At the 2024 Game Awards, Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware surprised gamers everywhere with the announcement of an Elden Ring spin-off coming in 2025. Dubbed Elden Ring Nightreign, this new action RPG combines the Soulslike formula with a fast-paced survival roguelite structure that emphasizes, but doesn’t require, three-player co-op. This dramatic departure from the regular Elden Ring caught many fans by surprise, but Elden Ring Nightreign was never meant to be a typical FromSoftware title. Regardless of how well it executes its ideas, it brings many new things to the table.
In essence, Elden Ring Nightreign is a run-based game that offers a condensed form of Elden Ring’s typical leveling and equipment-scouring experience, with a dollop of Elden Ring‘s popular Seamless co-op mod on top. Every fifteen minutes or so, one of three days will end, and players will have to fight a boss to continue, with the third and final one of a complete run being one of eight Nightlords. Opposing the Nightlords are eight preset player characters with special characteristics and story content in the Roundtable Hold hub. There will fortunately be more previews and the usual FromSoftware network test to help players digest all this, but there are still lingering questions regarding Nightreign’s new antagonists.
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What Night Lord Means In The Context Of Elden Ring Nightreign
The question, “Who or what is the Night Lord,” is one that will likely haunt players many runs into Elden Ring Nightreign, but there are some early details that can tide them over. First is that there are eight Nightlords, although seven or all eight of these may be different from the Night Lord itself. Defeating these powerful foes seems necessary to stop the “Night’s Tide” that is enveloping Elden Ring Nightreign‘s new Limveld region, and the three-headed dog Gladius has been confirmed as one. However, they don’t quite answer the original query.
Given how the Lands Between work in Elden Ring, there probably is a central Night Lord, and they are likely exerting their patron outer god’s influence over the realm after taking the Elden Lord’s throne. That’s all speculation for now, but given that Elden Ring Nightreign is confirmed to take place in a parallel world that is post-Shattering like regular Elden Ring, it’s a reasonable starting place. Although Elden Ring Nightreign features crossover enemies from Dark Souls, it’s also fair to assume that the Night Lord will be a new character, and not a returning Dark-aligned figure or Elden Ring Demigod.
Elden Ring offers a few clues as to what the Night Lord is, but given how little of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was predicted apart from Miquella’s involvement, they should be taken with a grain of salt. While the player’s lordly title upon bringing about Ranni’s Age of Stars ending could be considered “Night Lord,” the more suspect moon-related figures in the base Elden Ring are the Nox of Nokron and Nokstella. Seen in the underground Eternal Cities, the Nox are described as waiting for a “Lord of Night” in several Nox armor descriptions, and that’s not their only potential connection to Elden Ring Nightreign.
Nox Connections Spotted In Elden Ring Nightreign So Far
Areas related to the Nox tend to culminate in a giant corpse seated on a throne, which may be the true form of the shadowy giants seen in Elden Ring Nightreign’s trailer. Eagle-eyed fans have also observed that the architecture in its wall-clambering scene resembles that of an Eternal City. Lastly, for now, IGN’s hands-on preview mentioned that one of Nightreign’s random events involves swarms of giant ants, which normally live underground and can have Nox riders. It’s too early to declare that Elden Ring Nightreign portrays the Nox leadership overtaking the weakened Lands Between after the Shattering, but the darkness-dominated faction could be the key to understanding the Night Lord’s identity.
- Released
- 2025-00-00
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- Number of Players
- 1-3