Far from FromSoftware’s first foray into multiplayer-centric territories, it has nevertheless been a while, and a lot has changed. The developer is now one of gaming’s biggest attractions, creating games their way and succeeding despite that. Elden Ring Nightreign was a bit touch-and-go; it was hard not to get a bit disillusioned when seeing terms like “closing circle” used in promotional material. Now I am sure that this is undoubtedly a game people wanted to make. Though its uniqueness is capped by heavy reuse, it somehow runs circles around other modern attempts at large studios’ shift to a multiplayer-centric title.
Whereas others spend years trying to create something that will last players until the end of a game’s service, Elden Ring Nightreign provides an incredibly solid 30-60 hours of what you came to expect from its predecessors squeezed tightly into 30-45 minutes of pure intensity. Many will come to call Nightreign a roguelite, and while all the elements are there, I think that vision only comes together with the base Elden Ring as the groundwork. On your first few runs, you will learn a lot of strategies for Nightreign itself, but weaknesses, damage types and much more have to come from previous experience.
With a group of friends or with enough time, anyone can discover these. It is the typical whimsy of FromSoftware: learning how strike weapons can be effective against stone enemies, finding the weak spot on top of the flame chariot’s heads, etc. This is the key to Nightreign’s success—the type of exuberant discoveries that make their way around social media now suddenly coming to the forefront as the land of Limveld favors those who found them in The Lands Between.
Find yourself a group with one person who was obsessed with Elden Ring and watch them radiate with joy as they spew off trivia (I was this person). Seems like no matter how many popular mechanics you throw, be that the battle royale circles, heroes, or randomized loot, you cannot remove the whimsy from FromSoftware. You will find many delightful gimmicks and memorable, unique obstacles, something I think the company has been slightly moving away from in favor of its combat focus.
Not to say that combat is not the core of Nightreign, it is, and dare I say it feels better than ever. Some abilities can be a bit unwieldy at moments, but the recontextualization of encounters with all the new tools provided by Nightreign is eye-opening. Each character gets a new moveset for their signature weapon type as well as two abilities: basic one on a timer and their Ultimate Art charged by landing hits.
For the first time, I enjoyed fighting Godskin Duo thanks to Wylder’s grapple hook providing more movement options. Ironeye’s bow moveset is the most enjoyable physical ranged options have ever been in a soulslike. The Executor parrying the Royal Revenant’s flurry of blows and retaliating with a flashy slash feels as good as the best moments in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Even Spirit Ashes got an exciting redesign via The Revenant. Combined with the new climbing mechanics, I was shocked at how many new ideas can still work in a game this studio’s been making for nearly twenty years now, and how much I’d want these things implemented into their future titles.
I played Nightreign in all its forms extensively over my 80 hours in the game: in different friend groups via voice chat, through online matchmaking, and solo. The first is preferable, all my favorite memories come from that. Yet, I found myself most efficient with the second, in spite of minimal communication. As long as one person knew what they were doing and directed everyone else via markers, any group could hit maximum potential. There are, of course, always groups that will end up worse for wear, and the multiplayer experience is far from perfect.
While I do not think voice chat is required to make Nightreign’s online play enjoyable, a deeper system of map markers would benefit the game greatly. If a game wants to avoid verbal communication, the non-verbal tools should be more than either “ping a spot” or “ping an item,” especially with how important exchanging inventory can be due to random drops. More importantly, Nightreign’s most egregious issue is its lack of crossplay. It is nigh impossible to justify this decision after the success of Elden Ring.
That being said, I was surprised with just how well solo play feels. Playing it I understand now why duos were harder to add than it initially seemed, there are balancing efforts such as extra revives and a boost to currency acquisition that would have to be made there too. We know that is going to be added eventually, and if balance is going to be given the same amount of thought, it should work perfectly fine.
Solo play is still best thought of as a novelty or challenge-run variant rather than the main way of experiencing Nightreign. It is perfectly functional and you can complete each element in it, but some, like the world-map changing Shifting Earth events, will often be a detriment to the quality of your run due to the ratio of reward and time investment compared to other parts of the map you could be completing. Still, at the time of writing, I have beaten five of the eight main boss roster in solo play and had a much better time than I expected.
The main reason why I enjoyed solo play so much is that the loop reminds me of the early game Elden Ring experience. Run around, grab some items, find a weapon you like, defeat some field bosses for runes, and visit a mine for upgrade stones—something I did about twenty times since release. The big difference here is that everything progresses much faster, is way more varied, and the reward of a boss at the end is much greater than just fighting Margit and Morgott again, which was typically my stopping point.
The Night Lords are far from the only rewarding aspect of Nightreign. Perhaps this is a bit daring, but I found that not since Demon’s Souls, or at the very least Dark Souls II, did a FromSoftware game feel so gimmicky. In a positive way! I enjoyed how confusing the game felt. Take, for example, the Wormface night boss having its minions drop boluses to cure the death affliction it spawns, or how each Night Lord’s weakness interacts with them in unique ways besides just dealing more damage. Things that would make their way around the community as mind-blowing clips are implemented into what feels like a larger chunk of the experience here.
Structurally, I think the game works well, both with the in-session night system serving as the core and the Roundtable Hold serving as the customization and story hub. A practice range allows you to test out every piece of equipment, spell, and ash of war in the game. As always with these games, the number one thing on my wishlist would be the ability to refight specific bosses via a boss rush. Other soulslikes are doing it, Sekiro did it, and now I want it in every game after beating it. Sometimes a man just wants to refight Gnoster real quick, you know?
The relic system allows for some flexibility in how you approach a run. Only a little though. Each character’s final relic gained by completing their questline is typically so powerful that it becomes an automatic addition to any build. At most, you can start with a specific weapon type or have everyone start with throwing pots to try and make that into a build. Enjoyable, but can feel insignificant in the long run. One of the least interesting systems in a game that needed each one to have the same level of depth.
When it comes to its storytelling, it also took a slight hit. Not as major as I expected though! The stories found here are still surprisingly hard-hitting and stick to the style FromSoft has employed since their very first title, but the way you progress to the next point is less than stellar. Typically, it is tied to a forgettable repeat boss encounter, accessible either during a session or in the Roundtable Hold. The few unique moments scattered across each character’s storylines do make up for it, but this progression system is the least exciting part of Nightreign.
On the gameplay side, its biggest issue (aside from the Augur fight) is its lock-on system. In my review of Shadow of the Erdtree, I mentioned how the lock-on system is reaching its breaking point, and in Nightreign it has finally reached it. It fails badly. The changes made to accommodate multi-enemy encounters barely work, you will often target enemies behind the ones directly in the middle of your camera as the lock-on aims slightly up. The camera has a hard time following certain bosses and releasing the lock-on is rarely the right option either.
Of course, when it works, and it does more often than not, it is all a top-tier spectacle. The Night Lords are some of the craziest fights in all of gaming, each set in their version of a giant sandy arena, deftly implementing multiplayer combat ideas from MMOs and the like into the soulslike formula. They are somewhat detached from the usual requirement of having their story be interwoven into their area and item descriptions, and as such feel like a truly unique bunch of surprise and insanity, absolutely crunching down on the player with massive attacks and of the best sound design out there.
Coupled with the usual presentation qualities, or dare I say even stronger ones, these are the greatest spectacle fights I had the pleasure of witnessing in an action game. The music is varied—my typical gripes with the soundtracks of these games, where so much of it melds together that despite their amazing quality you end up forgetting individual melodies, still materialize. Yet, Nightreign’s standouts are the likes of the Equilibrious Beast’s, Augur’s, and Fissure in the Fog’s themes, or the unforgettable sting at the start of the final expedition, making for the most successful attempt at breaking out of this monotony in years.
Detached but not different, Nightreign is exactly the kind of game I want to see when I hear a developer I cherish is moving into a whole new space. FromSoftware’s greatest strength is the core that remained with it since King’s Field on the Playstation, the ability to instill a powerful sense of scale and pressure within seconds, as well as project the world’s understated beauty, terror, community, and comedy. It may be missing some build depth or profoundness, but to have a bite-sized piece of Elden Ring that I can jump into whenever I want is a treasure worth the price, even one as high as fighting the Bell Bearing Hunter underneath the castle.
Mateusz played Elden Ring Nightreign on PC with his own bought copy.
