Former head of BioWare draws on Anthem and Mass Effect experience in creating Nightingale, which aims to offer freedom

Speaking with journalists, the former head of BioWare shared some thoughts on Nightingale and admitted that he enjoyed Amazon’s New World

Former head of BioWare Aaryn Flynn, in a conversation with IGN, discussed working on the survival game Nightingale. 

According to him, studio Improbable must “[take lessons from working on] Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and even Anthem, and [answer the question]: "How can we build a world that has survival crafting gameplay, but also delivers deep story and rich lore, making [the world of Nightingale] simply an exciting place you want to be in?”.

Flynn sees the solution in “agency” — the player decides how to act, and they should be given more autonomy: “I think one common thread between great role-playing games and survival sandbox games is this notion of agency. For players to feel like [they] can do what [they] want in this world. And we have to offer as much of that as possible; [of course,] there will always be invisible walls and similar [restrictions]. But the more we, as developers, can offer agency and real meaningful chances to impact the game world and change it, as well as see that choice reflected in the game, the better we have done our job”.

Flynn says that player choice is a crucial component of Nightingale. The developers want to ensure there is no “false choice” in the game, or different options that ultimately lead all players to the same outcome. In passing, he mentioned that he enjoyed Amazon's New World.