A cyberpunk slice-of-life sim from ION LANDS, set in the same city as Cloudpunk. Everything confirmed about its loops, scale and hard limits.
Nivalis Nights: What It Is, Who It's For, and What It Isn't
Nivalis Nights is a first-person cyberpunk slice-of-life sim from ION LANDS, the studio behind Cloudpunk, released on Steam for Windows on 29 September 2026. You take over a wrecked ramen bar, keep it stocked from markets, greenhouses and your own fishing boat, and spend the rest of each day getting to know the residents of a voxel city built on the water. It is not an action game, not a character creator and not an online game — and the developers' FAQ answers the three questions nearly every buyer asks first (first person only, can I customize anything, is there co-op) with a flat no.
What "cyberpunk slice-of-life sim" actually means
The developer's one-liner, from the official FAQ: Nivalis Nights is a unique cyberpunk slice-of-life sim, developed by ION LANDS, the team that brought you Cloudpunk. The store page supplies the premise — a district pushed to the brink by CorpSec crackdowns and a mysterious serial killer — and the launch announcement sells the geography with the phrase the marketing keeps repeating: a city that stretches from the sea to the clouds.
It is not a fully open world. The FAQ says you can explore certain areas and districts freely, while other parts of the world are background environments, and the March 2026 Q&A adds that the city is cut into large, detailed districts with loading screens between them, though business interiors are walkable. The map page covers how far that goes.
It is not one genre. The developers call it a unique combination of narrative, life simulation, and management gameplay, and the store page lists business management, fishing, decorating, relationships, NPC minigames, a chess tournament and curfew sabotage as separate feature lines — there is no combat system in that list. Text is localized into 11 languages, every character is voiced, and the audio is English only.
Official source: Nivalis Nights | How to / FAQs (2026) — pinned developer thread, last edited 29 September 2026
The three loops you actually play
1. The business loop. You start humble with a noodle stand and can end up running restaurants, hole-in-the-wall bars and nightclubs. The Q&A describes the daily split plainly: you decide how much time to dedicate to the story and when to focus on growing your restaurant business — buying ingredients, upgrading the venue, hiring staff, expanding into new districts. Ingredients come from three places only: market vendors, your greenhouse, your boat. The currency is lims, the starting venue is Ramen Noir, and Own 2 Venues needs a permit before you can lease a second site. See business and money.
2. The people loop. More than 130 characters, each with their own goals and personality, with relationships running from friendship to rivalry, business partnerships, or romance depending on your choices. It is not endless sandbox play: It has a defined story it wants to tell, and a specific ending we want players to reach. Relationships also pay — buying more often from certain vendors gets you better prices. Because the official answer to "who can you date" is a refusal to say, the romance page stays with what is confirmed.
3. The curation loop. Your homes, other people's homes, your boat, your garden: decorate for paying clients as well as yourself, tune greenhouses for specific crops, fish. And fishing is not a dice roll — the May 2026 devlog is specific that every fish has a physical representation, over 1,000 are simulated, and the specific salmon you catch is the same one you saw in the water just moments before.
How big is it: official numbers and what they mean
Every figure below is official, and every one is a total, not a list of unlocks. The first four come from a single sentence in one devlog; the character count from a different post.
| What | Official figure | Source, and what it actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | 240+ | May 2026 optimization devlog. Total for the whole game; no named list, no unlock conditions. |
| Meals | 190 | Same devlog sentence. Same caveat — see cooking. |
| Quests | 100 | Same devlog sentence. Quest count, not main-story length; no playtime published. |
| Furniture items | 620 | Same devlog sentence. All decoratable pieces, not just shop stock. |
| UI windows and panels | 40+ | May 2026 devlog, UI section. Interface complexity, not content. |
| Characters | 130+ | Community Q&A, 2026-03-31. With more than 130 characters, side quests are a big part of the experience. |
| Persistent world objects | 10,000+ | May 2026 devlog, Ghost system. Tables, chairs, dishes — a memory figure, not collectibles. |
| Achievements | 120 | Official list, counted 2026-09-30. The closest thing to a shipped inventory. |
The achievement list is the closest thing to a shipped inventory, and the full achievement reference ranks how rare each one is. Counted on 30 September 2026: 18 districts have a Visit achievement (Lowtown, Meridian Market, the Spire and 14 more), 9 apartments a Discover apartment achievement, 10 locations a postcard, and 24 fish a Find and catch achievement.
Those are totals for the finished game. ION LANDS has never published the names, unlock conditions or prices behind them, and no page here will invent them — fishing, cooking and apartments label what is confirmed.
Official source: May 2026 Development Update: Optimization and the 2026-03-31 Community Q&A — both readable in full through the Steam news feed
Is it the same game as Cloudpunk?
Same city, different game. The FAQ: Nivalis is the city in which Cloudpunk is set. The March 2026 Q&A promises some familiar details and small connections, but insists the game is designed to be a standalone experience. Cloudpunk is a delivery sim on foot; this is a business-and-neighbours sim — the two barely share verbs. You cannot drive a car here — districts are linked by HOVA taxis and trains — though you can steer your own boat. Camus is not coming back: there are no plans to bring Camus back to visit Nivalis.
The Nivalis Nights x Cloudpunk bundle lists at $40.48 and is priced at $26.53 (−34%), and Steam sells it as Includes 2 items: Nivalis Nights and Cloudpunk, which lists at $19.99 on its own and is sitting at $6.99 in its own store right now. The soundtrack is not in that bundle — it is in the three-item Nivalis Nights x Cloudpunk x Nivalis Nights Soundtrack bundle at $34.62 (−30%), or sold on its own at $9.99. The base game is $24.99, or $22.49 with a special 10% launch discount for a limited time. Those numbers move when the discount ends — check the live price page. No official announcement gives Cloudpunk owners anything free; that claim only exists in player reviews.
What it isn't
Six things it does not do, all answered in the developer's FAQ.
| If you want… | Official answer |
|---|---|
| A third-person camera | Played in a first person perspective, this is intentional so the player feels the immense scale of the city. No toggle is ever mentioned. See third person. |
| A character you designed | No character customization… the only visible parts of the body are your arms and hands. See character creation. |
| Co-op or online play | Designed as a single-player experience, and there are no multiplayer or co-op features planned. See multiplayer. |
| DLSS, FSR or frame generation | Despite our best efforts, we are unable to do so — the dated Unity version does not support upscaling. |
| Mac, Linux, PS5, Xbox or Switch | Windows only at launch, Epic listed as TBA, and on consoles: PC is our main focus at the moment. See platforms. |
| VR | Not a priority and not currently in our plans. |
Mod tools are the same story — not part of the game's scope at the moment — even though community mods already exist: see the mods FAQ.
Full controller support, ultrawide monitors, GeForce NOW, a photo mode, a curfew that changes who is out after dark, Steam Cloud saves, and no internet needed to play. Steam Deck is not fully supported at launch but is playable — see Steam Deck.
Who should skip it
- You are on a mid-range PC and care about frame rate. Launch performance is the loudest early complaint; see performance issues and system requirements.
- You want a power fantasy. Shopkeeping and neighbours, not combat — the store page's eight feature lines contain no fighting system.
Like a management sim with a story attached? Start with the beginner guide.
FAQ
Is Nivalis Nights just first person? Yes — played in a first person perspective, intentionally, so the player feels the scale of the city. No view toggle is described anywhere in the FAQ.
Can I customize my character? No. The only visible parts of the body are your arms and hands. You play without a virtual avatar.
Is Nivalis Nights multiplayer or co-op? No, and none is planned — it is designed as a single-player experience. You can still play fully offline; only updates and Steam Cloud syncing need a connection.
Related Guides
Before you buy
- Price and the launch sale
- Platforms and console status
- System requirements
- Steam Deck
- Age rating
- What players think right now
The hard limits
Systems and the city
- Beginner guide
- Map and districts
- Business and money
- Manager and staff
- Quests and commissions
- Curfew and day/night
- Cooking
- Where to buy ingredients and furniture
- Fishing
- Greenhouses
- Apartments and decorating
Story and reference
If something goes wrong
More Nivalis Nights Guides
Autosave timing, Steam Cloud, one-autosave complaints, and fixes for being stuck in bed, behind the counter or at the dock.
Cooks, waiters and inventory staff are confirmed roles, but players report restock failures and runaway spending. What is known, what is not.
Nivalis Nights is first person only, on purpose. What the developer actually said, and what Steam's Camera Comfort tag does and does not mean.
Every Steam achievement with its official description and real unlock rate, grouped by location, business, fishing, farming and story. Updated snapshot.
What 505 discloses about mature content, whether Steam shows an ESRB or PEGI rating, and the themes that decide the answer for your household.
620 furniture items, free placement and paid client decorating commissions, plus the 11 residences the game officially names.
You inherit the ramen bar Ramen Noir carrying 50,000 Lims of debt. How venues, permits, revenue milestones and loan sharks actually work.
Official answer: no character creation, no avatar, only your arms and hands are visible. Here is what you can customize instead, and why.