Many post-Souls FromSoftware fans are struggling to come to terms with the fact the company has been in the business of putting out off-beat, experimental spinoffs of its biggest series for a very long time.
Elden Ring Nightreign is exactly that, but after more than a decade of releasing massive bangers for the most part, some players just don’t vibe with the idea of a new FromSoftware release that doesn’t cater to them.
Similar conversations happened around Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon back in the late summer of 2023. Far too many gamers (and even some critics) tried to analyze the sixth mainline entry in the long-running mech action series in relation to Dark Souls as well as Elden Ring. While, yes, some small elements of its dark fantasy titles had bled into the design of certain gameplay elements, the idea that FromSoftware was no longer capable of building video games outside that subgenre and style was silly. It was a game that stood on its own, and it was good for FromSoftware to tackle something distinct on such a scale again.
Fast-forward to early 2025, right after the first network tests of Nightreign, and we’re dealing with similar comments online. “This feels cheaper and unlike Elden Ring, the devs sold out,” and so on. You get the idea. Too many people have gotten used to the company being a one-trick pony, and any attempt to escape the confines of mainstream expectations is met with doubt or straight-up disdain. Mates, it’s okay if you don’t like every single thing one of the hottest developers in town puts out. You can simply ignore the things that don’t resonate with you.
As someone who greatly enjoys multiplayer games in general and had wished for the longest time FromSoftware gave traditional co-op a go for its Soulslikes, I was very much interested in the central pitch as soon as Nightreign was surprise-announced in December. As delightfully absorbing and vast as Elden Ring and its expansion were, certain areas and dungeons were designed in a way that suggested maybe a bite-sized take on the formula could be attractive. After all, Bloodborne’s Chalice Dungeons had already tried to inject roguelite DNA into the tried-and-tested formula. Combined with the right trends, a multiplayer spinoff to one of From’s biggest IPs wasn’t a crazy idea.
No one managed to predict Elden Ring would receive such a treatment this soon though. My mind was already circling the question of where Bandai Namco and From would go next with their biggest IP success ever late last year, but I sure as hell wasn’t expecting a mid-size multiplayer game set for a 2025 release. Also, Nightreign seemed to fully embrace battle royale elements. I was flabbergasted in a good way.
Related: All Elden Ring: Nightreign Pre-Order Bonuses & Editions
I didn’t care about asset flips either. Yakuza and many other Japanese properties have thrived and done perfectly fine embracing a more sustainable development model, and “little” weird experiments become essential to maintaining a more traditional release schedule. Western devs except maybe Ubisoft have almost completely forgotten what used to be a sustainable model to collect cash while working on AAA heavyweights.
We’d been told many times before the network test that Elden Ring Nightreign is meant to be a much breezier experience than its single-player big brother even when it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay. After giving it a fair shake, I can say they weren’t lying. 30-minute-ish sessions aside, Nightreign simplifies the process of messing with loot and stats so much that it’s sort of a perfect “podcast game” despite how brutal the combat remains.
This isn’t a negative. In fact, it highlights that Nightreign isn’t just an official co-op mod. On a surface level, this is the Elden Ring that you know and love. However, it’s built so you spend 99% of your time running around and fighting instead of managing your inventory or getting a build just right. In fact, there are no “builds” per se. You pick up a premade hero with a defined playstyle and (surprisingly fun) skills and jump into a map that’s filled with enemies, mini-bosses, and Fortnite-ish loot. Decision-making still plays a big role alongside strategic thinking, but you’re meant to be moving fast, and the UI and gameplay design supports that. Careful thinking has gone into making all these adjustments, and writing Nightreign off as a low-effort riff on the part of Elden Ring reads myopic at best.
Many of Elden Ring and Dark Souls’ best, most memorable moments have always come from defeating towering foes after many struggles with the help of online randos. In this game, that’s the core loop, and it just feels right. After a blind first run, Nightreign comes together beautifully even if your co-op partners aren’t the greatest. It’s never dull or too frustrating. Each run yields solid rewards to push forward a simple progression track. You aren’t asked to figure out complicated stats nor the “perfect” build to tackle increasingly difficult bosses. Failure is part of the central loop, but there’s little to no downtime. If you loved helping out others because it was fun in past Soulslike titles, Nightreign just clicks almost instantly.
Of course, a huge number of Elden Ring and Souls players prefer to experience those games and overcome their obstacles alone (which, in all honesty, adds quite a lot to the atmosphere and melancholic storytelling). That’s alright. They just need to accept this weird, funky new release isn’t for them. They’re not missing out on anything. It’s just good fun while we wait for the next big thing from the studio.
As much as I loved my time with the network rest, I also have to wonder how much of a lasting appeal Nightreign will have. Its lower price tag and “no live service” philosophy will surely help, but that also means its post-launch support could be quite limited even if sales numbers are huge. It’s giving ‘old-school, traditional multiplayer game’ vibes, and as fun and different as Star Wars: Squadrons was, that was a mid-sized game that struggled to attract and maintain many players’ attention because it fully rejected the modern bloat found in most online titles and squarely focused on its niche audience. Maybe that’s just part of the deal and Nightreign is fated to become the sort of game you excitedly bring up in a conversation years later and almost no one remembers.
TheElden Ring NightreignNetwork Test is available now, and the full game will launch on March 30 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
