Multiplayer action-RPG enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to in 2025, especially thanks to one early release and one recent announcement. Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds will be out by the end of February, and promises to let bands of hunters roam around larger, more interconnected maps than the Monster Hunter series has ever used before. Also with a beta in February is Elden Ring Nightreign, a co-op roguelike spin-off of FromSoftware’s wildly successful Elden Ring. Both Monster Hunter Wilds and Elden Ring Nightreign are changing things up for their respective franchises, and both promise to be worth the wait.
There are a lot of big features that could get someone excited about Monster Hunter Wilds, but for veterans, it doesn’t need to be any more than the next evolution of Monster Hunter. Comparatively, some Elden Ring fans are still warming up to the run-based Nightreign, which is so openly strange that it’s brought in Dark Souls bosses for extra flavor. It’s even more different from its Soulslike predecessors than MH Wilds is from MH World and Rise, which is saying something. Uncertain hope trails behind both titles, but unfortunately, it already looks like Wilds‘ has Nightreign soundly beaten in one area.
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Monster Hunter Wilds’ Multiplayer Must Use Part of MH World as a Stepping Stone
Monster Hunter Wilds can expand on the series’ already healthy multiplayer offerings with some inspiration from Monster Hunter World.
MH Wilds Has More Flexible Multiplayer Than Elden Ring Nightreign
Again, both Monster Hunter Wilds and Elden Ring Nightreign have a heavy emphasis on their multiplayer, but Wilds is putting in the work to ensure it stands out. Crossplay across Wilds‘ simultaneous console and PC launches is just the first of its refinements compared to World and Rise, but it’s definitely a big one. 100-player lobbies were also added, even if only 16 hunters can be seen at once, and players can freely join any hunts in progress that have room. Combined with more allowances for players to progress through their story and quest completion together, Monster Hunter Wilds sounds like the best multiplayer MH experience yet.
The same should be true for Elden Ring Nightreign, but evidence is mounting that it doesn’t accommodate multiplayer any more than past FromSoftware games. Queuing up for runs alongside random players or friends via the typical code system is supported, but that’s where the problems start. If those codes haven’t given it away, Nightreign‘s multiplayer is much more archaic than equivalents in other modern run-based games. How well the netcode works remains to be seen, but crossplay has been explicitly de-confirmed. Players can only play solo or in a group of three with no drop-in and an unknown disconnect policy, making Elden Ring Nightreign a remarkably inflexible experience.
Players Have More Freedom In Monster Hunter Wilds Than Nightreign
Nightreign deserves some credit, as it seemingly allows players to explore its condensed world without the boundaries and post-boss disconnects of regular Elden Ring, but it’s hard to cover up how many options this spin-off has stripped away. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter Wilds is fine with one to four players doing whatever they want in its open world. Convenience has been the goal of post-World Monster Hunter, and Wilds is making sure that players will have minimal obstacles while hunting down monsters. Offline play is even bolstered with NPC helpers responding to SOS Flares, doubly ensuring that single-player is as viable as anything else.
Nightreign Has Options, But They’re The Bare Minimum
If nothing else, Elden Ring Nightreign does support offline solo play, though how its scaling works compared to normal trios is still unknown. FromSoftware’s usual NPC summons might be out this time, but one of Nightreign‘s eight playable characters can apparently get help from their unique Spirit Ashes. Elden Ring Nightreign is far from a doomed endeavor as both a functional Souls roguelike and a multiplayer title, but it’s a shame to see Monster Hunter Wilds already outdoing it as the latter in every way possible.
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