Redefining Nostalgia with Nightkeep

Upon starting the demo to RPG2 Heaven’s Nightkeep, you’ll be treated a short story sequence introducing you to its world. A vainglorious monarch becomes obsessed with immortality, descends into madness, and causes an unspeakable evil to descend on the kingdom. Several hundred years in the future, two huntresses – sisters – prepare themselves to investigate the dark happenings in a nearby village.

From every colorful sprite, every lo-fi orchestral swell, Nightkeep sparkles with enchanting familiarity. For all its clear love of genre classics, though, it doesn’t rely on tugging at your nostalgia strings. It feels more like it’s going to give you a whole new set of memories to get nostalgic about.

Two’s a crowd

Armed with a sword, throwing knives, and a speedy backward dodge, you’ll navigate through a forest, a village, and a haunted mansion. The two huntress sisters stick together, but you’ll only see one on screen. The other contorts her way into your inventory using the dark arts of videogame convenience and provides passive bonuses to stats like HP and critical chance.

The combat is a twitchy, reflex-based real time affair, but experience points, customizable gear, and NPC’s provide some RPG depth. Collectible gemstones add bonuses like elemental damage to weapons and equipment, and rare gear occasionally gives you extra moves. A lizard helmet I found gave me a deadly slide attack, which was perfect for breaking the skulls of hungry rats. It was fun at the time, but actually typing it now makes me quite sad. Poor little dudes. All they wanted was to feast on my flesh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZHBBZsGCv0

You can grab the free demo of Nightkeep over on Itch, and support the dev’s crowdfunding campaign over at IndieGoGo. The full game is set to feature multiple endings, some light rogue-like elements, and a huge array of items and NPC’s. You might also want to check out our preview of Zelda-inspired Hazelnut Bastille.