Cloudpunk – City of Ghosts recently launched, and it brought with it some incredibly exciting news. Not only is this sequel-sized DLC brilliant, but we now also have a second actual game in the Cloudpunk universe to look forward to. This game is named Nivalis for now, which is the name of the city in Cloudpunk. While the Cloudpunk game and DLC all have a narrative driving them, Nivalis is very different. It’s a life simulator set in the game’s city, which is also called Nivalis. I have always felt like the open-world had the potential for this while playing, and now I know for sure that there’s something coming along to make it happen.
In Nivalis, there are gangs everywhere who might harvest your organs or steal everything you own, like your body. The Corps will fine you for anything, literally anything, and there are people out there looking to collect on any debts they can find. The very ground you walk on is crumbling, and eventually, it’ll all fall into the ocean. Pure insanity. But here you are, it’s where you live.
This new game puts you in control of a restaurant owner. You’ll start out small, probably selling food from a stall, before moving up to owning a nightclub. Eventually, you’ll be a huge part of the city, and a key area where people meet to nail down deals that affect the entire city. There will be a day and night cycle, and you’ll be able to meet all kinds of interesting characters. These characters always existed in the main game, but they felt forced because of the narrative. In Cloudpunk, those narrative moments were mostly optional, and here I think they’ll be the same. The impact though, that’s what will be different.
I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on this game. I think it’s going to be the cyberpunk world simulator that we’ve been after since Cyberpunk 2077 launched. Here though, things will be different, and you’ll form a part of the city’s fabric instead of being an overpowered protagonist who is only out for themselves. Check out the Steam page for the game here.