Floating Islands of Nucifera Preview

I love when games deliver a good mix-and-match moment, blending elements from multiple genres to create a unique experience. If you’re like me, you never knew you needed a cosy fishing sim with just the right amount of eldritch horror until DREDGE came along, or you love how Hi-Fi RUSH bridged the gap between hack-and-slash and rhythm-based gameplay. Most recently, Odooh Games made me realise my library is sorely lacking an open-world shopkeeper sim featuring turn-based combat, and Floating Islands of Nucifera is here to fill that void.

Currently in Early Access on Steam, Floating Islands of Nucifera places you in a whimsical, colourful world where the sky is dotted with the titular islands among the clouds. Those faraway lands were once thriving paradises, but monsters sent everyone fleeing from their homes, leaving behind family heirlooms and other items during their escape. You play as Rosanna, the daughter of a merchant who has tragically gone missing after he embarked on a dangerous quest to one of the floating islands in search of a valuable treasure. Where he travelled to exactly is a mystery, and so much time has passed that the town can only assume he’s dead, which means you get to inherit his former shop. However, this isn’t the fresh start you’d expect — you also have to take on your father’s substantial debt of 2 million gold owed to the Bank of Nucifera. Well, you know what they say… the first stage of grief is slaying monsters, the second is looting items, and the third is selling your spoils and haggling with patrons!

The opening quests familiarise you with the essentials of the gameplay loop; you’ll furnish your shop, get coordinates to fly to a nearby island using your airship, and learn how and when to make your weekly payments to the bank. As you explore, you’ll notice there is a day/night cycle, and some characters will disappear once night falls, so be sure to do your shopping, questing, and flying within the right hours. If you need to speed up time, you can sleep on your bedroll to skip to 7 am the next day; this is also the only time your game saves. Text-based tutorials pop up for almost everything, from UI tabs to combat, and they’re all very detailed without overstaying their welcome. However, there is quite a bit of information, and I was worried I’d forget what I read, so it’s great that the game provides a “Hint” option in the pause menu, which goes over some of the necessary mechanics should you need a reminder, as I did later on.

In its current Early Access build, Floating Islands of Nucifera has a few NPCs who will tell you a little more about the state of the world, sell you items, and ask you favours, such as killing certain monsters or finding special keepsakes. For instance, Salar Veda is one of your first quest givers, and he happens to be the furniture shopkeeper who will sell you armour displays, weapon racks, potion shelves, and more for your shop. During your first conversation, he gives you the coordinates to Floating Hope Island, where you’ll battle monsters and retrieve items that you can sell to the people of Nucifera. As for the quest, Salar tells you a tragic story about the monsters raiding the island, and he asks that you retrieve his father’s precious golden goblet — if you return it to him, you’ll get a nice chunk of gold that you can use to purchase some of his wares.

Each time you travel to an island via your airship, you’ll begin a gauntlet of turn-based battles against various enemies. Your map will tell you which enemies, rewards, and how many stages you can expect in the run. You can also select a difficulty level — Easy, Medium, or Hard — which will change those aforementioned elements accordingly, though, I don’t recommend you attempt anything but easy on your first few gauntlets. Additionally, while you play as Rosanna in other parts of the game, you’ll actually have champions fight in your place on the islands, the first one being a knight-like Guardian sporting a sword and shield. Your initial battles will limit you to two abilities (one basic attack and one defensive manoeuvre) until you level up and unlock more interesting abilities. Among them is the powerful wind attack called Shield Shock and a fire ability called Knight’s Rage that sends the Guardian into rage mode. Overall, combat feels classic and nostalgic, evoking some major Final Fantasy vibes with its epic battle music in the background and cute yet vicious enemies. The way early combat is designed right now, it requires some grinding since you’ll have to repeat lower-level fights to gain enough XP, but the game tries to keep things interesting in-between stages by letting you click on mining nodes in the environment, triggering a short mini-game to break the node open; if you’re successful, you’ll gain some resources such as iron, copper, and other helpful materials.

Once you complete an expedition on an island, you’ll immediately head back home to Nucifera with your valuable plunder. Everything you salvaged can be put on sale in your shop, but first, you need to set up some display tables and shelves. If you’ve already bought furniture, you can go to the corresponding tab in your inventory and click on whichever piece you want to place. After you take your shop from a blank canvas to a functional layout, it’s time to fill in the empty spaces with your items. You can set a custom price for each product, hiking it up to make a massive profit or keeping the price fair for your customers. Some of your customers may not want to pay a high price for a common item, whereas you might be justified in marking up a rare piece. It’s entirely up to you, and you can definitely experiment!

Aside from the sad premise of its narrative, this title is full of good charm and plenty of humour when it comes to character interactions. I feel like most games would limit you to being the nice new shopkeeper that everyone likes, but Floating Islands of Nucifera has no desire to treat you like a beloved hero. Money is personal, after all, and the people of Nucifera are looking for the best deal they can get! I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that you can shoo away stubborn customers by exclaiming, “Get out!” and, in response, they won’t hesitate to tell you that you suck at negotiating or, even worse, they threaten that they’ll own your shop one day — the nerve! Though the dialogue could benefit from fewer typos, I hope this game sticks with the brash and funny interactions in its full version.

The townspeople are certainly a tough crowd to please. Each one that comes into your shop will try to negotiate for a lower price, but even if you give them a good deal, sometimes they’ll walk away with a frustrated growl accompanied by smoke steaming from their head. Not only do these customers want to pay less, but sometimes they’ll simply buy an item because it seems cheap and not because they actually like it. It’s your job to point them towards the appropriate item for their character type. Civilians, for example, want something practical for everyday life, whereas Warriors need items that can prepare them for battle. Each time you sell the right product, you’ll gain a small boost in reputation. The better your reputation, the more types of customers you’ll attract; some might even have deeper pockets, boosting your profits.

Floating Islands of Nucifera is a refreshing shop management sim that throws you into battles against monsters and your patrons. The soothing music all throughout creates that cosy atmosphere you’d expect from a title like this, and it seems like there’ll be plenty of places to explore in its beautiful world. At the time of writing this preview, the Early Access build lets you upgrade your airship, and there’s a larger shop available that’s closer to the centre of town; there’s still a ways to go with development, but it has a lot of potential! I’m really looking forward to the game’s planned updates, as detailed by the developer on Steam, from purchasing your own home to seeing new cinematics for your airship. It’s a great start, and if your go-to games are Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, or turn-based RPGs like OCTOPATH TRAVELER, this title from Odooh Games might be right up your alley.