigation: The game only has one map for the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think the downvotes for performance are a little unfair and so I felt obliged to leave a positive review - will update it later when I've played more. Performance could be better sure, and I appreciate that'll be different for everyone (*I'm not on a mad rig, I'm currently on a Legion 5 Pro...) - but for me personally it wasn't a major issue and definitely not worth a downvote at launch, which can really hurt how well games do. Which isn't what you want to see with a game that seems to have…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this game so bad but I just can't in its current state. - Food spoiling the day after you purchase it is insane. - Having to solve a murder as a restaurateur in a life sim game is kinda a crazy choice for what feels like a main quest. - So much jumping between locations which is to be expected of a life sim/managment game, but theres just so many areas that half the time you're playing you're on a black loading screen. - The staff you hire for your venues are kinda not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've sunk a good few hours into this game and I'd like to start off by saying its got amazing potential. As someone who is getting a bit older and doesn't have time to learn new games, I thought I'd give this a go. For the first time in a long time, I'm actually enjoying learning this game. The city, art style and characters you meet make this game an instant buy for me. HOWEVER, this game does have a few major issues that could do with fixing: 1. the building NEEDS a snap feature for corner…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For now that's a "No" from me. This feels like early access, but it's not, so there isn't even a promise of further patches. The world, setting and potential are absolutely great. However, currently there is so much frustration in it, i wouldn't recommend it. I got bombarded with quests, even though i quickly learned to talk to no one. The dialogues and quests themself are good, but with the missing pacing they got incredibly annoying. Now i really don't talk to anyone. My restaurant is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →EDIT: I encourage anyone to have a look at the lead writer's (Thomas Welsh u/calmdowntom) recent reddit comments, where he is getting upset at criticism and telling people to get F*cked for having the balls to notice the writing doesn't flow great.. TLDR: It is my opinion this game is bad, even past the performance issues and I have refunded. It is no where near the quality of Cloudpunk in any regard. It is tedious, boring, badly written, visually inconsistent etc. please read on to see my…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had this game wishlisted eversince it was announced, bought it the moment it was released, only to find out that its horribly optimized, its like the devs didnt even bother optmizing it at all. for the record i get 20-120fps with the average being around 40-50
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems like a cool concept. Some things still need some polish. Managers as of 10/1 are busted and buy too much inventory and mismanage shop funds. I'll give it a couple months to shake out launch bugs and check back.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am writing this review simply because Thomas Welsh (lead writer) made an AMA for this game on Reddit, and when he was asked if any AI content was used, he replied with and I quote. “ How about get f**kd. I don't need to be nice to you here.” Refunding, as I will not support this game if the devs are treating paying customers like this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought Nivalis Nights not necessarily because of the cyberpunk setting or voxel art, but because of the masterclass in janky, lived-in worldbuilding that Marko Dieckmann can create. Marko created an old MMO called Face of Mankind, a game I fell in love with way back in the days of yore, when FilePlanet was how you discovered new games, long before Steam became what it is today. What hooked me was the sheer amount of agency that game offered, built on top of a foundation that was created with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let us start off with a good The game is absolutely gorgeous and The voice acting is amazing. Now with the mediocre The writing itself is Not very good And the missions themselves are very tedious, They'll all are just go and collect stuff and bring it Quest and Wish to were more interesting and varied. And the bad the gameplay is just surface level and boring and I wish to have stuff to make management easier and Last tedious. my thoughts Let us be honest with ourselves, The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not recommended at this price I wouldn’t recommend Nivali Nights at this price. It could be a much better game, but after about 20 hours, I started getting bored and frustrated. Some ingredients, especially alternative proteins like Chaupuline, are really hard to find. Time goes by way too fast — 1 minute ingame = 1 second irl — while the staff work like turtles and customers get angry really easily. Opening a business in another city also cost me around 10k Lims just to hire workers and buy…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to update my review to let others know, in the time the game has been out the devs have put out 2 patches already and it runs perfectly, they've also noted some additional bug fixes they're aware of and working on. It's clear the team cares about the game. It's been such a blast getting to know this city and the characters in it. I usually pay attention to reviews but for some reason having waited for this game for so long I went ahead and tried it. I had a feeling the reviews were…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a Love/Hate for me. Theres certain aspects I absolutely love, but theres aspects that I can't stand. There are things that are done well, and things that fall short. The Atmosphere & World - it's gorgeous. The sounds, the scenery, the vibes, I put my headphones on, and I could relax just with the sounds alone. The world building is so detailed, theres garbage everywhere, tech scattered around. It feels great to explore and see what's in every nook and crany. However, there are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve only been playing for just under an hour, but so far it’s exactly what they said it was going to be and that’s a great thing. The visuals are amazing, the cyberpunk atmosphere is spot on and the whole idea of being given your own little noodle bar to look after just works. It’s incredibly chill and relaxing and I can already see myself sinking a ridiculous number of hours into this. I was really looking forward to the release and so far it’s been well worth the wait. Brilliant game,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel almost guilty for giving this game a thumbs down because it does so many things right. Great atmosphere and visual style, good voicework... but then they kept on piling stuff on top of these merits. Shop-management, there's a mystery you need to solve, farming , fishing, home decoration, exploring and almost everyone you talk to delivers you a quest that involves talking to someone else on the other side of town or buying something. If you keep piling stuff on something good, eventually…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can live with the performance issues, as this game is new. However, what bothers me most is the fast time scale. I'd enjoy this a lot more if it ran in realistic time. This would give the player the chance of exploring everything without worrying & watching the clock every couple of minutes. I hope the devs decide to implement a feature regarding this problem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Contra: - No active HOVA control - No familiar characters like Rania or Camus :-( - apparently performance issues with some rigs (mine runs the game maxed out smoothly) Pro: - Cyberpunk! Let me tell you, THIS IS IT! Dirty, vast, solitude, Neon lights, endless rails, rain ... always this soothing rain - Live simulation. The city districts breathe, everything moves, people carry their crosses and you find a way to interact at every corner. - Run your own restaurant (hey, this is always fun…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tl;dr: Nivalis Nights has turned from being the most awaited game on my steam wishlist for years to a massive disappointment on many levels. Sadly, it is beyond fixing, because most of that is rooted in the core writing of the game. The long version (guaranteed spoiler-free): After waiting eagerly for this game to be released, I pretty much bought it as soon as it was out. I wanted to love it so badly, but sadly I cannot. I've wasted 24 hours, meaning I can't refund it, because I wanted to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game seems really cool unfortunately in the second area of the game (where I assume I will be spending a lot of time considering its where they've placed the shop) my computer drops to 45 frames per second depending on where I'm looking Now I'm not saying my computer is the best on the market but its a pretty beefy rig especially considering I'm playing at 1080p I'm sure the devs worked really hard on this game but it feels like a huge oversight to leave out an option for DLSS or FSR or…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cyberpunk 2077 for cozy gamers HEHEHE i can see myself leaving the game running just to have it on the background as i work. SO BEAUTIFUL
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay Nivalis Nights' gameplay loop is structured very similarly to Stardew Valley: each day you have a limited amount of time (measured in realtime, paused in conversations and menus) to accomplish whatever tasks you decide you want to do, which will involve making money by running your business(es) and/or completing quests. The primary difference here is that, instead of a hard "bedtime" at the end of the day, there's a curfew that you can either choose to abide by or not. If you don't,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I never heard of Nivalis before last month. Bought the game the second it came out, spent 9 hours there before going to sleep. I had dreams about Nivalis. Woke up, launched the game again. This is my life now, and life is good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nivalis Nights - Official Launch Trailer. I'll admit I'm not a fan of life sim games so I won't be playing this one but if you enjoy life sims, this game looks really impressive. I've posted about it before so I don't know how much I need to explain again but it's from the makers of [Cloudpunk](https://store.steampowered.com/app/746850/Cloudpunk/), which was a cozy cyberpunk game where you just drove a flying taxi around a cyberpunk city. Now you can run a ramen shop in that same cyberpunk…
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm on the fence with this game. On one hand the environment, music, and atmosphere are great. On another the quests have the weirdest pacing, constant running around to random places, and weird mechanics that make no sense and just add frustration to the game. I want to like this and I'll probably pick it up again after a break but it's not clicking for me. There needs to be changes in the navigation, quest overloading the screen, and just a basic 2D HUD map. There's too much annoying or poor…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Refunded. Poor, amateurish voice acting and recording aside, the optimization is bad. This alone wouldn't have been enough for me to refund but the Dev responding to the reports of optimization issues with "restart your computer" is dismissive and doesn't instill faith they'll be addressed. Also, maybe if you have to respond to a hundred comments about poor optimization the issue is with your game and not the player?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Current Verdict: Not Recommended (Needs Work) I loved Cloudpunk and really enjoy the visual atmosphere here, but the game needs serious polish: Performance: Rough and inconsistent. Even with high-end hardware, certain areas cause severe frame drops. Direction: The opening overwhelms you with quests while offering very little guidance. Balancing: Running businesses—especially the noodle shop—feels clunky and unbalanced. Gameplay Loop: Most of my playtime has just been running back and forth…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played 10ish, AFK 3ish: I came in expecting to be a fan, and I still am, so expect that. I will say, it is a steep learning curve. There is a ton, ton, ton in this game. I'm impressed, but for your first 5-6 hours, it's going to remind you that this cozy sim is actually set in a cyberpunk dystopia. I was surviving literally pennies ahead of loan sharks some days, missing payments to my employees. But I'm turning a small profit now, a safe one. To those worried about the graphics, I run a 3 or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Could be a fun game but the poor performance and the dev comments to the replies make this off-putting. i also have a 5090 and get fps drops
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sip your tea quietly! We're off to the metro hub for a menacing meetup in episode 4 of “Nivalis Nights” Developed by Ion Lands and Published by 505Games. WATCH: youtu.be/cbN1JnNr8OM GAME: store.steampowered.com/app/1488490/... #NivalisNights @505games.com #Indiegames #games #SteepOnIt
neutral · AI labelView post →Small update - I attempted to play the game on the OLED Steam Deck and it's a complete no go. Even with all settings as low as they can go, the resolution down to 400p, it struggles to stay in the 20's FPS wise. I wasn't expecting it to perform great, but I'd hoped it might get to a tolerable performance number on the Steam Deck. One likely contributing factor is the limited graphics options available. If you could turn off reflections and bloom, you'd probably see better Steam Deck…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🌃Nivalis Nights🌃 🟥🟥LIVE🟥🟥 Playing Nivalis Nights, the Cyberpunk Slice of life game, from the makers of Cloudpunk! Lets run a Ramen Shop, Fish, 3D Print Meat, Avoid a Serial Killer and who knows what else! 🤖👉 www.twitch.tv/pankraru 👈🤖 #vtuber #nivalis #cyberpunk #rpg #nivalisNights
neutral · AI labelView post →Well worth the wait, running my noodle stand is the life. The amount of care & passion is prevelant in every aspect of this game, not to mention the love for jazz!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →9/10, Amazing story, and filled with detail. My only complaint is that I feel like the quests back up so fast. Also they just did a Day 1 patch to my biggest issue of Managers wasting money so 10/10 devs
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played Nivalis Nights for a few hours. The city is gorgeous, but the life sim aspect falls short. It shifts into a overwhelming business tycoon game with no room to breathe. Performance is rough, too. I wish the game would ease you into it's world slowly. Disappointed. 🐰💢
negative · AI labelView post →🌃Nivalis Nights🌃 Tuesday Afternoon 🕓4pm CST / 5pm EST🕔 Playing Nivalis Nights, the Cyberpunk Slice of life game, from the makers of Cloudpunk! Lets run a Ramen Shop, Fish, 3D Print Meat, Avoid a Serial Killer and who knows what else! 🤖👉 www.twitch.tv/pankraru 👈🤖 #vtuber #nivalis
neutral · AI labelView post →I love how every game ive added to my wishlist currently has been cyberpunk adjacent games. NIvalis Nights NO LAW games im REAL excited to see
neutral · AI labelView post →What could be a fun game is severely hampered by the sheer and absolute AVALANCHE of things DEMANDING to get your attention. Yes, quests and content, that's all great, but I cannot stress just how many times a day something will interrupt whatever you are doing to demand you go focus your attention elsewhere. Please, for the love of God ION LANDS, please pump the brakes. It's Day 5 for me, I am still learning how to run my very first noodle stand. I am struggling to JUST focus on making…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far, this game is running well on my Steam Deck.....The initial load screen takes a while but once I'm in, playing is smooth and with no issues. I run it at 30fps, so please understand that I am HAPPY with that. I am kind of bummed that I can't find places as easy as I'd like and I've missed curfew twice because of it.....I'll have to work harder with my time management. 😆
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sadly, this game is not what I expected it to be. There are so many weird design choices that just ruin the immersion for me. Like, why would I ever go through the hassle of getting back to my apartment if I can just stay at the market and sleep inside a room that conveniently appears as soon as the curfew starts? You also don’t need to eat, sleep for a certain time, train or shower, which makes most of the furniture purely cosmetic. Why are there a million tasks cluttering the right side of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →**Absolutely amazing so far.** (better be, 3 years on my wishlist btw) Nivalis Nights is insanely detailed. No matter where you look or where you go, there always seems to be something new to discover, some little detail you missed before, or another interaction to mess around with. The world feels incredibly alive because of that. I’m also a huge **Cyberpunk** and **Stray** fan, and this game feels like it was made for me. It captures that same feeling of getting lost in a futuristic city,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Where CloudPunk was a distinctly narrative game about running a courier/taxi service leading towards a larger story, Nivalis Nights is a slice of life/business simulator all about inhabiting the space and building a more personal direction for yourself I think I'll be happy here in Nivalis
positive · AI labelView post →I really don't understand what's up with all of the negative reviews solely complaining about the game's performance, and genuinely nothing else. Does my game get pretty choppy when looking in the direction of more visually populated areas? Yeah, definitely does. Does that make me want to ignore everything else that this game does and all of the charm it has, and leave a negative review just because of that? Absolutely not. I'm not that far into the game yet, and to keep it short, I'm…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sometimes I like knowing exactly what I'm getting out of game romances. I wouldn't want a farmlife sim to take this approach, for instance, but it's neat that Nivalis Nights did.
neutral · AI labelView post →So far I like the game a lot. It's aesthetics, the music, the people and the premise is all very well done and has a lot of work and love put into it. The problem is just how OVERWHELMING it all is. There are many crazy people with quests for you to go on, to places you may not even be able access yet, and a business you need to run with dozens of ingredients you can grow or buy yourself and different levels in every zone that has me hugging the walls looking for stairs or paths that go…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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