The City of Nivalis
Nivalis is a vertical city built above the sea. It is the sole setting of the game that shares its name, and it previously served as the backdrop for Cloudpunk (2020) and its expansion City of Ghosts (2021). The city is a towering structure where thousands of people live, work, eat, and die stacked on top of one another. Height equals status. The wealthy live in climate-controlled penthouses near the top, while the poor scrape by in the damp, neon-lit lower levels near the waterline.
Structure and Layout
The city is divided into 19 explorable areas, all of which have been hand-crafted by ION LANDS rather than procedurally generated. This means every alley, staircase, shop front, and hidden corner was placed with intent. The result is a city that feels designed to be explored rather than algorithmically assembled.
The vertical structure of the city is not just visual flavor. It is the organizing principle of the entire social order. The higher up you go, the cleaner the air, the brighter the lights, and the wealthier the residents. The lower levels are where most of the game takes place, at least in the early hours. Down here, the sky is barely visible through the layers of infrastructure above. Cloud pollution drifts between the buildings. Neon signs flicker over rain-slick roads. It is atmospheric in a way that screenshots only partially capture; the sense of density and claustrophobia comes from being inside the space, looking around, hearing the ambient sounds of a city that never fully sleeps.
Meridian Market
Meridian Market is where the game begins. It is a busy commercial district in the lower levels of the city, full of vendors, small businesses, and foot traffic. The noodle bar you inherit from Thaddeus Carminus is located here, which makes it your home base and primary area of operations for the first stretch of the game. The market has a scrappy, lived-in quality. Nothing here is shiny or new. Equipment has been patched and repaired. Signs are hand-lettered. People know each other's names.
As a starting location, Meridian Market introduces you to the rhythms of city life: the morning commuters, the lunchtime rush, the quiet afternoon lull, and the evening crowds looking for food and entertainment. It also puts you in proximity to the docks, where your greenhouse and fishing boat are located, making early-game logistics relatively convenient.
Social Hierarchy
Height in Nivalis is not just a geographical fact. It is a class system made physical. The people who live in the upper levels have access to better services, cleaner environments, and more powerful connections. The people at the bottom have none of those things. This vertical stratification affects everything from the prices at local shops to the attitude of Corps Sec officers patrolling the area.
For the player, this hierarchy creates a progression goal: as your businesses succeed and your reputation grows, you can expand into higher districts. Each new level of the city brings different customer demographics, different competitors, and different social dynamics. What works at street level does not necessarily translate to the upper floors, and vice versa.
Ecological Collapse
Nivalis is a city on borrowed time. The ecological systems that support the structure are failing. The sea level is unpredictable. The infrastructure is aging faster than it can be repaired. There is a real and present danger that the city could fall into the ocean. This is not background lore that you read in a codex entry; it is a condition of daily life that affects how people behave, what they fear, and what they are willing to do.
The threat of collapse hangs over everything. Some characters are desperate to leave but cannot afford to. Others are in denial. Still others see the instability as an opportunity, buying up property on the cheap and gambling that the city will hold together long enough for them to profit. This tension between immediate survival and long-term doom gives the city a sense of urgency that goes beyond the usual cyberpunk window dressing.
Dangers
Living in Nivalis is not safe. Beyond the slow-motion ecological disaster, the city is home to several immediate threats.
Corps Sec is the corporate security force that maintains order, particularly in the upper levels. They are well-equipped and answer to corporate interests rather than any public authority. For residents of the lower levels, Corps Sec is an unpredictable presence: sometimes protective, sometimes threatening, always serving someone else's agenda.
Gangs operate openly in parts of the lower city. Some run protection rackets. Others are involved in the organ harvesting trade, targeting people who wander into the wrong neighborhoods at the wrong time. The gangs are not a monolithic force; different groups control different territories and sometimes war with each other.
The Aseptic is an android serial killer that has been operating in the city for an unknown period of time. It leaves no forensic evidence at its crime scenes, making it nearly impossible for Corps Sec to track. Wanted posters featuring the Aseptic are visible throughout the city, serving as a constant reminder that something very dangerous is out there.
Transportation
Getting around Nivalis involves four main methods. On foot is the default and gives you the most intimate view of each district. The train system connects major areas and provides reliable, if not always fast, transit. Taxis function as a visual fast-travel option, letting you skip the commute when time is tight. And your personal boat at the docks gives you access to the waterways below the city, opening up fishing spots and areas that cannot be reached by other means. HOVAs, the flying vehicles from Cloudpunk, still exist in Nivalis but the player cannot pilot them.
Connection to Cloudpunk
The city of Nivalis is the same city players explored in Cloudpunk and City of Ghosts. Those games showed the city from above, through the windshield of a HOVA flying between the towers. This game shows it from below, on the ground, at street level. The shift in perspective changes everything about how the city feels. What was a sprawling metropolis viewed from a distance becomes a claustrophobic, intimate maze of corridors, markets, and hidden spaces.
Players familiar with Cloudpunk will recognize landmarks, cultural references, and the general lore of the setting. But Nivalis is designed to stand entirely on its own. No knowledge of the previous games is required to understand or enjoy the story, the characters, or the city. The connections are there for fans to find, not barriers for newcomers to overcome.