Summary
- Elden Ring Nightreign needs diverse enemy options to enhance gameplay and avoid monotony.
- Improved co-op features are crucial for seamless gaming experiences and group continuity.
- While maintaining lore depth, a clearer explanation in Nightreign is important for player understanding.
Elden Ring Nightreign’s arrival is on the horizon, network tests have come and gone, and the hype is, understandably, really high. Although not a Hidetaka Miyazaki game, since Nightreign is directed by Junya Ishizaki, diehard Miyazaki fans are waiting anxiously for this never-seen-before take on the Souls formula.
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People who have played Elden Ring along with a friend in co-op know just how fun the game can be, and how different of an experience it can be than just regular solo Elden Ring, not that there’s anything wrong with that. With the gaming launching in the coming months, fans know what they want and have their expectations high.
9
Enemy Variety
Not that Elden Ring had any criticism regarding its enemy variety, except maybe for a couple of overly re-used bosses. Even though, this roguelike take on Elden Ring, with some battle royale elements in it, would not be half as fun as it could be, if it was filled only with pre-existing Elden Ring enemies and monsters.
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We can, of course, expect new bosses, but variety among the regular, basic overworld enemies is a must as well. Maybe some elemental-specific ones, or some based on the map you get for any given run. You can have enemies that counter a couple of specific character classes, and your team could need a different class to defeat them, who knows. The sky, and FromSoftware’s sky-high-imagination, are the limits here.
8
Easier Connectivity And Co-Op Experience
Elden Ring’s co-op mode was a little bit complicated, maybe more than it needed to be. The process of summoning a friend – or being summoned into their world – involved getting a certain flower from the overworld, crafting an item with it, writing a message on the floor in your world for your friend to see in theirs… It was just a mess. And on top of that, once you beat an area boss, you’d be kicked back into your world, and would have to repeat the whole process again if you wanted to continue the co-op experience.
Nightreign needs to make things as easy and seamless as possible for players to get the most excitement out of the game. Just a regular lobby to build your team before you all just jump normally into the game would do. The team obviously needs to stay together after every run.
7
Lots Of Secrets To Discover
Elden Ring was filled to the brim with secrets to discover, and that was part of why it became such a phenomenon. People couldn’t get enough places to discover with secrets like new weapons, pieces of armor, talismans, smithing stones to improve their weapons, or something else. It’s one of those games that you can replay a dozen times and find something new.
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Although Nightreign is a much smaller scale-wise, and the objective of the game is not focused as much on exploration as it is on getting stronger and leveling-up to, hopefully, stand a chance against the bosses, we hope that the feeling of maybe finding something remotely useful on every corner to incentivize exploration is not lost on this new take on Elden Ring.
6
A Less Cryptic Lore
Elden Ring was praised for its lore, among many other things, obviously. The lore was a special point, partly because of its depth, and because it had a mastermind behind it along with Miyazaki, A Song of Ice and Fire writer, George RR Martin. The lore was presented in typical FromSoftware fashion, being cryptic and hidden behind obscure texts, item descriptions and obtuse NPC dialogues.
Once again, although Nightreign’s objectives have other priorities than focusing on lore, it would be a nice touch to have a not-so-cryptic lore explanation on what happened in this version of The Lands Between, and why things happened that way.
5
Expanding Roster Of Nightfarers
Nightreign throws out the classic character creation present in almost all Soulsborne games in favor of a roster of pre-existing characters that cannot be changed and will scale automatically when leveling up. These characters are called Nightfarers.
For the network test, players were able to choose from a limited pool of four Nightfarers: Guardian, Wylder, Duchess and Recluse. Of course, more will be available when the full game launches, each featuring their own abilities, passives, ultimates and roles to fulfill. It would be awesome, though, if we could get new Nightfarers periodically to expand options and further incentivize replayability.
4
Older Bosses, Just Not Too Many
Nightreign’s trailer showed us something that filled a lot of people with dread, and probably nobody expected: the return of Dark Souls 3’s Nameless King. Understandably, this relieved old memories, both good and bad for people who have fought him before, since he is regarded as one of FromSoftware’s hardest bosses ever.
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Maybe, the Nameless King is not the only boss being brought back for Elden Ring Nightreign, and this just might be a good take on nostalgia and taking advantage of great pre-existing bosses, as long as it’s not overdone, and made tactfully. Just imagine being on a great run with your friends, everything is going according to plan, and you are suddenly surprised by Ornstein & Smough, Ludwig The Accused, or maybe even the Guardian Ape. What a twist.
3
Cross-Platform And Cross-Save
This one applied to the base Elden Ring as well, but it is even more important now, given that Nightreign is supposed to be a co-op experience. It obviously speaks for itself. You can’t play base Elden Ring with your friend who owns an Xbox if you’re playing on a PS5, or a PC for that matter. You can only play with friends on the same platform as you, and that is a little divisive.
In this day and age, and especially in these types of games, in which connectivity and companionship with your friends are so important to the core gameplay experience, there should be as few barriers as possible to let people play together with as many friends as possible. Crossplay is a must, and even cross-save should be included too. Maybe you are planning on selling all your consoles and starting fresh as a PC gamer. Well, losing all that progress would be truly devastating.
2
Build Customization
Yes, when you pick your Nightfarer, you can’t customize its look, abilities or ultimate. But what about a system in which, after reaching a certain level cap, you get a choice between two new related abilities, or maybe a choice between a buff or a lower cooldown on your current abilities? Like Pokemon Unite does when you level-up mid-match.
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This sort of progression would certainly expand the possibilities and give the game a lot more depth to each Nightfarer beyond what you can only get through weapon chests or loot you will find in the overworld during the run itself. Obviously, as every roguelike, no two runs will ever be the same, but having this slight consistency might help some players out by giving them a sense of familiarity and mastery over their Nightfarer.
1
New Weapons
Well, of course. Weapons have always been a trademark in FromSoft’s Soulsborne games, constantly having an insane variety of over-the-top arms you can use in any way you like, to accommodate any build you choose. Of course, some are more popular than others, but the choice is always there.
While we can expect a good number of weapons to be carried over from base Elden Ring into Nightreign, it would add enormous replayability if we had even more new weapons to choose from. Maybe some weapons could be specific to each class of Nightfarer you picked, or give you additional synergies with your set of abilities. Once again, FromSoft’s endless imagination is the limit here.
Action RPG
Soulslike
Roguelite
- Released
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May 30, 2025
- Developer(s)
-
From Software
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
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1-3
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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Unknown
- PC Release Date
-
May 30, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
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May 30, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
-
May 30, 2025