Nighthawks Game Review: Critic and Player Scores

Nighthawks launched on September 22, 2026 to a strongly positive — though not unanimous — critical picture. This Nighthawks game review roundup covers the critic scores, the Steam player rating, and where the praise and criticism actually land, as of September 28, 2026.

Scope note: this page is about the 2026 vampire RPG from Richard Cobbett and Wadjet Eye Games — not the 1981 Sylvester Stallone film of the same name, whose Blu-ray reviews dominate results for the bare phrase "Nighthawks review." Every score below is for the game.

Outlet	Score / verdict
PC Gamer	89/100 — "a well-written vampire chronicle."
Steam players	Very Positive — 94% of 142 reviews (134 positive, 8 negative) across all languages as of September 28, 2026; the English-only summary reads 91% of 86.
Play Save Repeat (video)	9/10 — "a don't miss vampire RPG with a charming visual novel presentation."
IndieLoop (video)	9/10 and an "easily one of my favorite games this year" verdict.
GamesRadar	Game of the Week at "just $18" — no numeric score.
Rock Paper Shotgun	No numeric score — "a series of vignettes that sometimes excel but more often falter."

The critic score

PC Gamer rated Nighthawks 89/100 in its launch review, with the verdict line "if you're not put off by reading a lot of words then here's a well-written vampire chronicle." The reviewer praised writing that is "funny when it tries to be funny and affecting when it tries to be affecting," side quests that feel like "taking breaks from an Anne Rice saga to read a Clive Barker short story," and twists that never telegraphed. The review positions the game as what you get if you take the masquerade out of Vampire: The Masquerade — a world where everyone knows vampires are real.

The critical counterweight

Rock Paper Shotgun's review (Jay Castello, September 22, 2026) is the notable dissent: "a series of vignettes that sometimes excel but more often falter." The review credits two outstanding companion-adjacent stories and a memorable city flavor, but criticizes a dry first act, monthly time limits that produce "no real time pressure," RPG systems where skills "rarely lock you out of any outcome," and companion gear that stops mattering once stats peak. It is a useful read before buying if you care about mechanical depth rather than pure narrative.

Rock Paper Shotgun's verdict in one line: "a series of vignettes that sometimes excel but more often falter" (Jay Castello, September 22, 2026).

The player score

On Steam, the game sits at Very Positive and the count keeps climbing: 94% of 133reviews positive as of September 27, 2026, and 94% of 142 (134 positive, 8 negative) when tallied across all languages on September 28 — the English-only store summary lags at 91% of 86, so expect both numbers to keep moving. Note that launch-week publicity was unusual: the mistaken Adults Only rating went viral, and Wadjet Eye said wishlists "essentially doubled overnight," which pulled in a large early-review crowd.

The video-review second wave

Two launch-day video reviews fill the score card the written outlets left split. Play Save Repeat rated it 9/10, calling it "a don't miss vampire RPG with a charming visual novel presentation" and praising skill-check transparency (the game tells you when a check may fail), the genre-hopping mystery structure — "one moment it's horror, and another it's comedic" — and a Steam Deck test where "the controller layout felt just as natural as controlling using the mouse and keyboard." IndieLoop's video review also landed on 9/10, ranking it among its games of the year on the strength of the writing and a 30-plus-hour read it found worth every hour.

The video reviewers' quibbles mirror the written press: the combat "becomes easy by the midpoint," pacing dips late in Acts (IndieLoop even skipped fully mapping the sewers without harm), and a couple of voice performances grate — two out of 60-plus named characters by IndieLoop's count, both skippable. Video-perspective praise lands on the voice acting itself — "there really isn't a bad performance in the game" (Play Save Repeat), singling out Sally Beaumont — and on the decision to voice the entire cast when an indie could plausibly have shipped text-only. Neither video reviewer raised hardware or bug blockers, and both said they would return for a second playthrough as a different kind of monster.

What GamesRadar added

GamesRadar made Nighthawks its Game of the Week at "just $18," calling it exactly what Steam Decks were made for, and recommended it to fans of Vampire: The Masquerade visual novels and Cabernet while warning off players wanting combat-heavy RPGs like The Blood of Dawnwalker. Its reviewer finished in well under 20 hours, including reloads of the final Act to see multiple endings — useful context for judging the price against content length.

What this means if you are buying today

The consensus: a story-first, writing-led vampire RPG that delivers its fantasy and interrogates it (PC Gamer), with a text-and-vignettes structure that will delight some players and frustrate those expecting systems depth (RPS). At $19.99 — $17.99 during the launch discount reported to run until September 29 (to confirm) — the multiple-endings structure and 100 achievements give it replay value beyond a first run.

Praise and Criticism, Side by Side

The same five days of coverage, laid out so the strengths and the gripes read against each other:

Aspect	How the coverage characterizes it	Source
The writing	"funny when it tries to be funny and affecting when it tries to be affecting."	PC Gamer
Side quests	Feel like Clive Barker short stories breaking from an Anne Rice saga.	PC Gamer
Twists	Never telegraphed.	PC Gamer
Companion arcs	Ten arcs to follow, spotlit alongside the haunted-dollhouse quest.	GamesRadar
City flavor	A memorable city flavor with two outstanding companion-adjacent stories.	RPS
First act	Dry, the weakest stretch of the game.	RPS
Time limits	The monthly deadline produces "no real time pressure".	RPS
RPG systems	Skills "rarely lock you out of any outcome".	RPS
Companion gear	Stops mattering once stats peak.	RPS
Spare time	Free time outpaces content per month.	PC Gamer

Where the praise lands:

• The writing — "funny when it tries to be funny and affecting when it tries to be affecting" (PC Gamer).
• Side quests that feel like Clive Barker short stories breaking from an Anne Rice saga (PC Gamer).
• Twists that never telegraphed (PC Gamer).
• Ten companion arcs, which GamesRadar spotlights alongside the haunted-dollhouse quest.
• A memorable city flavor and two outstanding companion-adjacent stories (RPS).

Where the criticism lands:

• A dry first act (RPS).
• Monthly time limits that produce "no real time pressure" (RPS).
• RPG systems where skills "rarely lock you out of any outcome" (RPS).
• Companion gear that stops mattering once stats peak (RPS).
• Spare time outpacing content per month (PC Gamer).