Elden Ring Nightreign - Ain't No Sunshine (Review)
- James Stephanie Sterling
- Jun 11
- 8 min read
Elden Ring Nightreign
Released: May 29th, 2025
Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Systems: PC, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox X/S
Elden Ring Nightreign feels at times like a wry middle finger to elitists who look at co-op as Elden Ring’s easy mode, deriding all who avail themselves as illegitimate players, for they allegedly didn’t play the “real” game. Co-op is Nightreign’s real game. You’re welcome to take it on alone, but you’d be, as the Git Gudders say, “playing the game wrong.”
The Lands Between are more than happy to test the theory that cooperative play automatically equates to a trivial time. At the very least, it proves having allies won’t save your patience from abominable bastard trolls hurling explosives from very high places.
Truly, I didn’t think I could despise those wankers more.
I greatly respect the founding principle of Elden Ring Nightreign, taking one of my favorite aspects of Soulsborne games - cooperative play - and building a hectic roguelite from Elden Ring’s eclectic components. While the way it operates takes some getting used to, there’s a lot of fun to be had - sometimes through grit teeth.
Fromsoftware presents a rapidfire run through the Lands Between, packed with brutality and a whole mess of bosses. The roster of opponents hides a few surprises, some of which have had me legitimately fangirling.
Plot wise, there are these bad twats called the Night Lords, and they bring with them a classic case of all-consuming darkness. A ragged crew of tragic heroes, the Nightfarers, have been gathered to a dilapidated Roundtable Hold with one goal in mind - kill lots of stuff.
Nightreign’s basic foundation is unmistakably Elden Ring, but it’s spun off into something quite different. Streamlined and focused on frantic action, anything that requires much deliberation on the player’s part has been cut down with ruthless efficiency.
Character creation is replaced by premade characters with fixed starting loadout. Leveling up is done automatically, no time given for personal stat allocation. Weapons come with random battle arts and buffs on them. Spells are no longer their own thing, instead found attached to casting equipment.
While on paper it sounds like a game stripmined of features, the result is keenly fit for purpose - that purpose being to throw players into a shitstorm as quickly as possible so mayhem might commence. Nightreign is Elden Ring shaved down in service to immediacy, and after adjusting to it, I must say I’ve enjoyed the leaner, occasionally meaner, new format.
Mostly. More than half the time, at least.
Three players are dropped into a map dotted with enemy encounters, most of which are bosses pulled from throughout Elden Ring’s campaign. The idea is to rush around and win as many encounters as possible, leveling up and acquiring randomly dropped loot in a bid to become as strong as possible in preparation for the closing Night Lord fight.
Hurrying things along is a rain of nightly death which circles the map and periodically tightens, ushering the team into a final safe zone a’la Fortnite. I like to call it the Killjoy Ring for its tendency to sweep in while I’m trying to accomplish stuff and force me to drop everything lest I’m caught in an HP-draining storm.
Once the ring is at its tightest (oo’er), a group of enemies will spawn followed by a challenging boss. If you make it through this process twice, you’ll get to face the Night Lord and, depending on the one you selected, have a thrilling time or a fucking terrible one.
Fromsoftware’s done a good job adapting Elden Ring into a shorter, snappier, randomized experience. The scrambling nature of expeditions, trying to accomplish what you can within the time limit, keeps things tense, while random elements add some extra flavor.
I have to say, while the boss fights are cool as ever, I really like that some of the encounters are just gangs of enemies with a shared boss health bar. Taking on a brood of Albanaurics or Envoys, presented like an epic battle, is quirky and interesting. I’d like to see a lot more of these kinds of fights crop up.
There are six Nightfarers available at the start, each built to serve particular roles. As well as fixed stats and starting weapons, characters have unique cooldown abilities - a Character Skill that recharges fairly often and an Ultimate that, in most cases, is incredibly cool. Loadouts are topped off with a passive ability and particular weapon proficiencies to help define their combat role.
The Wylder is a classic all-rounder, coming with a greatsword and fairly even stats. He uses a grappler to yank enemies or himself into close combat. The Guardian acts as a tank, highly effective with a shield and able to divebomb for a huge AoE attack that doubles as an instant revival for allies in range.
The Recluse is a mage who keeps her mana topped up by drawing it out of wounded enemies. For lovers of dexterity or strength builds, there’s Ironeyes, a ranged specialist who can mark targets for extra damage, and the Raider, a heavy melee hitter whose Ultimate summons a massive gravestone out of the ground (it’s more useful than it sounds).
Classes get more exotic from there. The katana-wielding Executor is adept at counterattacks but throws intricacy out of the window when transforming into a huge unwieldy beast. Unlockable roles include a necromancer who can summon spectral allies, and… the Duchess.
Oh Duchess, my Duchess.
As is roguelite tradition, you acquire rewards that persist between runs to potentially improve your chances of success. They take the form of Relics, three of which can be equipped, and they confer between one and three passive bonuses apiece.
Relics come in one of four colors and can only be equipped in a slot of the corresponding color. The colors of a classes’ Relic slots are fixed, and they’re not necessarily all different (the Guardian starts with one red and two yellow), but you’ll unlock the opportunity to buy receptacles that offer different color combinations.
You get an assortment of the things after every run, their colors and effects all randomized. Potential boons include stat bumps, elemental damage on starter weapons, shared healing, and free consumables. Some bonuses are also class-specific, such as the Wylder getting a followup attack on his grapple move, or the Recluse increasing max HP after using her Ultimate.
With effects being random, you’ll likely encounter many instances of Relics having both desirable and undesirable traits. You might find one that boosts two different weapons that don’t pair well, or a character-specific upgrade alongside a buff that’s of no use to that character. These suboptimal offerings are common and make loadouts feel like a sneeze cut short.
Relics overall are a decent little thing, and despite the propensity for unhelpful attachments, it can be quite exciting when you get something good. That said, as far as rewards go, only receiving Relics after a run leaves a lot to be desired.
Nightreign simply doesn’t offer much in the way of lasting investment, which may very well leave players feeling less interested in playing once they’ve beaten the Night Lords. I’d really like something more to do between expeditions, something to make even the failed runs feel like they were worth doing.
Even if the upgrades were trivial, some sort of unlock tree, or perhaps more to buy at the Hold’s shop, would help make every run feel like progress was had toward something, and give more of an incentive to replay completed expeditions. Many expeditions felt like a waste of time, and honestly my interest overall has waned quicker than with other games in the genre.
On the subject of encouraging players to keep playing…
I find it hard to blame the people I see ragequit - and they’ve not been rare. Yes, it’s very annoying when someone bails on a run, but it’s an understandable side effect of a game that responds to a struggling player by making things harder.
When you bust a player down a level every time they die, when you make getting back up to their feet feel incrementally hopeless, of course players are going to drop out. This is doubly true if someone gets a kicking early on, since they’ll immediately want a do-over.
I won’t pretend it’s not been tempting.
I’ve had levels absorbed away by endlessly spawning clouds of Fuck You, been jumped many times while leveling up, gotten shot by giant arrows from miles away, and solo targeted by an invading boss who inflicted me with a lasting increase to damage taken. The Killjoy Ring alone has forced me to abandon fights on the verge of victory, gotten between me and my hard earned rewards, and screwed me out of reclaiming my XP.
More than any other Soulsborne, Nightreign has the ability to acutely dishearten a player. I don’t think it’s intentional, it’s merely a side effect of the way it’s been structured. It’s a fun game, one I’ve enjoyed quite a bit, but I can’t say I loved every second of it. Some of those seconds were bloody miserable!
Of course, plenty more of those seconds have been enjoyable. For as dejecting as it can be, few things are as exhilarating as conquering the truly brutal monsters waiting at the end of each expedition.
Nightreign’s most meaningful accomplishment surely must be the way in which it introduces its audience to Elden Ring’s many playstyles. I like my shields, so I’ve used the Guardian a lot, but since it’s easy to jump in with a preset alternative, I’ve found myself willing to forego shields altogether with the other characters.
I’ve been two-handing huge weapons that I’d normally not touch, and while I often fear the risk of trying quicker, frailer builds, I’ve availed myself of more nimble Nightfarers and had a blast. It helps that each choice has some distinctive roles within a team, which guides a less familiar player on how best to use such builds.
You can only work with what you find out in the world, so you’re encouraged to shake off the complacency of that one build you’ve been recreating for yourself since Demon’s Souls. It never feels like railroading despite the streamlined choices - it makes trying new things rewardingly accessible.
Elden Ring Nightreign is mostly a good time. It’s frantic, aggressive, and it’s incredibly good at introducing players to new ways of enjoying Elden Ring. It just struggles to keep that good time rolling long term, and its tendency to feel unrewarding certainly wore down my enthusiasm after a while.
Elden Ring Nightreign is worth taking out for a few runs, but the incentives to keep on running aren't quite there yet. The prospect of ending another forty minute expedition empty handed after an anticlimactic wipeout isn't quite coaxing enough.
7.5/10
