Sega has always benefited from a clear eye for enduring properties. Franchises like Sonic seem to come almost naturally to the developer, which can go from popular platforming into a major IP. Even their more obscure creations tend to have enough memorable elements and strange touches to really stand out from the competition.
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That’s definitely the case for NiGHTS Into Dreams, which thirty years later still feels like one of the publisher’s most distinctive and underappreciated classics. The strange series hasn’t had a new entry in over a decade but remains popular with the fan base, so it’s worth looking back at what made NiGHTS so unique in the first place – and if a modern version could stand a chance in the current gaming environment.
NiGHTS into Dreams Is A Sega Classic Despite Only Having A Few Games
Developed by Sonic Team and debuting in 1996 across the world, NiGHTS Into Dreams is one of the most distinct franchises that Sega ever produced. A trippy headspace of a game, players venture into the dream world of Nightopia and help lost teens Elliot and Claris as they try to stop Wizeman from taking over both the waking and unwaking worlds. Gameplay is focused on NiGHTS, a rebellious sprite who breaks free from Wizeman. Each level sees players venture into flying levels, where they control NiGHTS as they soar around and try to collect the Ideya orbs.
A flighty riff on the platformer, the slick flying animations and surprisingly tight controls had a dreamlike quality that naturally played into the game experience. The game was met with strong reviews and praise from fans, who quickly made the game a hit for the Sega Saturn. Sadly, the series didn’t become enough of a hit to become a foundational moneymaker for Sega. While characters from NiGHTS have appeared in cameos in other properties and feature in crossover franchises like Sonic Racing, that original hit only ever received a Christmas-themed reskin, a handful of remakes, and an underwhelming sequel for the Wii over a decade later. In that time, though, Dreams has remained a fan-favorite oddball in the larger Sega library, with NiGHTS Into Dreams gradually becoming one of the publisher’s most beloved cult classics.
What Would A Modern Into NiGHTS Even Be?
With plenty of developers and publishers looking to their pasts while defining their upcoming slates, it’s worth pondering what a new entry in the series would even look like in the modern day. Movies like Inception and Inside Out have explored dreamscapes in the broader culture, potentially opening up opportunities for a modern sequel to get a bit more complex than the fairly standard (and nevertheless charming) morality of the original game. The game would come with a naturally vivid update to match modern graphics. In fact, seeing a version of NiGHTS into Dream‘s vivid level design reimagined for modern consoles would be one of the key draws of returning to the property in the first place.
Getting to explore those regions would be a good excuse to introduce a larger sense of exploration in open-world settings, even if the underlying tension of the gameplay remains locating specific items in the larger world within a time limit. The flight mechanic might be the most potentially exciting element of a new iteration of NiGHTS into Dreams, as well as the riskiest. Flight can be tricky in games, especially when exploring larger regions with a certain level of abandon. The game needs to retain a sense of weight to maintain tension, but there’s also a need to provide freedom for players who want to push their limits. Look at something like the leaked Iron Man game footage, which has excited players for its approach to flying through a cityscape as the Armored Avenger. Actual flight is a tricky beast to develop but can be a blast when designed right.
The biggest trick to getting a modern NiGHTS would be finding a way to make the game’s strange world still feel connected to the fluid gameplay. Flight mechanics have evolved significantly in the years since the initial games came out, underscoring how any attempt to bridge NiGHTS Into Dreams from the past to the present would be tasked with accommodating both directions of the divide. The side-scrolling elements would likely be replaced with free roaming in a 3D space, potentially cutting off some of the platforming DNA inherent to the original’s design. Alternatively, the game sticking to its side-scrolling roots could make it feel like an entirely different game experience that loses the distinct spirit of NiGHTS Into Dreams. Finding that perfect middle ground would be tricky for modern developers, but the cult classic legacy could make it the ideal nostalgia pull for a reinvention. There are only a few games in the series, so a harder remaining wouldn’t feel so out of place. Regardless, the time might be right for NiGHTS to finally return to the waking world, thirty years after it first won over players.
