As a Realmwalker in Nightingale, you’ll spend considerable time traversing the Fae Realms in search of resources and power. But to access these realms and everything within, you must acquire and activate Portal Cards. These fall into two categories: Biome Cards and Major Cards. More on those later, though! Here’s how Portal Cards work in Nightingale.
How Portal Cards Work in Nightingale
Portal Cards work in Nightingale by combining unique traits using the two types of cards — Biome and Major Cards — that utilize procedural generation to craft a Fae Realm. Then, there are Minor Cards. These affect more specific nuances, such as the weather and gravity, or offer boons, such as increasing your swimming speed.
As you may have guessed by now, the Biome Card alters the biome itself. You might find an idyllic forest, a poisonous swamp, or a scorching desert. The Major Cards prove more important, however. These dictate points of interest, quests, and NPCs. They give you something to do in each realm.
The current list of Portal Cards includes:
- Forest (Biome)
- Swamp (Biome)
- Desert (Biome)
- Abeyance (Major)
- Antiquarian (Major)
- Astrolabe (Major)
- Hunt (Major)
- Gloom (Major)
- Vault (Major)
- Byway (Major)
- Herbarium (Major)
Once you have Portal Cards, you must visit a Portal (typically marked on your map), then combine two cards and open a rift. When you do, however, it allows enemies known as Bound to flow forth, attacking you with wild abandon.
How to Get More Portal Cards
The tutorial in Nightingale will introduce you to the various Biome Cards. You’ll traverse the realms, visiting each one, before ultimately deciding on the one you prefer. I chose Forest, as many others did, but you pick the one that speaks to you most. Once you do, you’re granted that card for free. After that, you must find additional cards through quests, crafting, and exploration.
Primarily, you’ll unlock additional Portal Cards by completing a Site of Power, granting you recipes to craft more at the Enchanter’s Focus. However, you can also purchase cards from the Essence Trader or loot them from Fae Chests.
As Nightingale’s Early Access period progresses, developer Inflexion Games vows to introduce additional Portal Cards to the game!
