The reveal of Elden Ring: Nightreign was one of the most exciting announcements of The Game Awards 2024, and it was no doubt one of the most shocking as well. Shadow of the Erdtree was released earlier this year, and despite only being DLC, it was a satisfying enough conclusion to nearly take home Game of the Year. Suffice it to say, it’s safe to assume that no one was counting on a full-scale Elden Ring follow-up to round out their bingo cards for the night.
Elden Ring: Nightreign taking the world by surprise is a huge part of what makes it so compelling. FromSoftware is one of the most consistently acclaimed studios out there, so any new release is bound to generate attention. However, Elden Ring: Nightreign seems to be remarkable on its own merits, in part thanks to the game stepping outside of one of FromSoftware’s biggest comfort zones.
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Elden Ring: Nightreign’s Unprecedented Setting Could Be its Secret Weapon
Elden Ring: Nightreign Returns to its Predecessor’s Setting
Clocking in at more than three minutes long, Elden Ring: Nightreign‘s gameplay reveal trailer was far more extensive than a typical teaser. Absent any subsequent story trailers or in-depth developer interviews, some aspects of the game are currently left up to speculation. However, the game’s setting received some of the most focus, which comes with a little more certainty as a result.
Elden Ring: Nightreign takes place in The Lands Between, the setting first introduced to players by Elden Ring itself. This is evident from the environments seen in the trailer, and was confirmed shortly thereafter in an interview by Famitsu with Junya Ishizaki, the director of Elden Ring: Nightreign. In the very same interview, Ishizaki also elaborated on a few major twists of Nightreign‘s setting.
How Elden Ring: Nightreign Subverts The Lands Between
To say that Elden Ring: Nightreign and its predecessor share a setting would be a slight misnomer. While Nightreign does take place in The Lands Between, developers have seemed to indicate that it is in fact a “parallel world”. Nightreign‘s version of The Lands Between was apparently split from the original during the Shattering War. With that in mind, the gameplay trailer has shown a few differences that veteran Dark Souls fans should already be able to spot.
The Lands Between may retain similar terrain to its counterpart, but the foes that inhabit it are entirely different. Elden Ring: Nightreign appears to feature bosses from previous FromSoftware games, including The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Fans are both excited and afraid to rematch such an infamous foe, while the broader implications of this inclusion have begun to take shape.
FromSoftware Games Rarely Share a Setting
Elden Ring: Nightreign‘s version of The Lands Between is brimming with potential, and it’s almost unprecedented. Despite the similarities some titles may share, FromSoftware games very rarely take place in a setting that the developers have already touched. In fact, FromSoftware is partially acclaimed precisely because of the diversity among the various entries in its catalog.
Bloodborne takes place in a Victorian-era city dripping with Gothic horror, while Sekiro takes place in the Sengoku period of Japan, and is deeply rooted in Buddhist mythology. The one exception is the Dark Souls series, in which all three games take place in the same universe, despite existing hundreds if not thousands of years apart from one another. Elden Ring itself introduced another brand-new setting, informed heavily by a collaboration with George R.R. Martin, the renowned author behind Game of Thrones.
Most FromSoftware games share little direct connection with one another, even including those that have the strongest ties together. Even when some of these fantasy settings have direct ties to a real world time or place, they are still understood to be completely separate from the others that share this characteristic. Elden Ring: Nightreign completely bucks this trend, with its return to The Lands Between being nearly unprecedented for FromSoftware. Despite Nightreign being a follow-up to Elden Ring, it is not yet considered a full-blown sequel, as developers have insisted that the game is purely standalone.
ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN is a standalone adventure within the ELDEN RING universe, crafted to offer players a new gaming experience by reimagining the game’s core design.
Join forces with other players to take on the creeping night and the dangers within featuring 3-player co-op.
Take command of uniquely skilled heroes, each possessing their own abilities and distinct flair.
While individually formidable, their skills create powerful synergies when they unite as a team.
Overcome a relentless environmental threat that sweeps through a land that changes between each game session and defeat the magnificent boss of that night!
- Released
- 2025
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- Number of Players
- 1-3