It’s nearly time for everyone to experience Nightingale, the highly anticipated open-world survival game from ex-BioWare developers where dimension-hopping adventurers require a Victorian dress code. As a Realmwalker stranded due to the collapse of the arcane portal network, it’s up to you to survive by gathering materials, building a stronghold, and exploring worlds filled with remnants of expeditions past, valuable treasures, and mysterious fae creatures.
Nightingale also offers PvE and PvP multiplayer, so it’s best played alongside a few stylish buddies. After all, a blunderbuss takes a long time to reload, and someone has to watch your back. You can read our Nightingale preview for more about this adventure and our Nightingale interview, where art director Neil Thompson and production lead Leah Summers discuss the open-world game‘s community-first approach.
To celebrate the upcoming Nightingale release date, we have an exclusive giveaway, where one lucky winner will receive an early access Steam key for the game itself and a one-of-a-kind Buckram hat made by professional milliner and costume maker Woodsmokeandwords. Do note, however, that this competition is only open to UK residents.
Woodsmokeandwords has previously created hats for Netflix’s The Sandman and Apple TV’s Hijack, plus productions held at The Bridge Theatre and The National Theatre in London. They describe themselves as an enthusiastic gamer and lover of fantasy, particularly Lord of the Rings and DnD.
This prize is based on The Lady in Red’s hat, which you can see toward the end of the Nightingale reveal trailer above. Woodsmokeandwords was kind enough to send us details of the process of its construction:
“The hat is given structure by the buckram (a fabric soaked in a water-based glue, which makes it stiff), which is then covered in domette to hide the texture of the buckram, and finally, a red silk taffeta, which is the fabric you see. It is trimmed with small white ostrich feathers, burnt black pheasant feathers, and vintage millinery flowers.
The brim edge is trimmed with a white gimp braid. It has a hatband made of shot blue-black duchess satin, and it’s lined with a fine black silk faille and finished with a Petersham sweatband. Besides the ample references from the game itself, I took inspiration from 1860s leghorn hats, which the flare of the crown and the curved brim of The Lady in Red’s hat echo quite closely.”
You can find more of their work on Instagram and Tiktok.
If you wish to win an early access copy of the survival game and this stunning headpiece, you can enter our competition via the widget below. However, it’s worth reminding you that this competition is only open to those living in the UK. Good luck!
PCGN – Nightingale Steam code and hat giveaway
If you want more info on the multiplayer game, we have details on all Nightingale Twitch drops and how to claim them. We also have a list of all the upcoming PC games to look forward to this year and beyond.