ION LANDS, the studio behind the beloved cyberpunk driving sim Cloudpunk, is gearing up to launch its most ambitious project yet. Nivalis Nights arrives on Steam September 29, 2026, bringing a sprawling slice-of-life simulation set in the same neon-drenched city that fans already know and love.
Published by 505 Games, Nivalis Nights puts players in the role of Ava, a newcomer scraping by in Nivalis’s lower districts. The day-to-day loop starts small u2014 running a noodle stand, sourcing ingredients, and keeping customers fed u2014 but expands into restaurant ownership, nightclub management, and even illegal sabotage once curfew drops. ION LANDS describes it as a game where “your ambition is your best weapon,” and the scope reflects that: players can buy and decorate apartments, grow their own ingredients, fish from boats at the docks, and build relationships with the city’s colorful cast of characters.
The game was originally announced as simply “Nivalis” back in 2021, but received its current title and a firm release date in June 2026. Since then, ION LANDS has shared regular development updates covering optimization, weather systems, fishing mechanics, and a community Q&A about the story and management systems. The studio has been transparent about the game’s scope, noting that it features a realistic weather system, mini-games including a chess tournament, and a curfew mechanic where players can sneak around to sabotage rival businesses.
Nivalis Nights supports full controller input and features voice-acted dialogue in English, with text localization in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish. The system requirements call for a GTX 1660 SUPER or RTX 3050 at minimum, with an RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT recommended for 1440p at 60 FPS. The game requires 42 GB of SSD storage.
The Nivalis Nights Steam page is live now with wishlisting available. The game launches September 29, 2026 on PC, with an Epic Games Store release planned for a later date. Console versions have not been announced.
Lena Nakamura begins every review with one question: what is this game doing that nobody else would attempt? She covers roguelikes, narrative experiments, striking art direction, and games willing to risk failure in pursuit of something original. Familiar ideas do not bother her, but safe execution does. If a game is beautiful, strange, and slightly impossible to explain, Lena is already interested.
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