Elden Ring Nightreign#

The game has launched about half a month ago, on May 29, and I have played it for approximately 16 hours so far. I generally like to give my reviews after finishing a game or playing long enough to form a consistent opinion.

What Nightreign is not#

Before starting the review, I want to address some criticism I saw online about Nightreign. I’ve seen people calling it a Battle Royale, which it is not. And I’ve seen people calling it a souls like, which I get where they are coming from but it’s only partially true. This games is not Elden Ring 2, and I don’t believe it was ever advertised as so, and this is why I don’t understand most of the game criticism. Many players are complaining about the game not being a true souls like when in reality it isn’t.

What Nightreign is#

To me it’s pretty clear that Nightreign is a mashup of the Souls genre with the Roguelite genre. I would argue that it is a more of Roguelite game with some aspects of a souls like game. But then I also bought the game after the release and after I’ve watched some friends playing it, so my opinion might not have suffered a shock the same as other die hard souls fans had.

Gameplay#

Souls-like meet roguelite#

In my headcanon I define the souls genre as being extremely mechanic, moment to moment gameplay. It’s a type of game, similar to roguelikes, where you feature external growth more than anything else. Sure you can improve your build, get better weapons and increase your level, but at the end of the day it comes down to how you perform mechanically. When you beat a souls game you are a better player then when you started.

Elden Ring Nightreign is no different to souls in this regard. You’re guaranteed at least 3 boss fights each run, besides the ”optional” world bosses you will have to fight at some point. You could have the best RNG possible, you still need to perform well mechanically to defeat the night lord.

Now this is the point I think souls like and roguelite intersect: No matter how many times you play Elden Ring, the world is the same, the bosses are the same and equipment is always at the same place so it’s natural to see randomizers show up. Nightreign has this feature baked in: each run starts from the ground up, having to gather equipment in a semi-randomized world, and then fighting randomized bosses found in other souls titles.

Now you may have noticed I’m using the term roguelite instead of roguelike, because while your character equipment is reset every run, you can buy Relics to guarantee some special effects while playing. Having permanent progression outside of runs is the defining characteristic of a roguelite.

Fast paced action#

In the first couple days the players will have the entire map of Lindveil to explore and build their character. Each Nightlord has different elemental affinities, which means that for each run players might be looking for different kinds of items. That makes a major part of a Nightreign run: planing out and executing a path on the world map

Storm#

I get that people link closing storms with battle royale games, but the intent is different. In Nightreign the closing storms forces players to prioritize in their pathing while building their character.

In battle royale games the closing storms is supposed to shrink the playable area forcing enemy players to eventually make contact instead of having eternal matches

At the end of the first couple days the storm will start to shrink and leave part of the map unprotected. The first time the storm shrinks, a good part of the map will still be safe to roam, this introduces a sense of urgency and planning.

The outskirts of a map are only really accessible at the start of the day. If for example you are fighting against a nightlord weak to fire and all the fire locations are on the outskirts, you might have to leave other objectives behind for later.

The storm also caps the duration of the run, since besides the bosses, there’s a fixed amount of time a day will take.

Patterns everywhere#

There are multiple structures to be found in Lindveil and they follow a few patterns. This increases the game replayability and the skill ceiling. While you can make your path based entirely on the map, more seasoned players can spot differences in locations making them more worthy or ruling it as a waste of time. These semi randomized patterns are possibly the most enjoyable part of the game: Improvisation.

Improvising is essential because you don’t know what loot you might find, but if you know these patterns you can maximize your chance to get better loot. And the faster you can recognize these patterns, the better you’ll get at runs.

Shifting Earth Events#

While each map is semi randomized, there’s a chance on each run to have an event called Shifting Earth. In this event a big chunk of the map will be replaced, and in my experience it’s always worth exploring it. In night 2 it is guaranteed that the storm will close around the event, and they can shift a run from good to great or from irrecoverable to triable. My favorite one so far is the lava pit. Just jump down, kill everything on your path and after beating the magma wyrm you are guaranteed a legendary upgrade to any weapon.

There were many runs where I had some good weapons which weren’t the same as the nightlord affinity, but the legendary upgrade made a secondary elemental weapon into the boss killer.

Progression#

I mentioned earlier that Nightreign features permanent progression, and these come in the format of relics and goblets.

To put it simply relics are artifacts that grant benefits to the bearer. It could be more rune acquisition, or increased elemental damage, etc. Relics come in different colors and each character has a specific set of colors they can equip. Some relics have effects tied to specific characters.

But there’s more, at the shop on the roundtable hold you can purchase goblets for each character. These goblets change the colors of the relics you can equip. This opens up the possibility for more personalized builds and more preparation for fighting the nightlords.

If I know the nightlord is weak to lighting, I can equip a relic that gives me lighting grease at the start of the run. Although I might not find any lighting weapon, at least I have some grease stocked up to use

Another form of permanent progressions are skins, which in a very nice and positive note are bought with the coins you get in game, so no micro transactions. Really a breath of fresh air. I have no doubt if this game was made by Ubisoft these skins would be hella expensive or Deluxe edition bonuses. So thank you FromSoftware.

Characters#

While in most souls games you create your character from start leveling up attributes and choosing equipment, Nightreign skips some of that by having pre made characters. This is a very positive change because I can select from the get-go how I want to play the game, and each character has a distinctive role and gameplay.

• Guardian for example is a character focused heavily on guarding against attacks and doing guard counters, with a preference for heavier weapons.
• The Recluse is a mage and focuses on staying from afar striking the enemies while absorbing elements and unleashing powerful sorceries.
• The Dutches has a play style more similar to an assassin, but also has an opening for using spells in the meantime

These classes aren’t set in stone though, there is some flexibility for changing during the run. Maybe as a Guardian you didn’t find a good enough shield, or maybe as the Dutches you didn’t find any powerful sorceries and have to go with a more traditional build.

There are 8 total playable characters, but the maximum party size is 3, which means there are many possible combinations of parties which will make the game more replayable in the long run

I Like switching characters every now and then to try an experience more of what the game has to offer. And I Love the diversity it provides. I’d never do a mage build on my own in Elden Ring

Multiplayer#

One thing I’d like to discuss briefly is the multiplayer aspect of the game. While it’s not required to play the game with others, it is very fun doing so.

One of my criteria for buying this game was wether I would be able to play solo or not. It sucks to buy a game and then have no one to play it with.

Communication#

In my experience I found that even playing in a party full of randoms is fun. The game doesn’t have text or voice based communication, instead all party communication is done through pings. I like that actually.

Not having text (or voice) communication limits how toxic other players can be to you, which improve the community aspect. Having toxic players complaint about your every move is a certain way to decrease player base and kill a game fast.

Ping only communication streamlines how the player interacts and build a communication protocol of its own during the matches.

Party Size#

One negative aspect of the game is the requirement to play in trios. If you and your friend want to play, you need to join the matchmaking and wait for a random player to join. This isn’t a problem today, but what I wonder is in the upcoming years as the player base decreases in size, how long would it take to find a match, if possible at all.

I’m not too concerned though, because I heard rumors that FromSoftware was fixing this, and I believe the mod community will also come up with a solution

Final Thoughts#

Elden Ring Nightreign is a great game on its own. It’s fun to play solo but even better with friends. I love how FromSoftware has innovated by combining existing genres in a tight but deep gameplay loop.

I think the game price is fair for what it offers and the lack of micro transactions is an even bigger plus

Finally, I’ll award Elden Ring Nightreign a 9/10.

As always, here’s a song recommendation