Elden Ring Nightreign Review

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In 2022, Elden Ring shot to fame in pop culture circles upon its release. Its follow-up expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, which came out in 2024, sparked intense debates on whether additional content could be a top contender for game of the year. Fast forward to 2025, and Elden Ring Nightreign is set to introduce a cooperative roguelike style to the souls-like genre. While it maintains the notoriously difficult bosses that From Software games are known for, certain aspects haven’t transitioned as smoothly to the game’s quicker pace.

In simpler terms, Nightreign offers a compact, fast-paced version of the Elden Ring adventure, filled with battles against diverse enemies, gear collection for power-ups, and survival challenges. Each playthrough, or expedition, lasts approximately 45 minutes and ends in a battle with a formidable boss. At the onset, players can select from five character classes, called Nightfarers, each with unique abilities and stat distributions. Two additional classes can be unlocked as you progress. As a Nightfarer, your mission is to embark on expeditions to vanquish the Nightlords and halt the encroaching Night, which threatens to annihilate the world.

Starting your adventure, you’ll find yourself dropped onto a miniature map teeming with buildings to plunder for weapons and robust guardians who will bestow valuable loot to aid you in confronting Nightreign’s Nightlords’ boss at the end. Each excursion is divided into two days, offering ample time for you and your three-person team to enhance your abilities and gather equipment. However, the clock is ticking as a shrinking perimeter will propel you towards the battlefield where you’ll face that day’s mini-boss. Stepping outside the boundary can be lethal, and it may creep up on you unexpectedly before you even notice. This experience bears resemblance to the battle royale mechanics employed in games like Fortnite or APEX, but for a game like Nightreign that lacks PVP combat and doesn’t operate on such a grand scale, integrating this feature seems somewhat jarring.

In terms of dying in this game, it’s a more significant setback this time. You not only lose your currency for upgrades or purchases from vendors during your playthrough, but you also drop a level, which can be challenging to regain depending on the timing of your demise. Fortunately, other players can revive you by attacking you friendly-fire style (I found the concept of beating your friends back to life amusing), without incurring any penalties themselves. If all players are eliminated or if a player isn’t revived promptly, and as long as you aren’t engaged in any of the three main boss fights during an expedition, you will respawn at a nearby checkpoint (although you’ll be one level lower and without your Runes). However, if this happens during a boss fight, the entire expedition run will fail, and you’ll need to return to the Roundtable Hold to try again. This team revival mechanic works well in multiplayer, but it’s important to note that it’s not available in solo play, which requires additional consideration.

As a fan, I’ve found that while this game allows for a single-player experience, it seems designed for a team of three. The stats like damage numbers and health are tweaked when played alone, but the enemy count remains unaltered. This means that solo players can expect to face off against two or three formidable enemies at once towards the end of each day, making multiplayer a more balanced and enjoyable option for me.

As a gamer, diving into Nightreign’s challenges is an absolute blast when I’m playing alongside friends and a balanced party. The thrilling moments we shared during our Discord calls, strategizing together or calling for help in tight spots, stand out as the most exhilarating parts of this game by far. Playing with strangers works fine, but Nightreign falls short when it comes to a meaningful communication system, limiting conversations mainly to “I’m heading here” or “Check out this item.” However, the true magic of Nightreign lies in playing with two friends, making it all the more disheartening that cross-play isn’t supported. It seems like a missed opportunity for the From Software team to introduce cross-play functionality for the first time, but unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for this game.

As a dedicated gamer, I can still recall the challenging quest I undertook to grab an import copy of the original Demon’s Souls for the PlayStation 3, way before it was officially localized. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on From Software’s Souls series. For me, what draws me into this genre is the richness of character development, the necessity to learn enemy patterns and adapt strategies, the immersive exploration of its intricate worlds, and the seemingly endless lore that keeps me guessing. It’s disappointing, though not entirely unexpected, that the speedy, streamlined Elden Ring experience seems to have sacrificed some of those elements I adore so much in order to fit into this new rogue-like style.

In the character customization process, traditional stat allocation has been replaced by Relics, which are randomly acquired either after missions or purchased from a shop in the Roundtable Hold area. These runs and shopping sprees serve as your downtime between expeditions. Relics can enhance stats, bestow unique abilities on starting weapons such as dealing poison and fire damage, or determine weapon skills. You assign these relics to various slots that each Nightfarer class has access to. At any given time, only three relics can be active, with certain types of relics being limited based on where they are placed. Fortunately, you can save your favorite combinations for quick swaps when desired.

I have mixed feelings towards these Artifacts, not because I dislike their execution, quite the contrary, I appreciate the variety they bring and the significant impact they can have on a gameplay session. However, what I find less appealing is the unpredictable nature of the benefits they bestow. This random element frequently leaves me with new Artifacts post-game that my current character can’t fully leverage, or even worse, can’t utilize at all. Fortunately, as you advance, the limitation on the types of artifacts a character can wield fades, and you gain the ability to purchase new artifact vessels that allow characters to equip various combinations of artifacts.

In this game, the focus on constant movement and haste to grow stronger often limits your time for exploration, a key aspect of Soulslike games. The map you start in presents various versions – called Earth Shift events – where you might encounter a fiery volcanic crater or an ominous frozen mountain, but the general layout remains consistent from playthrough to playthrough. You’ll often see the same churches offering flask upgrades, identical ruins leading to underground crypts with mini-bosses, the same castle in the center of the map, and so on. This game’s sense of discovery eventually transforms into recognizing enemy types, anticipating minibosses, or finding out if a certain spot holds the item I need to stand a chance against the Nightlord at the end. By hour 10, I found myself just going through the motions; I felt disinterested and disconnected. I was growing bored, and random relics were all that awaited me in the end.

If you’ve been following along, Nightreign has weakened certain elements from two key aspects I adore about this genre, leaving it a bit unsteady. On the other hand, the core components – the boss fights and the storyline – continue to be robust. The new Nightlord bosses at the end of each run are just as intricately challenging and enraging as you’d expect from a Souls-like boss, with each one ranging from mildly frustrating to infuriating, pushing you to your limit (especially that pesky Gaping Jaw). But these battles offer that satisfying sense of achievement when conquered, and I believe fans will discover some new favorite adversaries in Nightreign.

Enemies and characters from other games may suddenly appear, creating excitement and causing you to grin before they abruptly remind you of the challenge ahead as you recall their battle strategies. The first time I fought the Nameless King was reminiscent of when I was initially playing Dark Souls 3 in 2016. Whenever a familiar boss reappeared, it felt like watching an ’90s TV show where a well-known actor or guest star makes a surprise appearance to the delight of the studio audience.

In Nightreign, the game’s mechanics for battling bosses and learning from past experiences don’t align with the roguelike format, unlike in some of my favorite games where I’ve spent countless hours playing. For instance, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which I recently completed. In these types of games, when I encounter a boss that proves too difficult, I can quickly save or restart from a nearby bonfire, allowing me to try again and again until I finally conquer the boss. However, in Nightreign, if you make a mistake or lack the necessary item for a fight, you’ll have to start all over before attempting again, as there is a 40-minute journey back to the boss location.

Introducing a dedicated practice area where players can revisit bosses they’ve already encountered once would be beneficial. This feature would allow players to learn from their mistakes without having to endure the lengthy travel time between attempts. Such an addition would not only align with From Software’s previous game design, making it easier for players to retry boss battles, but also facilitate the analytical and experimental approach that many gamers enjoy during these challenging encounters, without the constant threat of a 40-minute penalty hanging over them.

In this fresh style, what stands out the most is the treatment of mythos and narrative elements. Unlike creating a silent, custom character without backstory in other games, each Nightfarer you control has unique personas and pasts for you to unravel. Known as Remembrances, as you switch between characters, you’ll unlock journal entries that delve into their past events, leading up to their arrival at the Roundtable Hold at the end of the world. Sometimes, these will also task you with completing a unique side mission during an expedition, which advances the Remembrance stories, offering class-specific rewards along with insights into the character. Despite my fondness for the freeform character customization in other games, I’ve grown quite attached to unearthing details about these characters. It’s similar to the mini storylines associated with NPCs, and you can choose whether or not to delve deeper. I anticipate plenty of late nights spent watching VaatiVidya lore videos in my future.

In my playtime of Elden Ring Nightreign, I anticipated moments of awe similar to the original game and Erdtree, yet such instances remained elusive. While Nightreign showcases elements that resonate with me from previous titles, the transition to this novel format fell short of my expectations. When I embarked on adventures with friends or finally conquered the Nightlord who had stumped me, it evoked the thrill of achievement I cherish; however, other aspects fell flat. Repetitive enemies and guest bosses made Nightreign feel like an expansion rather than a fresh launch. Perhaps viewing it as an innovative experiment within the Souls series might be more accurate. This initial foray into the roguelike genre is intriguing enough to pique my curiosity about future iterations, but I prefer to stick with exploration-rich gameplay and deep character customization features instead.

 

7

Versions tested: PlayStation 5

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2025-05-28 17:26