NightSpawn First Impressions: Can It Be Both a Playtest and Early Access?

NightSpawn First Impressions

NightSpawn confused me before the horror even really started. I played the Steam Playtest, but the game is also listed as Early Access. So can it be both?

Yes, it can. In this case, NightSpawn is an Early Access horror game with an active Steam Playtest running alongside it.

That means this is not a full 1.0 launch, and I will not treat it like a finished review. This is a first impressions article based on the current playtest build.

NightSpawn Playtest Footage

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What is NightSpawn?

NightSpawn is a free-to-play multiplayer horror game from Blood Eater Games, published by Forthright Entertainment. It is built around cursed locations, objectives, traps, supernatural monsters, solo play, co-op, and asymmetric multiplayer ideas.

It gave me some of the same genre feeling as Dead by Daylight, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Friday the 13th: The Game, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, and Evil Dead: The Game. This is not usually my main horror genre, but I do think there is room for another one if the game finds its own hook.

The tutorial felt unclear

The tutorial setup explains the basics, but my first NightSpawn run still felt unclear in places.

I started with the “learn how to play” option. It felt longer than I expected. I was walking around what looked like a barn area, turned on my flashlight, found a lantern, and then the game told me to find the flashlight.

That confused me, because I already had one. Maybe the game wanted a specific flashlight, maybe I missed something, or maybe the tutorial flow did not explain it clearly enough.

I should also be honest: I am the kind of player who might die from not listening properly to tutorials. That is me. But even with that in mind, the onboarding felt more confusing than challenging.

Bear traps, stones, and a bad crawl

My first NightSpawn session ended with a rough crawl, a missing medkit, and another death.

After that, I ran around and got caught in bear traps. I somehow missed the part where I could just throw stones at the traps to trigger them first. Instead, I kept learning the hard way and let the traps do their job. Well, it is what it is, right?

Then I reached a shed, turned off a fuse box to avoid an electric fence, ran inside, and died.

I died. Horrific? Yes. To blame? Also yes: me. The game told me to watch out for booby traps, and I clearly did not listen well enough.

After that, the screen went black and white, and I seemed to be half-glitched into a stone or object. I had to crawl back toward the shed while the game told me to find a medkit. I went back, found no medkit, and died again. RIP.

That part became more annoying than scary. Maybe it works better in co-op, where another player can help or revive you. Solo, it dragged.

The atmosphere is there

NightSpawn has the right horror mood, with dark menus, character options, and a creepy mansion-style setup.

Even with the confusion, I do not want to write NightSpawn off. It looks good, it ran smoothly for me during parts of the playtest, and the background music gave the area a creepy feeling, even if it became repetitive after a while.

The game is dark, creepy, and challenging. I also saw messaging around more than 20 playable characters, but I cannot confirm from my own playtest whether that applies to the current build or the wider planned game.

The potential is there. The first hour just needs to be cleaner.

The premium store confused me too

Another confusing piece was the premium store. I saw paid-looking packs, premium currency, a countdown deal, and a checkout screen. At the same time, the page said Demo Mode and that no real payment would be processed.

I did not buy anything, and I am not a big fan of clicking through payment-looking screens in a playtest, even when it says it is not real. Maybe it is only testing the store flow. Maybe it is part of the free-to-play structure. But from a player point of view, it added one more question to an already confusing session.

To be clear, I am not saying anything was charged. I did not test a purchase. But a playtest with Early Access messaging, unfinished systems, and a demo checkout screen needs very clear communication.

Then multiplayer crashed

After the tutorial attempt, I started a new multiplayer game. I reached a point where it looked like I had to click a button to skip, but it did not seem to work.

Then the game crashed.

That was the end of my session.

Why this is not a scored review

I cannot really give NightSpawn a score or a full review right now. It is not there yet, and that is not meant as an insult. This is a playtest running alongside an Early Access game, and the build I played still felt like something being tested and adjusted.

NightSpawn has potential. It has a strong horror mood, good visual direction, co-op potential, and the kind of setup that could appeal to players who enjoy asymmetric and multiplayer horror. But the tutorial flow, unclear instructions, crawling section, missing medkit moment, store confusion, and crash made this a rough first impression.

First impressions verdict

NightSpawn is promising, but confusing.

The horror mood is there, and I do think there is room for another game in this genre if it becomes clear enough, stable enough, and different enough to stand out. Right now, the atmosphere is stronger than the onboarding.

For now, this is not a full review. It is a first impression from the current Steam Playtest build. I can see the potential, but NightSpawn needs more clarity, polish, and smoother early-game flow before I would judge it like a full release.

NightSpawn

Release: Early Access release date: December 1, 2023; planned to leave Early Access in Q2 2026

Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie, Multiplayer Horror, Co-op, Early Access

Developer: Blood Eater Games

Publisher: Forthright Entertainment

Platform: PC — Steam

Status: Early Access with active Steam Playtest

View NightSpawn on Steam

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