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Nights of Azure (Yoru no Nai Kuni in Japanese) is a JRPG created by Gust Co. Ltd. for the Play Station 3 and Play Station Vita in Japan and later for Play Station 4 in North America.

800 years ago, a demon called the Nightlord threatened to cover the world in eternal night, putting everyone under a deep slumber. In response, an army of knights did battle with the Nightlord and his demons. The battle fought was fierce and many lives were lost but, eventually, the leader of the knights succeeded in defeating the Nightlord. However, as the final blow was struck, the Nightlord's Blue Blood rained down on the world, transforming humans into fiends but the knight managed to stop the Blue Blood and the Night at the cost of her own life. This knight would eventually come to be known as the "First Saint", the first in a long line of Saints that are tasked with strengthening the seal on the Night by an organization known only as the Curia.

Centuries later, the Curia dispatches one of their agents, the half-demon Arnice, to the small island of Ruswal due to rumors of the seal of the Nightlord being weakened. As soon as she arrives on the island, Arnice is reunited with her Only Friend, Lilysse. As they enter the island, they find out that the streets are crawling with fiends and that the rumors of the Night returning are true when they see that the moon that signals the Night, Milada, has appeared in the sky. In a race against time, Arnice and Lilysse must find a way to stop the Nightlord from returning. However, during their quest, new information begins to appear that sheds some light about the events that truly took place centuries ago.

A sequel, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon, was released on August 31, 2017 in Japan for the Play Station 4, Play Station Vita, and Nintendo Switch. A North American release for the Play Station 4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows followed and came out on October 24, 2017.


Nights of Azure/Yoru No Nai Kuni contains examples of:

  • Action Girl: Arnice. Considering she's capable of killing fiends and demons that are several times bigger than her, she's definitely this.
  • Almost Kiss: One of the pieces of official art for the game has Arnice and Lilysse depicted this way.
  • Always Save the Girl: Arnice will always do what she can to save Lilysse. No matter what it takes. Even if it means becoming the next Nightlord herself.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: The true nature of the Night is revealed to be this: the leader of the Curia turns out to be the First Saint, Ludegert. She was the one responsible for summoning the Nightlord to begin with in a bid to unite all of humanity against a common foe after witnessing the conflicts that arose simply because of differences in ideologies. Unfortunately for her, the Nightlord turned out to not be the evil monster that she thought and thus in one final desperate move to unite humanity, she betrayed the Nightlord and took his Blue Blood for her own in order to create the threat of the Night.
  • Bad Moon Rising: Milada's appearance heralds the approach of the Night. The plot of the game revolves around taking the Saint to the Blue Altar in order to stop Milada from becoming full and prevent the Night from arriving.
  • Beautiful Dreamer: How Arnice first meets Lilysse in the backstory. This was also the moment when Arnice fell in love with Lilysse.
    • Whenever Arnice enters the Altar of Jorth, which is more or less located in the Dream World, a being taking Lilysse's appearance is there further emphasizing Arnice's feelings for Lilysse. The being, who calls herself the Maiden of Jorth, says that the form she takes is based on Arnice's subconscious.
    • Arnice can also meet up with a dream version of Lilysse (called "Dream Lilysse" by the game) during her stay at the Altar of Jorth at certain points in the game. The dream version of Lilysse turns out to be Lilysse's feelings for Arnice that she tried to bury in order to make it easier for her to accept her role as the new Saint.
  • Berserk Button: Arnice's is anyone hurting or insulting Lilysse. Professor Alucard learned this the hard way when a few comments he made regarding Lilysse sounded like… something else.
    • Arnice hates almost every letter sent to her by her 'Guide', and almost every one of the letters she receives from him end with her crumbling it up, especially when it has something to do with how she can't save Lilysse.
  • BFS: Arnice's default weapon is a large sword. She later gets an even bigger sword during the final chapter courtesy of the Maiden of Jorth.
  • Big Bad: The Nightlord, of course, since the Night is his doing. Turns out to be a subversion, since the original Nightlord is an example of Dark Is Not Evil. The true Big Bad is the leader of the Curia and the First Saint herself, Ludegert.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Some of the fiends that Arnice fights are giant armored spiders. She can also summon said armored spiders as Servans on her side as well.
  • Body Surf: Ludegert's been able to keep the Blue Blood in her suppressed by taking over the bodies of the current Saint. She nearly did this to Lilysse as well before Arnice steps in and ultimately defeats Ludegert in a fierce battle.
  • Bonus Dungeon: After beating all the main game scenarios, an area called the "Hall of Infinite Darkness" will became accessible via the elevator at the Ende Hotel. The enemies in this dungeon are all at level 15 and is the most difficult area in the game.
  • Book Ends: The game begins with Lilysse being kidnapped by the Blueblood Dragon and taken to the Old Count's Rose Garden, having to be saved by Arnice. The Golden Ending (True Ending) for the game has Lilysse returning to the Rose Garden where the Blueblood Dragon appears in front of her again… only for Arnice to arrive at the last moment and save her once again.
  • Boring, but Practical: Alraune is the first Servan you're introduced to in the game, but it's also the only Servan with the ability to heal other Servans in addition to Arnice. Due to this, most players use an Alraune for most of the game.
  • Boss Rush: In the final dungeon, there is a giant seal blocking the way to the Final Boss. In order to destroy the seal, five of the six previous bosses that have been fought earlier in the game have to be defeated again.
  • The Casanova: Lloyd fancies himself as one, telling of stories about all the girls that he has flirted with. Also comes back to bite him in the ass in a later quest when one of the girls realizes the he was actually just using her for her wealth and thus hides a priceless jewel in a tree...that's guarded by a powerful fiend. When Arnice learns the full story of the jewel that Lloyd has her retrieving for him, she decides to give him a piece of her mind as well.
  • Cooldown Hug: Arnice gives one to Lilysse when they reconcile after a fight.
  • Damsel in Distress: At the beginning of the game, Lilysse is kidnapped, and she is later kidnapped by another member of Curia to test Arnice.
  • Dance of Romance: Arnice and Lilysse have one at the lobby of Hotel Ende early on in the game, with the two of them reminiscing about old times as well as pouring their hearts out to each other. Unfortunately, this event also leads the two to fight because of their conflicted feelings about Lilysse's role as the new Saint.
    • Arnice and Lilysse have another dance at the end of Chapter 4. This time, they make up after their previous fight, with Arnice also making a Declaration of Protection to Lilysse.
  • Dark Action Girl: Corrine. Her failure to protect her own Saint made the Blue Blood inside her lose control and turn her into a fiend. She later regains her humanity and in her last moments, apologizes to both Arnice and Lilysse for the trouble that she caused the two of them while telling Arnice to always protect her loved ones with everything she has.
    • Pope Ludegert, the First Saint. She's the current Nightlord and is more than capable of handing Arnice her ass if the latter isn't careful during the fight against her.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Arnice's backstory is full of this. When the Nightlord's Blue Blood rained again, she became afflicted, but instead of turning into a fiend, Arnice was able to retain her human consciousness. However, her blood has turned purple, marking her as a half demon. She was then taken in by the Curia as a science experiment, but was then given a second chance by her mysterious Guide. It was then that she met Lilysse.
  • Dark Fantasy: The game is set in a world beset by fiends, with an untrustworthy Church as the only thing protecting humanity.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Arnice and her Servans fall under this. They might be using the power of the Blue Blood, but they do so in order to fight against those that dare to threaten humanity.
    • The original Nightlord himself is revealed to be this in the final Reminisce story. When he was first summoned by Ludegert, she was completely surprised to find out that he was not the evil monster that she thought he was and, in fact, had no plans of unleashing the Night on the world. Ludegert even refers to the original Nightlord as someone that "[accepted] everything for what it is", putting a huge wrench in her plans of uniting humanity.
  • Declaration of Protection: Arnice to Lilysse. Whether it's the organization she works for, fiends, or the Nightlord himself that dares to threaten her, Arnice will protect Lilysse.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Lilysse says that Arnice was this in school: the "mysterious loner" type who starts off cool and aloof but later will always be there for her. The actual game is set well after this part of the Romance Arc, however.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: This game loves dropping hints that Arnice and Lilysse expresses their love in that way too, without showing anything explicit. Examples include:
    • Arnice and Lilysse's second Dance of Romance ends with a Kissing Discretion Shot, followed by them side by side in bed with less clothes than they previously had and holding hands.
    • When Lilysse's had a That Came Out Wrong moment when she stated that she and Arnice sleeps together every night, while Arnice gets embarrassed by her outburst, neither woman denies the implication.
    • One of the Memories you could find after seeing the Normal Ending involves a Manager (i.e., Simon) mentioning that The Curia demanded that the two women get separate rooms, but he couldn't bear to do that to them after seeing them together.
    • The Final Love Duet, "Eve", involves Arnice and Lilysse singing about their nights. While the second half is an allusion to the events of the Golden Ending, the first half involves Intercourse with You, with lines narrating about "Digging our nails in, biting softly, and playing around under the moonlight" and "Hair and hair entwining, I want to be by your side without untying them".
  • Does Not Like Spam: Arnice absolutely hates tomato juice. When her Guide is trying out multiple ways in order to ease Arnice's bloodlust, he tries making her drink tomato juice. Arnice immediately refuses. She also gets angry when Lloyd tricks her into drinking some.
  • Do Well, But Not Perfect: After you've seen the Golden Ending normally, you gain the ability to manipulate your relationship values with Lilysse to view different types of endings. To view the Golden Ending again, you'd need to set your relationship values to the second-highest level. Picking the choice that gives the highest relationship value, which isn't achievable through other means, unlocks a bonus downer ending.
  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Arnice's Demon Sword Jorth, which can be obtained by completing an endgame quest for the Maiden of Jorth. It boasts increased range and higher damage than her other weapons, and has the added benefit of increasing the amount of blood Arnice can acquire in order to level her and her Servans up quicker.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: What is expected to happen if the Nightlord is allowed to return. This world actually ends in two of the endings through different means. The world is blanketed in perpetual night in one ending, while the world is completely deprived of the night in the other ending.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Arnice was incredibly popular during her time at school. The other girls even said that Lilysse is lucky to be close to Arnice during that time.
  • Everyone Can See It: Arnice and Lilysse's relationship. Lloyd and Professor Alucard both comment on it as well, calling their relationship romantic in nature. Christophorus also gets in on it when she outright says that Arnice and Lilysse are both in love with each other, which neither of them deny.
  • The Fair Folk: Some of the fiends that Arnice fight are Fairy type fiends. Arnice can also summon these same fiends as Servans to fight on her side.
  • Final Love Duet: The Golden Ending song "Eve" sung by Arnice and Lilysse has the lyrics going Intercourse with You in the first half before the two sing how they'll Screw Destiny if anything comes between them in the second half. The songwriter's comments in the unlockable Extra section of the game indicate that he imagined the two of them courting each other while they sung it.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Throughout the game, several events at the Ende Hotel will have several of Arnice's Servans talking to the black cat that Lilysse befriends at the beginning of the game. Several of the Servans, namely those that have a thirst for combat, will say that the black cat is more than it appears and hides a tremendous power that dwarves even theirs. In one of the endings, this black cat is revealed to be the original Nightlord himself, guiding Arnice throughout the game.
    • If you talk to an Yfritte Servan when she's near the entrance of the Lobby near the end of the game, she'll mention that "With only a kiss, demons can take blood and memories". Arnice does this in the Normal Ending where she has the highest relationship value with Lilysse and in the Golden Ending, using a Kiss of Life to absorb the Blue Blood that went into Lilysse and make her forget her now that she'll become the Nightlord.
  • Girls' Love: A more action-oriented take on the genre while also making Arnice and Lilysse's relationship the central part of the story.
  • Golden Ending: This ending can only be unlocked after beating the game once and completing two extra scenarios.
  • Grand Theft Me: Zig-zagged. While Arnice becomes the new Nightlord, she manages to retain a sense of self and remember who she is as shown in the Golden Ending.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Arnice is this due to the blue blood in her body. Some of the demons even refer to her as a half breed as a result. It is because of this that Arnice is able to become the new Nightlord, succeeding Ludegert.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In order to keep the Night sealed away, a Saint must be sacrificed at the Blue Altar once every ten years. There's more to this than meets the eye.
  • Horror Hunger: As demons and fiends feed on blood, half-demons such as Arnice also suffer from bloodlust, though they could displace it with another type of food.
  • Humans Are Bastards: A common trend for this game.
    • Professor Alucard has this belief, which is why he prefers to study fiends and demons while avoiding human contact. It would also explain his lack of social etiquette. Several of his dialogues with Arnice go deep into this, discussing how humans commonly enslave other humans and demons and the various massacres done by the Curia, in contrast to fiends and demons, who he describes as neutral forces of nature.
    • Ludegert also has this belief because of how quickly humans go to war with each other because of differences in ideologies. The amount of carnage that humanity is capable of causing is the main reason why she eventually decided to summon the Nightlord and take his blood for her own: in order to unite humanity against a common foe instead.
    • The two bonus quests in the after-game also end on this note. The Reveal in the first bonus quest is how a demon saved a human baby and initially raised him, only to later learn that he committed suicide out of despair in his adulthood due to the greedy human family that adopted him. Both Alucard and Lloyd expressed their distaste when they heard the entire story in the end. The second bonus quest, meanwhile, deals with Chris' backstory and how she was from an island where half-demons that retained their humanity and humans lived in peace and harmony as artists, only for the Curia to later burn the entire island to the ground on account of heresy.
  • Infinity +1 Sword: Arnice's Nightmare Form fits this category. It can only be obtained after defeating the Final Boss for the first time and is also the most powerful of her transformations. Fitting because this form is the power that Arnice attained after she absorbed the blood of the Nightlord.
  • Intercourse with You: The first half of the Final Love Duet "Eve" is all about how Arnice and Lilysse want to be left alone at night so they could ignore their sleep, dance, and as the first line put it, "dig our nails in, bite softly, and play around under the moonlight". Subtle.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: Professor Alucard refers to Arnice as a 'research specimen' a few times. While Arnice doesn't seem to show any outright distaste for it, one of the characters lampshades that Arnice might not like being called that.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: The Steel Hellion's Servan Burst is basically this. Fittingly enough, it does some of the highest damage in the game overall.
  • Kiss of Life: Arnice gives this to Lilysse in order to absorb the blue blood in her body after she shielded Arnice from Ludegert's final attack.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Lilysse suffers from this in the Golden Ending of the game during the year following Arnice's battle against Ludegert, with her forgetting about Arnice. However, she subconsciously remembers Arnice as someone important to her. She later regains her memories when Arnice returns to save her from the Blueblood Dragon and they reunite once again.
    • This also the case with Christophorus. She later recovers her memories after Arnice gives her several musical compositions that were written by Chris' old master. She doesn't take gaining her memories back too well and attacks Arnice as a result.
  • Lethal Chef: Lilysse. Every time she tries her hand at baking, everyone else in the hotel cringes at the thought of having to taste the result of her efforts. Played for Laughs in one later quest when a fiend steals her recipe book. When Simon, Lloyd, Alucard, and Arnice find out, they're all relieved. However, Lilysse then asks Arnice to get it back for her. The men then silently beg Arnice to decline the request, but Arnice, being Arnice, has no choice but to accept. Simon, Lloyd, and Alucard can only grimace at this. She makes divinely good chocolate tea, though.
    • It gets so bad that even the Servans don't want anything to do with Lilysse's cooking. To elaborate, Simon and Arnice notice that the number of Servans present in Hotel Ende's arena has dwindled a bit. When trying to find out what happened to the missing Servans, Lilysse shows up and asks the Servans if they're hungry and want more of the cupcakes that she's baked. Arnice and Simon's Oh, Crap! reaction to the revelation that Lilysse accidentally killed the Servans with her cooking solidifies Lilysse's status as this.
  • Lipstick Lesbian: Lilysse is far more girly than Arnice, and the game makes it clear she reciprocates Arnice's feelings. She outright confesses to them later on.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: At the end of the game, Arnice admits to herself that the reason she is still alive is because of Lilysse. Due to the blue blood she has had to absorb into her body, it made it difficult for her to maintain her humanity at times, but Lilysse's presence her life allowed her to not give in.
  • Love at First Sight: According to one of the Reminisce stories in-game that detail Arnice and Lilysse's pasts, Arnice fell for Lilysse first when she saw the latter sleeping under a tree at the school that they were attending at the time.
  • Love Confession: Lilysse admits her feelings for Arnice midway through the game while the two are stargazing. Arnice, for her part, didn't have to answer because she already fell in love with Lilysse from the moment that they first met.
  • Men Are the Expendable Gender: Averted. The main reoccurring male characters in the game, Simon, Professor Alucard, and Lloyd, all survive. The only characters to die in the game are female characters, barring any male demons.
  • Mercy Kill: Discussed Trope by Lilysse and Arnice after the Final Boss fight: since the Nightlord's Blue Blood has taken hold of Lilysse, she asks Arnice to not hold back from killing her should she become a fiend. Arnice wouldn't have any of it and absorbs the Blue Blood, saving Lilysse from becoming a fiend but also becoming the new Nightlord herself as a result.
  • Mighty Glacier: The Golem-type fiends/Servans. They're slow, but they hit hard and can take a lot of punishment.
    • Arnice's Armor Form is this as well. Her speed drastically decreases, but in turn, her increased defense makes it impossible to stagger her and she can still dish out a beating.
    • The Blueblood Dragon Mavelus boss is a stone dragon that can take a lot of punishment, but its movement options are limited.
    • The Steel Hellion fiends/Servans. They have very high defenses (the highest of all the fiends that can be encountered) and even higher attack power, but are rather sluggish. However, they hurt if they manage to hit their target (which is usually Arnice).
  • Mons: The servans serve as this.
  • Multiple Endings: Including the Golden Ending, there are a total of five endings to the game. Which one you get depends on your relationship level with Lilysse. In a twist, you can only get the Golden Ending if Arnice's relationship with Lilysse isn't maxed out. Instead, you get the Star-Crossed Lovers ending if your relationship with Lilysse is maxed out, as Arnice feels that she can't be with Lilysse anymore after she becomes the Nightlord.
  • My Greatest Failure: Corrine hates how she failed to protect her own Saint from their fate.
  • Official Couple: Arnice and Lilysse might become this depending on Arnice's decisions throughout the game. They get together in the Golden Ending.
  • Power of Love: Arnice's love for Lilysse drives her to make many decisions in the game. Ultimately, she manages to save Lilysse's life in the good ending and becomes the next Night Lord.
  • Red Is Heroic: Arnice is clad in mostly red and she's also The Hero of the story.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Arnice and Lilysse potentially get this in the game depending on Arnice's choices.
  • Relationship Values: Arnice and Lilysse's relationship. Depending on certain dialogue choices, Arnice's relationship with Lilysse will either increase or decrease. The ending players get at the end of the first playthrough depend on how high their relationship with Lilysse is.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Macersaur and Dinosword fiends are lizard-looking monstrosities and would love nothing more than to either bludgeon or rip their victims to shreds, respectively.
  • Screw Destiny: Despite knowing that her friendship with Lilysse was orchestrated by the Curia in order for her to protect Lilysse should she become the next Saint, Arnice doesn't care and grows to care for Lilysse genuinely. The feeling is mutual on Lilysse's end as well.
    • This also comes up in the ending of the game as well: Lilysse is supposed to be sacrificed in order to keep the Night sealed. However, Arnice decides to take the Blue Blood for herself in order to spare Lilysse her fate, becoming the next Nightlord as a result.
  • Sekaikei Genre: The game revolves around whether or not Arnice and/or Lily are willing to sacrifice their relationship for the fate of the rather cruel human world they live in. Two of the endings has them staying together at the cost of the world, while the other two has the world being saved at the cost of their love for each other. It's only in the Golden Ending where they're able to save the world and still stay together.
  • Ship Tease: Arnice and Lilysse, full stop. Stops being this when Lilysse outright admits to Arnice that she loves her. One of the devs even imagines Lilysse and Arnice being, in his words, "lovey-dovey" during the recording of one of the songs (a duet by said two characters) for the game.
  • Shipper on Deck: A fair number of characters seem to ship Arnice and Lilysse.
    • Christophorus the demon seems rather pleased by how much the two love each other. She even lampshades how after they reconcile, it feels both warm and cold even though it is raining.
    • At vary degrees, Simon, Professor Alucard, and Lloyd seem to think the two are meant for each other.
    • Even Arnice's own Servans ship them together, complete with all of them telling Arnice that fighting is bad and that she and Lilysse should reconcile after a falling out with each other midway through the game. They also congratulate the two after they make up with each other.
  • Sinister Scythe: The boss Blueblood Maiden Milaya uses one as her weapon.
  • Split Personality: One of the characters, Christophorus, changes between a childlike and playful personality to a serious and brooding one on a whim.
  • Status Effects: Being a JRPG, the game has a few such as poison, paralysis, bleed, and charm.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: This might or might not be how things end up between Arnice and Lilysse. Again, depends on the choices made by Arnice during the game, but the True Ending shows Arnice and Lilysse reuniting.
  • That Came Out Wrong: One of Professor Alucard's comments towards Lilysse came out like this. Cue punch from Arnice.
    • Another example is when Lloyd is accused of having slept with Arnice. Everything Lloyd says just digs him deeper... before Lilysse suddenly shouts that Lloyd sleeping with Arnice is a lie because Arnice sleeps with Lilysse every night. Cue awkward silence.
  • The Night That Never Ends: The titular Night. If unleashed on the world, then all living beings will be put into a deep sleep while demons will be able to run rampant.
  • The Reveal: Several. The two most important ones are that Ludegert is the true Big Bad and the current Nightlord, and that the mysterious Guide that's been constantly sending Arnice messages throughout the game is the original Nightlord himself.
  • Together in Death: The ending you get if Arnice's relationship with Lily is just okay. Having heard of the Nightlord Ludegert's desire to protect the world from itself, Arnice gives her the Demon Sword Jorth and leaves the fate of the world to her, regardless if her desire to protect it ends up destroying it or not. Arnice and Lily then decides to spend the end of the world with each other, with Arnice narrating how she never let go of Lily's hand as they drifted off to their never-ending sleep.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The final boss, Ludegert, is this. She became the Nightlord in order to unite humanity against a common foe because she became sickened by the savagery that humans are capable of committing against each other simply because of differences in ideologies and beliefs.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Arnice will have no qualms beating the pulp out of anyone who tries to harm Lilysse or those that make unpleasant comments towards her. Lloyd and Professor Alucard both found out about this the hard way.
  • Yuri Genre: Though unlike many newer works, Nights of Azure goes back to the genre's classic roots, portraying the main relationship as both heartwarming, and very tragic, and as a result is considerably darker.

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