Home / Games / Nocturne: Prelude
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-19.
What reviewers agree on
73 of the 98 reviews raise this.
“It's pretty darn good! A cool little RPG where the main gimmick is that, instead of using attacks and such during battles, you play a Guitar Hero-esqe (Or, moreso, a Frets on Fire-esqe) minigame to the tune of the…”
“I am not good at rhythm games so played it on easy and still found it hard but super fun ! This is a great game and look forward to the rest the store. Watch Play though Here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/596838991”
“promising demo-esque production for a later full game. The rhythm game elements are robust, the featureset is solid and the beats are as good as you'd hope. One to watch.”
62 of the 98 reviews raise this.
“Wow. Wow wow wow WOW! As a long time fan of rhythm games, I've always wished for there to be a way to incorporate them into other game styles. Nocturne Prelude has finally made this dream a reality, and DANG do they…”
“This is a really good first chapter to the game, and playing it has made me 100% sure that I'll be playing / buying the rest of it when it comes out -- I can't wait for it! The game it's most reminiscent of for me is…”
“Girlfriend walks in: "What are you playing?" Me: "It's a rhythm game where [insert game's plot]" Girlfriend: "That sounds depressing as ----." Me: "Yeaah..." Despite the heavy subject matter the game deals with which…”
42 of the 98 reviews raise this.
“Nocturne:prelude is a rpg mixed with a rhythm game style combat. It has some beautiful pixel graphics and a thrilling and exhilarating soundtrack. However, I have to say that even if the concept of the game’s world is…”
“Wow. Wow wow wow WOW! As a long time fan of rhythm games, I've always wished for there to be a way to incorporate them into other game styles. Nocturne Prelude has finally made this dream a reality, and DANG do they…”
“Wow, just wow. this game had me hooked as soon as i finished the tutorial. The graphics, the combat system, the hidden items, the music, it's all amazing. I can't wait for the next chapter. If you have 2 hours to spare,…”
41 of the 98 reviews raise this.
“Nocturne:prelude is a rpg mixed with a rhythm game style combat. It has some beautiful pixel graphics and a thrilling and exhilarating soundtrack. However, I have to say that even if the concept of the game’s world is…”
“Predictable dialogue alongside a bland narrative. The artwork of the game isn't awful but looks off and unbalanced. This is apparent with the heavy shade of blue for the rhythm game screen. It was so boring to look at…”
“promising demo-esque production for a later full game. The rhythm game elements are robust, the featureset is solid and the beats are as good as you'd hope. One to watch.”
26 of the 98 reviews raise this.
“It's pretty darn good! A cool little RPG where the main gimmick is that, instead of using attacks and such during battles, you play a Guitar Hero-esqe (Or, moreso, a Frets on Fire-esqe) minigame to the tune of the…”
“I am not good at rhythm games so played it on easy and still found it hard but super fun ! This is a great game and look forward to the rest the store. Watch Play though Here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/596838991”
“Wow. Wow wow wow WOW! As a long time fan of rhythm games, I've always wished for there to be a way to incorporate them into other game styles. Nocturne Prelude has finally made this dream a reality, and DANG do they…”
14 of the 98 reviews raise this · 14 of them still recommend the game.
“This is a really good first chapter to the game, and playing it has made me 100% sure that I'll be playing / buying the rest of it when it comes out -- I can't wait for it! The game it's most reminiscent of for me is…”
“I really loved this demo and think it is incredibly creative. The graphics fill me with nostalgia, and some of the music while walking me around reminded me of playing Earthbound as a kid. Someone complained in a review…”
“pretty good game visuals are stunning, soundtrack is great, presentation is also great, charts are " Trustworthy " there's still some issues like difficulty spikes (i sightread the game on zen, the hardest difficulty),…”
13 of the 98 reviews raise this · 10 of them still recommend the game.
“Nocturne:prelude is a rpg mixed with a rhythm game style combat. It has some beautiful pixel graphics and a thrilling and exhilarating soundtrack. However, I have to say that even if the concept of the game’s world is…”
“Predictable dialogue alongside a bland narrative. The artwork of the game isn't awful but looks off and unbalanced. This is apparent with the heavy shade of blue for the rhythm game screen. It was so boring to look at…”
“The gameplay is fun and I was hooked on the story. Can't wait for the full game, but there are issues. Mainly, random encounters, while fun, do feel like a bit of filler, and having to continue during the boss battle…”
12 of the 98 reviews raise this · 12 of them still recommend the game.
“Very relaxing game. The story is intriguing, and the graphics reminds me a bit of old-school games. Gameplay: (Played the game once and went straight for zen difficulty.) -Would want harder patterns on the full game.…”
“pretty good game visuals are stunning, soundtrack is great, presentation is also great, charts are " Trustworthy " there's still some issues like difficulty spikes (i sightread the game on zen, the hardest difficulty),…”
“This game was a ton of fun and challenging played through it on normal and that final boss was rough the story is really interesting and the characters are all super likable so far look forward to more of the game! my…”
11 of the 98 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“pretty good game visuals are stunning, soundtrack is great, presentation is also great, charts are " Trustworthy " there's still some issues like difficulty spikes (i sightread the game on zen, the hardest difficulty),…”
“This game may be short, but it is well worth your time. Just about everything this game does, it does well. The writing is quite charming, the art is great (particularly the character profiles during dialogue), and the…”
“solid as the start of an rpg with a quirky, but enjoyable rhythm combat. the graphics/music/story are all there-- if not amazing-- but the combat is the most unique part of the game and where it shines right now. the…”
7 of the 98 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“Nocturne:prelude is a rpg mixed with a rhythm game style combat. It has some beautiful pixel graphics and a thrilling and exhilarating soundtrack. However, I have to say that even if the concept of the game’s world is…”
“Predictable dialogue alongside a bland narrative. The artwork of the game isn't awful but looks off and unbalanced. This is apparent with the heavy shade of blue for the rhythm game screen. It was so boring to look at…”
“I have a couple things to say about this game. Some good, some bad. The music is pretty good, the art overall is nice, and the rhythm sections sure are rhythm sections. There's enough customization options for controls…”
Counted across 98 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 96.7% positive rating · as of 2026-05-19
“Honestly, I can't believe this is free. The quality is THAT good. It's only a taste of what the overall game will be, but it's already enough to leave a mark on even veteran gamers. The settings are created with so much detail, the story is intriguing, the characters feel real,…”
— a player, Steam review · 1 hrs played“Gameplay is super fun and has a great level of challenge even on only the third hardest difficulty. Each enemy feels like a genuine battle and not just something you nonchalantly complete and then move on. Music is great as well, and varied enough to keep it interesting. A lot…”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs played“Lovely game the bad : - The random battle sequence is a waste of time if you S or FC on your first try so why bother playing it again? - The audio latency on keysounded part. Better off with non-keysound. Or do something about the audio API. - Map is too big with little to…”
— a player, Steam review · 1 hrs playedAchievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-19.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Nocturne Full Version Demo Available
Nocturne is still in development, and we've just released a Demo of the full version. Head over to the main Nocturne store page to download the Demo and wishlist the game.
Nocturne: Prelude 1.1 Launches - Steam Achievements & More
Achievements Nocturne: Prelude now has 17 Steam achievements! They provide a mix of challenges, some which will require you to play the game a little differently. Upstream Nocturne now fully supports
First Minor Patch
Release v1.0.9 After a smooth launch, we've just applied a small patch to fix some minor bugs and make one feature improvement to the arcade. Combat Ending an encounter next to the edge of the map no
Nocturne: Prelude Release
Nocturne: Prelude launched worldwide today on Steam. Thank you everyone who helped test during the Beta, and welcome to anyone playing for the first time. Prelude is the first chapter. There's many mo
Games like Nocturne: Prelude
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Ocean's Heart
81.4% · 719 reviews
shares JRPG, Top Down, Anime, Fantasy
Secrets of Grindea
87.8% · 4,414 reviews
shares JRPG, Top Down, Anime, Fantasy
OMORI
97.4% · 59,455 reviews
shares JRPG, Stylized, Anime, Fantasy
LiEat
95.8% · 2,247 reviews
shares JRPG, Stylized, Anime, Cute
Garden Story
89.3% · 1,160 reviews
shares JRPG, Top Down, Fantasy, Cute
Rakuen
96.9% · 3,685 reviews
shares JRPG, Anime, Fantasy, Cute
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster
88.2% · 3,328 reviews
shares Dystopian, Conversation, Post Apocalyptic, JRPG
Final Profit: A Shop RPG
94.6% · 588 reviews
shares Capitalism, JRPG, Anime, Cute
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-19.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie, RPG, Free To Play |
| Player tags | JRPG · Rhythm · PvE · RPG · 2D · Cute · Top-Down · Story Rich · Transhumanism · Lore-Rich · Post-apocalyptic · Conversation (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player |
| Languages | English |
| Achievements | 17 |
| Official site | https://pracystudios.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 7, 8, 10 Processor: 2.0 Ghz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: GTX 700 Series Storage: 1 GB available space