You don’t need me to tell you how wildly successful FromSoftware has been over the last fifteen years. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice… they’ve only been going from strength to strength. The action RPG studio reached incredible new heights with 2022’s Elden Ring. One of the developer’s blind spots has infamously been how obtuse it is to engage in cooperative play with friends and strangers. Enter Elden Ring Nightreign, an upcoming cooperative survival action game that sees players venturing to Limveld, engaging in runs across 3 in-game days in hopes of tackling one big final boss.
Following a beta Network Test weekend full of connectivity issues, familiar faces and fast-paced boss rush gameplay goodness, here’s everything I love and don’t like about Elden Ring Nightreign thus far.
Nightreign is a 3 player experience that can be played individually but not in duos. At least in the beta experience, players drop into the same map each time. The end goal is to tackle that big final boss, but the pillar of the experience is all about that rush and desperate scramble to be strengthened and levelled up enough for the tough challenges that await. Because of that, Elden Ring Nightreign feels like the base game cranked up to eleven; your trusty horse Torrent isn’t present but your sprint speed feels almost tripled. There’s no fall damage and you can make quick work of the map thanks to being able to better platform and parkour up buildings and cliffsides.
The speed must be this amped up too: as the day (spanning about 10-15 minutes) moves along, a rolling mystical and dangerous storm is closing in on the map. Like battle royales such as Fortnite, this damages and can over time kill players so remaining always moving is key. This is why even levelling up and scoring loot in Nightreign is as streamlined as possible and needs the least possible time in menus thanks to the fact levelling up at Sites of Grace grows HP, FP and Stamina all at once. Though I understand why this storm is a threat in the game, it’s my least favourite part thus far. FromSoftware is at its strongest when they are marching to the beat of their drums and not when they are chasing genre trends. Especially multiplayer ones at that.
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of room for FromSoftware to show its own quirks, but unfortunately, a lot of them are the same archaic design choices that players like myself are still frustrated with. For one, setting up a multiplayer game, including with friends is easier than ever with simple matchmaking and private lobbies with passwords. This improvement is traded with the indefensible fact that there isn’t the option to reconnect to matches you’ve disconnected from, a problem, especially with how wrought and filled with server issues this Network Test was. Additionally, solo play is quite miserable, while it’s ridiculous that it was too hard to work out scaling for 2 player sessions when franchises like Monster Hunter have been doing this kind of thing for years. These oddities aren’t ‘quirks’ anymore and are just tired.
At least the meat and potatoes that is FromSoftware combat is at its A-game. You gain access to every weapon in base Elden Ring and then some, found in chests and from enemy drops. Finally, the doors are open to a lot more experimentation with little fuss. Come full release, players can choose between eight classes known as ‘Nightfarers.’ Each has their own pre-determined abilities but once again can get additional in the means of weapon ashes.
In this Network Test period, four were playable: Wylder, Recluse, Guardian and Duchess. Wylder is an all-rounder with a ‘Claw Shot’ grappling hook ability that allows for aiding in parkour and closing gaps to enemies, along with a powerful single attack ability that launches a stake with a great explosion. Recluse is your mage who can fire off magic cocktails and cast bleed on foes. Guardian is a striking birdman who is high in defence, with a shield and spear that is used for powerful wind knocking and slamming abilities. Duchess is your glass cannon highly evasive build, with daggers that make for a quick flurry of attacks (perfect for stun-locking mooks) and the ability to turn yourself and peers invisible and also cast out a ghost of yourself that emulates your recent actions and attacks. Solely thanks to the gameplay moments and mischief you can get into, it’s safe to say my favourites so far are the latter two mentioned.
Nightreign will provide players with the opportunity to do what they’ve always wanted to do in FromSoftware games: ample exploring with other players and the ability to work and crush through a series of bosses without the fuss of needing specific items to summon peers in for limited windows. I can’t overstate how thrilling it was to tackle minibosses with ease that still to this day gives me grief in the original Elden Ring. Using your strength in numbers to swap aggression to the point you’ve got a dastardly boss like a Crucible Knight backed up against a wall is immensely satisfying.
I will admit that playing seamless co-op mods of prior games from the studio has spoiled me. The community has done incredible work with sanding out the edges or possible friction that grows tiresome to some people. That comes down to tastes, but I miss exploring and taking down bosses at my own leisure or speed with these well-implemented luxuries. That is not here in Nightreign. You play at its pace.
If all else, Elden Ring Nightreign is a satisfying standalone boss-rush epilogue so far. There are growing pains in that playing with randoms can be miserable as players will often cockily runoff and get themselves downed far away from the party, requiring someone to rush over and revive them by (in novel fashion) whacking them with their weapon for a bit. When the full things out though it’s going to undoubtedly be immensely fun to play with friends, strategising where to run and loot on a map, calling out things of interest.
FromSoft nuts are also going to pore over the exciting details and lore that will be present in-game. This includes boss encounters both scripted and random, often callbacks to prior games from the studio. The boss fight that felt the most like an event thus far is the Centipede Demon, the boss that concludes the third and final day. I’m confident that’s only scratching the surface of surprises in Nightreign thus far. If you are all about bosses and enemy designs over the sense of exploration in these sorts of games, you are going to eat Nightreign up.
What remains is all the unknowns. We know that it’s a game all about loot and the constant that remains through runs are ‘relics,’ items that add additional buffs to make future runs breezier. However, what is the one big chase? Is there a narrative or ‘end’ to the experience? Is there even an endgame? Where are the poison swamps and volcanoes and other sorts of environments we’ve seen in trailers? Time will tell!
Though I’m a little less convinced about Elden Ring Nightreign thus far based on game design choices that aren’t exactly going to be patched out, it’s more goodness from one of the best developers in the world right now. Millions will feel differently and play the hell out of it. Rightly so.
Elden Ring Nightreign arrives May 30 on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and the Xbox Series X|S consoles.
About the Author
Charlie Kelly
She/Her, They/Them
Charlie loves her video games as much as she loves dumb, charming JRPG protagonists: probably way too much. You can often catch her spending too much time being emotional over LGBT stories in games. She also thinks Yakuza 6 is the best one.
