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After getting lucky with a closed network test invite, I finally got my hands on Elden Ring Nightreign, and there is a lot to unpack. Ever since we saw the trailer, we all asked the same questions: “Is it a rogue-like game?” “Is it a complete co-op mode?” “Are the bosses still challenging?” The answers to many of these questions are “kind of,” but in a good way. While I was skeptical about Elden Ring moving away from its long-established souls roots, I must say this new approach is bold but highly addictive. Provided Nightreign doesn’t fall into the dark live-service holes we’ve seen in recent years, we are in for one of the most bizarre yet amazing gaming experiences set in The Lands Between.
And On the Third Day, We All Died
While there are many changes in Elden Ring Nightreign, the biggest one is its co-op focus. Nightreign brings three players (quite the odd number) together to survive three nights on a randomized map. Instead of creating your character, you have unique classes, each with its own skills and passive abilities. For the network test, we only had access to the Wylder, Guardian, Duchess, and Recluse. Or, as they’ll be known later, Poster-boy, Bird Guy, Blind Girl, and Magic Mommy. Initially, I wasn’t too happy with this approach. Building your character is part of the souls fun we’ve had for years. Fortunately, after a few matches, I realized the character-building part was still there, among other familiar things that didn’t make me feel lost. And yes, the new additions were bizarre at first but ended up intriguing me more than I thought.
Elden Ring Nightreign works on a three-day cycle. A day’s loop usually involves gathering items, leveling up, defeating enemies, and facing the final boss at night. Then, the new day begins, and new enemies appear on the map. Between all of these things, a battle royale-like storm is always closing in. If you stay too long inside it, you’ll lose HP and eventually die. So, it is a fast-paced approach where you need to manage your boss-slaying route with item-collecting and then make your way to the final challenge. Should you survive the first two days, a final boss awaits you.
To reach the final boss, you’ll need to grasp some of the new combat changes that shouldn’t be too overwhelming for Elden Ring veterans. As I mentioned, you now have pre-made characters instead of a clean slate one you can build. Each character has its set of passive, active, and ultimate skills. The Guardian, for example, can perform a dive-bomb to damage enemies. The Duchess can gran invisibility to the whole party, and so on. Yet, there are also some character-building aspects for those who miss a more faithful souls approach.
Character-building focuses mostly on the gear you obtain. Since you won’t level up stats individually, your build comes down to the items you find. For instance, during my first run playing as the Duchess, I built her as a dual-wielding DPS who poisoned and made enemies bleed out. However, I wasn’t that lucky on my next run and had to build her as a two-handed attacker with some Incantations on the side. This was my favorite aspect of the test because it always encouraged me to adapt to the good or bad RNG luck I had. And the same happened with my teammates. Sometimes, I saw Guardians using towering shields to protect us, while some forgo those in favor of a damage-oriented build.
It might not be the best for hardcore souls fans who have their builds and stats on a spreadsheet. However, I felt it was great for those who prefer to ignore all the numbers and just focus on some hands-on action with the same deadly bosses we’ve seen in the base game. And while the difficulty of Elden Ring Nightreign is still high alongside its skill ceiling, I dare say this is the most approachable way to venture into The Lands Between.
Familiar Lands, Strange New Happenings
Another notable change in Elden Ring Nightreign is its pacing. Elden Ring rewards your patience. Learning how to defeat the boss after your tenth death is usually part of the gameplay experience. In Nightreign, everything is faster. Once you land on the randomized map, you must start moving to grab your gear and level up. Most of the places you’ll encounter come from the base game and even feature the same bosses, enemies, and rewards. Churches, for example, give you an extra flask charge. Mage Towers reward you with boss-tier rewards, which is a choice between two weapons or a passive buff. Enemy camps usually have bosses we saw in Elden Ring, with almost no changes in their moveset. Flame Chariots are still as annoying as ever. Dragons still have the same weak points and the same attacks that killed more than one Tarnished.
What makes the enemies stand out so much is the number of them. Instead of facing one Crucible Knight, you’ll face three of them at the same time. It makes sense, though. You have two other players with you. Ideally, it should be easier. But sometimes it isn’t. If you thought you knew fear, wait until three Crucible Knights do that dive-bomb attack with the golden wings from the base game at the same time. But I loved it. It was a chaotic and ever-changing experience that no other mod in Elden Ring has ever given me. It felt like an amalgam of different fan ideas thrown together into the blender to form a tasty smoothie.
But beyond that, I’d say the pacing is what makes Elden Ring: Nightreign shine even more. Not a lot of players have the patience to face the Fell Omen 20 times. Here, you might also face him 20 times eventually. However, you’ll get powerful even faster. You can create a power-fantasy build in minutes and pray it works against one enemy. And if it doesn’t, yes, it’s rinse and repeat. But guess what? It will all be different thanks to the rogue-like elements.
Speaking of rogue-like, I loved what Nightreign is bringing to the table. Whether you finish a cycle or die during the first night, you’ll obtain currency to spend at the game’s hub and gem-like items that provide permanent buffs to your class. Some will improve your attack if you have a Katana at +3 upgrade levels. Others will make blocking attacks easier. My favorite made my flasks become an AoE heal that affected all my teammates. So, beyond building your character inside a run, you can also build them outside of one. The great thing about this is that even if a lot of players decide to grab the Recluse as their main class, not all of the Recluse players will be the same. Yes, there might be a few meta builds after launch, as expected, but the freedom to customize each class the way you want is amazing.
Rise Again, Tarnished
As early tests go, I’m quite pleased, albeit with a few worries, mainly the player count for a run. I still can’t believe we can’t play this with two players only. Three teammates is an odd choice, and while you might have two friends to play with, others might not be so lucky. Also, how smoothly the run goes really depends on how lucky you are with your party members. Often, I got the usual player who just went away without us to do their solo-leveling shenanigans. I’d love to see a dedicated two-player option at launch because a three-person group just feels weird and might not sit well with the playerbase after a while.
Other than that, my skepticism has disappeared, and once again, Elden Ring is here to steal the spotlight with Nightreign. With its randomized aspects but the familiarity of the series, it is truly the most approachable Elden Ring experience we’ll get. As long as FromSoftware doesn’t tarnish this iconic world with modern live-service models, I’d say we’re safe. Overall, Nightreign seems like a surefire hit and one bizarre amalgam that will leave many thinking, “What the heck am I playing?” But in a good and satisfying way.
