Independent developer The Curiosity Engine’s Nighthawks has been LONG in the making. After over 4 years of working through its way off a page and into playable form as a Kickstarter project, the game is finally seeing the light of day, or if we really want to stick to the theme, it’s coming out of its sanctuary. That’s because it has everything to do with vampires and their mythos in the form of an adventure/tabletop role-playing game that you play as, surprise surprise, a fledging walker of the night.
After picking out from a number of options at the beginning, that range from your origin, thus the kind of vampire that bit you and became your sire, to your signature skill, conversational strength, and more, you’re off to the races, taking on the streets of an admittedly run-down city at night in favor of your new master. During your quest, you’ll run into a number of possible companions who can add to your core stats and help make things easier, or quite the opposite, in case you happen to be feeling like going solo.
Nighthawks takes into account the choices you’ve made when rolling your new character in some pretty clear ways. First, not one run is like the previous one as it’s all tied to your origin, so right away you’re guaranteed a different story every time you start off a new sheet. Then come your powers, which come into play when trying to, for example, win dialog checks or encounters. These can vary wildly, hinging on what you have at your disposal, and unique results might even become available depending on the path that you happen to be taking.
Most importantly, though, Nighthawks is smart about the consequences of your decisions, not only those tied to before even starting your adventure, but the ones you make all throughout. Meaning that even though you might start at one particular archetype of fiend, things can and will change thanks to your play-by-play choices. This is where one of the reasons the game took so long to come becomes apparent, given the small size of the developer and the possible permutations of your journey through a new life as an undead blood sucker.
Another element that makes the game especially impressive is its presentation. Yeah, at first glance it might seem simple, but even though Nighthawks is published by WadjetEye Games – with production duties falling to studio head Dave Gilbert), it carries their distinct care for 2D art by featuring really cool character portraits and backgrounds drawn by Ben Chandler (Old Skies and Unavowed, two of the publisher’s recent releases) that while not quite as animated as they could’ve been if this happened to be a more action-oriented game, look damn cool during gameplay. And as a cherry on top, the voice acting, albeit limited to specific moments in the game, is also excellent.
Written and designed by Ricard Cobbett of Sunless Sea/Skies fame, Nighthawks is positively brimming with some of the best role-playing this side of Vampire: The Masquerade, bringing its own flavor of vampire lore by throwing some unique quirks the players’ way. Things such as having a fragile balance and knowing existence between normal humans and ghoul kind, for instance, make for a wonderful setting whose potential for chaos is already put to proof in the first few moments of gameplay.
Nighthawks is a game that’s been on my radar ever since it was announced, and it’s one of the few rare examples of a long in development game actually being worth the wait. This is exactly the kind of adventure that I had in mind the first time I saw any info about the project from the folks at Wadjet Eye. It’s proof that hype doesn’t necessarily have to be a bunch of hot air, but actual realistic excitement coming from an experienced team who knows what they want to make. Bravo!
