Nivalis Nights Preview: ION LANDS’ Cloudpunk Follow-Up Trades Conspiracy for Cozy Business-Building — 1 Million Wishlists, 7x Its Predecessor

Rania investigated corporate conspiracies, hackers, and a runaway AI in the voxel-art city of Nivalis. Ava, the protagonist of ION LANDS’ follow-up, is doing something considerably calmer: opening a ramen bar. Nivalis Nights returns to Cloudpunk‘s setting but swaps that game’s narrative-driven investigation for a full life simulation — and the wishlist response, seven times Cloudpunk‘s own launch numbers, suggests the studio found something people wanted even more than the mystery.

Same City, Completely Different Genre

Cloudpunk (2020) built its reputation on voxel-graphics visual identity and narrative-first pacing — a delivery driver’s-eye view of Nivalis used to unspool a corporate-conspiracy plot. Nivalis Nights keeps the city and its neon-soaked, water-bound cyberpunk atmosphere but restructures the entire premise around Ava building a life there: starting a small ramen bar or nightclub and growing it into a business the whole city knows, while also having the option to simply explore the waterfront districts and hidden alleys, build relationships with residents, and unwind with fishing and interior decoration in a cloud-top home.

This is the specific dual appeal the studio is betting on: cutthroat business-growth ambition and unhurried daily-life contentment coexisting in the same game, playable at whichever intensity the player wants on a given session.

The Content Split

Exploration covers the full cyberpunk city on foot or by boat — canals, alleyways, and bustling plazas all traversable and lived-in rather than backdrop. Business management starts small (a ramen bar, a tavern) and scales toward a popular restaurant or club, with resource management layered in through market purchases, home-grown ingredients, and fishing for ingredients directly. Housing customization extends to purchasing and personalizing a “dream house” that reflects the neon future-city aesthetic however the player wants to shape it.

Relationship building runs throughout: conversations with a range of characters can develop into regular-customer familiarity, friendship, and — for players who want it — romance.

The Wishlist Jump ION LANDS Didn’t Expect

Creative Director Marco Dickmann described crossing 1 million wishlists as “a dream result we never expected,” noting that Cloudpunk‘s launch wishlist count sat around 130,000 — itself something the small studio felt was a real achievement at the time. He thanked the fanbase directly and committed the team to matching that anticipation with the finished product.

Nivalis Nights was first revealed under the simpler name Nivalis back in 2021, meaning the roughly five-year gap between that reveal and the confirmed September 30 release reflects a small independent studio working through real development difficulties while raising the game’s finished quality along the way — the wishlist growth from 130,000 to over 1 million across that period is itself a five-year story of the audience’s patience compounding rather than a single marketing spike.

Who This Is For

Strong fit for: Cloudpunk fans curious what the same city looks like from an entirely different genre angle; cozy life-sim players who specifically want a cyberpunk aesthetic rather than the genre’s usual pastoral or fantasy settings; players who want both an ambitious business-management loop and a low-pressure exploration/relationship option in the same game; anyone who wants to build a home and pursue romance options in a neon-lit future city.

Cautious fit for: Cloudpunk players expecting a narrative-driven continuation of that game’s conspiracy plot (this is a genre pivot, not a story sequel); anyone who needs the Epic Games Store version’s date confirmed before deciding where to buy; players who want post-launch reviews before purchasing.

Less ideal for: players who dislike life-simulation or management-sim mechanics regardless of aesthetic; anyone seeking narrative-adventure pacing over open-ended daily life gameplay.

The Takeaway

Nivalis Nights is ION LANDS returning to the world that made Cloudpunk memorable and asking an entirely different question of it: not what conspiracy is unfolding in Nivalis, but what a life actually looks like there, built one ramen bowl and one regular customer at a time. Five years of development, a genre swap from narrative adventure to life sim, and a wishlist count seven times the predecessor’s own launch numbers all point toward September 30 as a genuinely significant release for the small Berlin studio behind it.

The ramen bar is ready to open. The canals are waiting to be explored by boat. And somewhere between running a business empire and fishing off a cloud-top balcony, Ava gets to decide which version of a life in Nivalis she actually wants.

PC via Steam, September 30, 2026 (KST). Epic Games Store version to follow on a separate date.

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