How to get Realm Cards in Nightingale

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A character in Nightingale wielding a weapon and wearing an animal skull.
Image via Inflexion Games

One of the core aspects of Nightingale’s gameplay is Realm Cards. If you’ve ever felt like playing God, well, this is your chance.

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Bounce between various Realms in Nightingale’s world and encounter a variety of wonders and dangers alike. If that sounds like a good preview of what’s in store for you in Nightingale, you’ll want to know how to get the elusive Realm Cards in Nightingale through our guide below.

What are Realm Cards in Nightingale?

Before we tell you how to get Realm Cards, you need to know what they do in the first place. In the survival crafting game Nightingale, players have the opportunity to explore various procedurally-generated Realms. The concept of Realm Cards plays a crucial role in enabling players to generate new Realms for exploration. This system provides players with a high degree of agency, allowing them to determine the content they wish to encounter in new Realms, albeit with an added element of unpredictability.

To embark on journeys into new Realms, players can craft Realm Cards using recipes they have acquired and discovered throughout the game. Crafting their own Realm Cards empowers players to create unique combinations, and once crafted, they can use these cards at portals to unveil procedurally generated worlds.

Apart from crafting, there are a few other methods to acquire Realm Cards. Let’s take a deeper look at all of those methods.

How to get new Realm Cards in Nightingale

A screen in Nightingale where the player is about to open a Realm portal.
It’s a thorough process. Screenshot via Inflexion Games

How to find Realm Cards in Nightingale

In Nightingale, players can acquire basic Realm Cards through looting or crafting. Various Points of Interest (POIs) within realms, such as abandoned human buildings or ruined Fae structures, often contain Realm Cards in chests and containers. Exploring these locations thoroughly increases your chances of finding cards. Additionally, you can purchase some Minor Realm Cards from Essence Traders.

Fae Towers and Sites of Power are also sources of Realm Cards, especially Biome and Major ones. However, these areas require defeating a boss to obtain the cards. These POIs are identifiable by electric gates that repel undergeared players. If you find it challenging to enter a Site of Power, prioritize increasing your Gear Score first.

How to craft Realm cards in Nightingale

To craft Realm Cards, use the Enchanter’s Focus, a crafting table obtained during your initial Abeyance Realm adventure. Acquire the blueprint for the Enchanter’s Focus either by purchasing it from an Essence Trader or earning it from Puck. Essence Traders are marked on your map when available, and you can find their stock in the Guidebook menu under Traders.

To construct the Enchanter’s Focus, collect the following materials:

  • 1x Lumber from the Saw Table
  • 2x Ingots from the Smelter
  • 5x Glass from the Smelter

As you progress in your adventures, you come across blueprints for Realm Cards, however, Puck provides basic blueprints for fundamental Biome Cards like Desert, Swamp, and Forest. Along your journey, you also unearth blueprints for Major and Minor Cards.

The crafting of each Realm Card requires Paper and InkCraft Paper at the Saw Table using two Wood Bundles, and craft Ink at the Mortar Station with Pigment and Glass. Certain Realm Cards might demand additional materials however, such as Essence.

How do Realms work in Nightingale?

The player character standing in front of a portal in Nightingale
Innumerable worlds await discovery. Image via Inflexion Games

In Nightingale, Realm Cards requires the player to use an Arcane Portal Device. You can either use the one situated in your Realm or craft your own at your base. By interacting with this station, players can select the specific Realm Cards they want to use, starting the process of opening an Expedition to another Realm.

While each Realm has at least one Portal location, the procedurally generated nature of all Realms means that discovering these locations will depend on both luck and the player’s exploration skills. Once the portal forms, players can proceed through it to explore the unique world created by the selected Realm Cards. In Nightingale, Realm Cards are conveniently categorized into different types, each serving a specific purpose:

  • Biome Cards: These cards determine various environments that could be chosen in a given biome such as deserts, swamps, forests, etc.
  • Major Cards: These cards signify significant events or substantial elements that occur inside the selected Realm such as affecting the presence of quests, NPCs, POIs, and enemy types.
  • Minor Cards: These cards introduce minor adjustments to the content within the Realm such as changing player stats, weather conditions, world traits, and resources spawns.

Players can only create Realm Cards using Biome Cards and Major Cards, no matter which platform you’re playing on. Minor Cards, on the other hand, are designed to be used at Realmic Transmuters. This allows players to apply the effects of Minor Cards instantly within their Realm, without the need for loading times.

Currently, you can only play one Minor Card at a time, but a future update might allow playing multiple. Crafting a Realm Card depends on the biome you want to explore, helping you fine-tune major events for specific beasts or resources. Crafting the same Realm Card lets you revisit the same world, and you can enter a new Realm using the same card combinations.

Author
Image of Yash Nair
Yash Nair
Yash is a freelance writer based in the tropical state of Goa, India. With a focus on competitive Pokémon, he also writes general guides on your favorite video games. Yash has written for sites like Dot Esports and TouchTapPlay, and has a distinct love for indie video game titles.