Rhythm RPG Nocturne Hits 99% Positive Steam Reviews After 10 Years in Development

Indie rhythm RPG Nocturne has picked up an Overwhelmingly Positive reception on Steam less than three weeks after launch. More than 500 user reviews have been posted, with 99% currently positive.

Pracy Studios released the game on September 22 after 10 years of development. Nocturne combines a traditional story-driven RPG with rhythm battles, making comparisons with music-driven games such as Hi-Fi Rush understandable at a broad level, although its combat and progression work very differently.

Every enemy encounter in Nocturne is built as a rhythm battle rather than using music as a layer over conventional RPG combat. Players time attacks to score critical hits, while missing too many notes gives enemies a chance to retaliate.

Developer Benjamin Pracy has explained that the project was designed from the beginning as both an RPG and a full rhythm game. Rather than reducing the music side to timed attacks or occasional button prompts, the combat was developed around rhythm mechanics first.

Six difficulty settings are available, covering players with little rhythm-game experience through to experienced players looking for harder charts. Individual enemies and bosses also use their own mechanics instead of relying on the same battle pattern with different songs.

The finished game contains 101 playable tracks. Defeated enemies can later be replayed through Arcade Mode for higher scores, giving the rhythm side of the game a separate reason to revisit encounters outside the main story.

The rhythm battles sit inside a larger RPG rather than functioning as a collection of standalone music stages. Nocturne includes leveling, character stats, equipment, shops, exploration, bosses, secrets, and a story set in a digital afterlife long after humanity has disappeared.

Pracy Studios lists the campaign at more than 10 hours, with a script exceeding 100,000 words. Boss music was recorded live with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, something Pracy documented during the final stretch of development.

That structure is also where the Hi-Fi Rush comparison stops being particularly exact. Both games make music central to combat, but Nocturne is built around pixel-art exploration and RPG progression rather than third-person character action.

Pracy said on launch day that Nocturne had been in development for 10 years. The project began as a prototype before entering full-time development in May 2018, and its development history includes an earlier free Prelude release, a cancelled Kickstarter, multiple delays, and years of continued independent work.

By late 2025, Pracy described the project as having already been in development for more than nine years and as the largest creative project of his life. The final Steam version arrived on September 22, 2026.

Its early Steam response now gives that unusually long development cycle a strong opening result. More than 500 reviews have pushed Nocturne to a 99% positive rating and an Overwhelmingly Positive Steam classification less than three weeks after launch.