Elden Ring Nightreign - Explore Limveld with Friends

FromSoftware’s game, Elden Ring, which had the collaboration between the director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, and the fantasy novelist, George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, which gave rise to the successful series Game of Thrones, is one of the biggest successes of the soulslike genre, which prioritizes high difficulty and challenge to keep players engaged, received its first parallel game, Elden Ring Nightreign.

A game that complements and expands the world of Limveld and this time focuses on collaboration between players, instead of having them try to kill each other. Here, you have a long run, defeating enemies and trying to survive the challenges that the world throws at you. And, as always, these challenges are many, attacking from all sides and draining energy bars in a single hit.

If you’re thinking about investing in this game, but don't know if it's worth it, we'll tell you our impressions of Nightreign and, if you have any questions, leave a comment.

The game begins with one of the game's heroes on an expedition. You learn the basic commands, learn about parrying and attacks, the use of skills, find a companion controlled by the game's AI and learn how to revive your fallen allies. Until, at one point, you face a boss and, as is common in soulslike games, you’re defeated. Then, you’re reborn in a place called the Round Table.

There, a girl who identifies herself as the Priestess asks you for help against the Night Lords, who have ravaged the entire Limveld in three nights. You must team up with other fallen heroes and survive the three days and three nights until the Night Lord appears, and you can defeat him. The first boss is a real obstacle.

I'm not talking about the tutorial boss - you're doomed to fail this fight - but the first real boss. The Tricephalos is a fiery cerberus with a chain whip, which splits into three separate dogs to chase you. You can't progress further in the game until this hell of a pup is taken down, proving to be quite a challenge at first. But isn't this kind of fight always the norm in games like Dark Souls? This just goes to show how Nightreign is a true soulslike.

This time, though, you're not facing bosses alone, but in a group of three players together online. In Nightreign, you team up to explore a map with randomized elements and spend two days honing your stats and skills before taking on one of eight Night Lords on the third day. Fail, and you start all over again. In this way, it combines the soulslike and roguelike genres - two styles that have seemingly dominated the industry over the past decade.

Nightreign is a game about sharing memorable moments with others: moments of wonder, comedy, frustration, and euphoria. Seeing a volcano erupt mid-game for the first time. Being trapped in an underground labyrinth as a death storm sweeps across the map. Teaming up with players from around the world and celebrating after defeating a tricky boss. These kinds of shared moments are what all the best multiplayer games are about, and they’re what make Nightreign so compelling.

Players are dropped into a map, similar to a battle royale game, and must spend an in-game day exploring and leveling up as quickly as possible. Gradually, a blue storm of death invades the map, funneling players to a location to defeat a boss, survive, and then repeat the process on the second day on the same map. Surviving this is the path to the Night Lord battle.

The map itself is static, but certain locations, items, and bosses are randomized each time. In addition, there are instances that change the environment and random invasions to keep matches interesting. The encroaching storm adds a touch of Fortnite and is a reason to keep exploring and keeping players together, but often useful items - or even their Runes dropped upon death - can be out of reach.

There are eight heroes to choose from (but no character customization), each loosely based on character classes present in the original Elden Ring. There's the Savage raider, the Recluse mage, or the Guardian defender, to name three. Each has their own abilities to aid in combat, as well as a powerful attack, the famous ultimate, to unleash in the middle of combat.

Take Guardian, for example: he has a claw used as a grappling hook to subdue enemies (or move faster), while his ultimate unleashes an explosive force to blast away bosses. Each character’s abilities are one of the ways FromSoftware encourages cooperation. With practice, these characters can synchronize their abilities in exciting ways to turn a boss battle around.

The Duchess, for example, has the ability to rewind time to replay the last moments of any player's damage - particularly useful after a final or critical hit. Additionally, if another player is downed, she can use this power to revive fallen allies, which shows that the powers can be used more defensively as well, adding more strategy.

Nightreign also includes a single-player mode for the sadistic among you, but it’s best experienced in a group. Matchmaking will bring players together, and a basic marker system can be used to highlight areas of the map. The map, enemies, and monsters are all balanced for three players (there’s currently no two-player mode).

Finding teammates relies on online matchmaking, however, and in typical FromSoftware fashion, playing online has its ups and downs. During my testing period, I had a few moments where I couldn’t find three players, so I’d close the game and come back later. I hope FromSoftware looks to improve this as it gets closer to release. Additionally, the lack of crossplay means you can’t play with friends on different platforms - a huge oversight.

Once in the match, the game becomes a race. It feels like Elden Ring, but you run through half-hour matches on a mini-map with little exploration or combat before overcoming the challenge of a boss battle. I found it to be a particularly confusing experience, with little time to analyze the items and runes I had acquired, not knowing what I had picked up or discarded, whether the item I had acquired was better than the previous one, and not knowing what each item did, as I had to run around and catch up to other players; otherwise I wouldn’t know where to go or I’d arrive late and not help in the battle. With the constant threat of the blue storm, there’s a real urgency to manage priorities, frantically switch strategies, and maximize your team's chances of success.

Pros

+ A genuine soulslike experience for lovers of the genre;

+ Incredible scenarios, fantastic monstrous enemies and challenging combats;

+ Dynamic, yet familiar combat;

Cons

- Slow Matchmaking;

- Lacks Cross-Play;

Nightreign is a dark and powerful celebration of the legacy of Elden Ring and the Souls series, bringing back familiar bosses and reusing assets, but introducing eight new, challenging and visually striking Night Lords. It's clearly content made for veterans, with little room for new players due to its fast pace and high difficulty. Still, for those who enjoyed Elden Ring, it's a recommended experience.

The expansion doesn’t compete with modern multiplayer giants, but it has potential to grow if FromSoftware invests in future updates and additional content. Even solo players may be surprised by the emotional value and fun of the co-op mode, transforming difficult battles into memorable shared experiences. Nightreign is a gift to fans - demanding, but rewarding.