Elden Ring: Nightreign review – Multiplayer madness without Ultra Instinct Comet Azur

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As a gamer, I’ve often found myself grappling with the infamous sorcery of Comet Azur in Elden Ring. When I’m just an average player, struggling against most bosses for hours on end, the thought of summoning an online ally to help me through becomes tempting. But then, when that ally unleashes an energy beam reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z, it can feel more like a cheat than assistance, leaving me with a sense of underwhelming accomplishment.

However, in Elden Ring: Nightreign, things are different. The bosses aren’t as easy to fell as Goku going Ultra Instinct. Not even the powerful Comet Azur can end these fights effortlessly. Instead, I find myself diving back into the fray, determined to prove my mettle and show that even a humble gamer like me can take down these formidable foes.

In essence, Nightreign shares many similarities with Elden Ring, but its primary focus is on intense multiplayer combat. Although it’s playable solo, experts recommend caution unless you’re well-versed in the game. Even with three players, the challenges ahead won’t be a walk in the park. Unlike Elden Ring where you strive to maximize your damage output throughout the game, Nightreign gives you approximately thirty minutes for pre-battle preparation before facing a Nightlord. Acquiring all desired gear within this time frame is possible, but each attack against a Nightlord will only marginally deplete a colossal health bar.

As a gamer, I embark on thrilling adventures from Roundtable Hold’s home base in Nightreign. Each journey aims to vanquish the Nightlord. These journeys span three days; the initial two days are dedicated to scouting and looting the land of Limveld, while the climactic third day presents a fierce battle with the Nightlord, if I manage to reach that point. Consequently, I find myself spending most of my time in Limveld, where I race against the clock to gather all necessary resources and equipments to inflict maximum damage and endure as long as possible.

On your interactive map, you’ll find marked locations such as camps, towns, ruins, hills, churches, and more. A significant number of these spots host at least one boss, and overcoming a boss will grant you rewards tailored to the area’s theme. The precise position where each spot appears may vary slightly between playthroughs, but they all maintain the same layout, making you eventually focus on seeking out bosses for their reward loot. Major changes in the map occur during Shifting Earth events, where an entire section of the map undergoes a drastic change, becoming something unfamiliar and concealing its own exclusive rewards.

In Limveld, as you venture deeper, a fiery boundary gradually seals off the secure zone on the map. Stepping beyond this safe border rapidly depletes your health at an alarming rate – although you might manage to dash through the flames for a brief moment, prolonged exposure is lethal. Upon death, you’ll reappear (except when facing a day’s end boss), but at the cost of losing a level and any runes you were carrying. To prevent this, your teammates can attack you if you’re downed, reviving you with half health. However, each time you perish, the amount of damage needed to revive you increases, making it increasingly difficult to resuscitate a comrade in intense battles when they have three segments of damage.

In Nightreign, unlike Elden Ring and Dark Souls series where you have plenty of time to plan your strategy based on the equipment you’ve accumulated, you are consistently under a time constraint. You can customize each character’s abilities and stats by equipping Relics at Roundtable Hold, but this doesn’t ensure that you’ll obtain the gear you need during an expedition. By the end of Day 2, you must use whatever resources you’ve accumulated to defeat the Nightlord.

One engaging aspect of Nightreign lies in its challenge to break free from comfortable playstyles. It’s simple to get stuck using a single type of character build or gameplay style in these games, but diversifying and learning new methods is significantly more challenging. With eight pre-designed characters and limited weapon choice, Nightreign encourages you to step out of your comfort zone. The reward for doing so is an array of unique abilities exclusive to this game.

Characters in this game aren’t merely defined by distinct stats and specialties; their evasion styles also differ, along with two exclusive abilities. These abilities allow characters to conjure tombstones, double damage with ghostly companions, summon spirits, absorb and blend various magic types, traverse the battlefield with grappling moves, and much more. Granted, you could arm each character with a sword and shield, disregarding all abilities, but it’s only when you delve into the rich tapestry of skills and techniques that Nightreign truly reveals its depth.

As a thrill-seeking player, you’ll find yourself dashing across various points of interest (POIs) in a frenzied race to amass the maximum number of beneficial weapons and passive upgrades for the climactic showdown. Initially, you’ll spend your early runs exploring the terrain and anticipating encounters, but with practice, you’ll be charging through with determination, marking locations on your map as you sprint towards them, hoping your teammates can keep pace in case of an urgent situation.

The relentless timer, approximately 15 minutes per day for the first two days, ratchets up the tension, potentially pushing you to hurry and err. Getting knocked out alone, far from your comrades, feels like it could spell doom for your run, not just due to lost levels but also the time needed to retrace your steps and regain your runes.

Experiencing authentic annoyances is common in this game. At certain points, you might find yourself scrambling over tombstones to reach higher grounds, and the climbing mechanism can be quite tricky, sometimes propelling you high into a wall, and other times making even a short wall seem impossible to surmount. A string of unfortunate events may cause your team to mutter “cursed run” repeatedly through the voice chat. Even the end-of-day bosses can be aggravating as larger enemies often stray from the safe zone. Some boss battles aren’t enjoyable, while encountering familiar enemies and new adversaries is genuinely exhilarating.

At its peak, Nightreign offers some of the most exhilarating moments from any Souls game. The elated triumphs when success is attained, the grand cinematic scenes, and the excitement of uncovering potent build synergies are all part of the experience. This game possesses that “one more try” charm that either keeps your friends up late or wakes them up early. Its random elements in terms of your character’s build and the regions you’ll traverse keep gameplay engaging, but the outcome ultimately depends on your skill, ensuring a sense of fairness.

A Fresh Take on Elden Ring: Exploring the Enigmatic World of Nightreign

Elden Ring: Nightreign is not merely an extension of Elden Ring, but it’s also distinctly different. It represents a daring leap into multiplayer experimentation and a creative reuse of older resources, with varying outcomes. Some aspects of Nightreign might leave you cherishing your 2025 gaming memories fondly, while others could linger as nightmares in your dreams.

The budget-friendly price tag suggests that Nightreign may not be the next groundbreaking FromSoftware Souls experience, but it offers something truly exceptional for fans who yearn for an intriguing cooperative journey devoid of Ultra Instinct Comet Azurs. If you’re a devoted FromSoft fan seeking an engaging co-op adventure, Elden Ring: Nightreign is definitely worth exploring.

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2025-05-28 17:17