During last year’s Game Awards, when I watched the Elden Ring Nightreign’s first trailer, it almost felt like a fever dream. I had never seen such a spin on Souls games before and have been patiently waiting to try it out as soon as I can. Fortunately, I got selected in FromSoftware’s first Nightreign network test for the game. After battling tirelessly against the server issues, I finally dived into Limveld with random nightfarers. After spending multiple hours during the sessions, here are my first impressions of Elden Ring Nightreign.
Choose Your Hero
As with every Souls game, you need to select a prebuilt hero class before you commence your night-faring journey. Elden Ring Nightreign is packed with a wide variety of nightfarers, each with a distinct playstyle. So whether you want to smash your way in as a tank or like to cast magic to aid your squad, there are eight different options to pick from.
However, the network test had only the Wylder, Guardian, Recluse, and Duchess classes. I’ve tried them all out during my time with the game, and Wylder and Duchess are my favorite picks. After picking up a class, it is time to hop on to your bird glider and descend into Limveld, a parallel world of Elden Ring.
Elden Ring Nightreign Gameplay Overview
Before we discuss the gameplay further, here is a quick refresher about the game. Elden Ring Nightreign is an online co-op game mashup of roguelike and battle royal elements. It is primarily built around three three-player co-op experiences but can be played alone. There is no option for duos at the moment. Also, sadly, players were allowed only to play with randoms during the network test.
The gameplay loop can be hard to grasp initially, but it begins to click as you do more runs. You begin at the renovated roundtable, where you can begin matchmaking. As soon as a match is found, you must pick a class with two other friends or randoms. Like a battle bus, a bird glider will drop your squad into a Limveld.
You don’t have the luxury to explore and enjoy at your own pace like in the main game here. It is basically a race against time in Elden Ring Nightreign. You need to start taking down enemies, collect worthy loot, and level up as fast as you can, as the nights won’t go easy on you. You start on day one doing your necessary activities in the open world as the storm closes in (like in a battle royale game).
At the end of the day when the storm has shrunk into the size of a boss battle arena, you need to defeat the night boss to move to the next day. Day two remains the same, and defeating the second-night boss will take you to day three, which is the real deal. On day three, you don’t have to fight random mobs, as there is a special night lord waiting to obliterate your squad. If you and your squad get completely wiped out during the day.
Thankfully, you can be respawned to the nearest grace, and your lost runes can be found again (either by you or your teammates can pick them up for you). However, if you get destroyed at night during a boss fight, you need to restart your run from scratch completely, but the catch is that everything is randomized during your next run.
I’m totally impressed by this ingenious concept as it is something we have never seen before. So, you can now see why this game is referred to as roguelike meets battle royale. I’m sure this all sounds confusing at first, but let me break it down for you by highlighting the gameplay and quality of life improvements made in Elden Ring Nightreign.
Traversal
Nightreign is an incredibly fast-paced game, but you don’t have to use Torrent to traverse the lands here. Instead, the devs have made other wonderful changes, such as sprinting fast without consuming stamina, a jumping system like double jumps in Sekiro to make platforming much easier, and a spectral hawk tree where the bird can take you as the wind goes.
More importantly, there is no fall damage, so you can make your way through without any hindrances. I loved all these tiny yet useful improvements that kicked the game’s pace up a notch.
Combat
The devs developed a special skill, passive ability, and ultimate art for every nightfarer class in Elden Ring Nightreign. I loved how they designed each special move based on the character’s traits.
For instance, the Duchess is a stealthy assassin, and her ultimate makes her and her squad completely invisible for a short time. These well-thought-out abilities are a game changer in setting up Nightreign as a unique experience apart from its original.
Leveling Up Journey
Leveling up your character is so much easier than before. You don’t have to worry about which stats I should put my points in anymore, as Nightreign simplifies the process based on your class. After you collect some runes, you can head over to a nearby grace and just press the button to automatically increase your stats. You can rapidly level up multiple times in the beginning, but it gets slower as you reach higher levels.
Leveling up alone doesn’t make you stronger in this game, as there are a couple more things that boost your strength. Every weapon you find in the game comes with a buff, so keep your slots full with necessary weapons with the necessary buffs. There are also weapons available on different levels, so make sure to pick the best one. Defeating mini-bosses also earns you a few handy buffs that will help during the current run.
You earn Relics during each run, which grants you permanent buffs to your character progression, such as increased damage or lower damage negation. Relics are vital in character progression so picking up the perfect relics for your character can make your journey easier and enjoyable.
Difficulty
As expected, Elden Ring Nightreign doesn’t feature any difficulty settings. So how hard is the game, you ask? It is forgiving and demanding at the same time. Let me explain. The game includes the majority of the adversaries we have already met in the Elden Ring universe.
So clearing the minion mobs is like a walk in the park now to level up faster. You will meet mini-bosses in open fields, gaols, and castles who offer random perks and weapons for you. I met familiar faces like Godskin Noble, Fell Omen, Carian Knight, etc. These mini-bosses can also be noticeably easier for Elden Ring veterans.
However, the real trouble begins once you enter the night where you meet the night bosses. I encountered Demi-Humans, Tree Sentinel and his army, and Centipede Demon during my runs, which were challenging. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach the final boss, Gladius, as I ran out of time during the network test. Needless to say, the main bosses are in a league of their own and are capable of giving nightmares. So, now you can understand why I mentioned it is forgiving and demanding initially.
Performance
The network test was only available for consoles, and I played my sessions on my PS5. Apart from network issues, the game was running solid without any hiccups. Since this is a test build, you can feel its clunkiness, especially during combats, where few visual glitches occur.
For example, I was backstabbing an enemy, and he was just standing glitched out multiple times. However, I hope they can iron it all out and give us a clean final build on May 30.
Verdict: Hungry for More Nighfaring Experiences
FromSoftware’s new take on the Souls genre, creating a distinct, unique Souls experience, feels like a nightfaring journey brimming with potential. On paper, it may look like a randomizer mod with multiplayer. But they have successfully inverted their own formula and incorporated other gaming elements (roguelike battle royale) to define a new Souls adventure that caters well to their loyal fandom.
To be honest, it was also disappointing to see the team neglect the option to dive in with your friends. As everyone was jumping into the game for the first time, it was extremely hard to play with randoms, and that too without any form of in-game communication. But after I started to get the hang of the game and got a fantastic squad, my experience was uplifted. Ultimately, I wanted more of this unique and addictive Soulsc like experience, and I’m waiting to go all in with my friends.
The game still needs more improvement, such as smoothening the combat, a sound communication system to interact with your fellow nightfarers, etc. At the same time, the network test feels like only 10% of the game, and I am now waiting with bated breath to try out the complete version soon.
As for newcomers and general gamers, we’ll have to wait some more time to find out the complete picture, but it looks like Nightreign is going to be a winner in Souls veterans’ books very soon.
