... but nothing beats the original.
I’m firmly in camp FromSoftware, but I’ve had an interesting journey in getting there. I’ve always appreciated the likes of Dark Souls and Bloodborne — as my latter review can attest to — but there was a time when the very gameplay loop that’s now formed the core of the Soulslike genre wasn’t my cup of tea.
That changed with Elden Ring, and how. I not only earned 1,000 Gamerscore in it playing on Xbox Series, but my sheer enjoyment of the accessible title gave me the skills I needed to jump back into FromSoft’s prior works. I reengaged with the likes of Dark Souls, Sekiro, and yes, even Bloodborne straight afterward. While I got close to full completion in two versions of Dark Souls over on Xbox, I recently managed to Platinum Dark Souls Remastered over on PlayStation.
It’s rather fitting that after learning to love FromSoft’s single-player experiences that the studio would pull the rug out from under me and release a wholly multiplayer experience instead with Elden Ring Nightreign.
No, don’t get me wrong: Nightreign does offer single-player gameplay, it’s just that it’s not ideal unless you’re an ultra-skilled blademaster. You see, Nightreign is Elden Ring crossed with Fortnite.
You alone — or, more likely, you and two matchmade pals (no more and no less) — are dropped into a map and need to scavenge for bigger and better supplies in order to survive. This is accomplished through finding chests or by beating mini-bosses.
While you’re focussing on this, you’ll also need to be mindful of a ring of fire that’s slowly moving across the map and corralling you into close-quarters with a night’s final boss. Full encounters take place over a cycle of three nights, with each final boss more terrifying than the next. Go all the way and expect bigger and better rewards than if you fail. Either way, you’ll head back to the Roundtable with said experience and items, and prepare to do it all again.
Those who’ve played Elden Ring will be relatively comfortable with Nightreign‘s gameplay loop. Killing enemies provide runes, and those runs can be used to level up — and that’s a literal levelling up, not applying points to Dex or Strength or something — at States of Grace.
From there, though, be prepared to be bombarded with layer upon layer of complication. Instead of attribute-specific levels, a number of different characters provide variety when it comes to strength or magic usage; these characters also have special movesets that will allow for a powerful blast of damage or even the transition into a terrifying beast. While that beast is useful against bosses, it’s actually better suited when you need to revive any of your party — Nightreign‘s solution to healing a fallen teammate is to whack at them with a sword until they get back up.
When you first drop into the map, it’s anyone’s guess what half its icons mean (we’ve got you covered on that front right here). Once you’re relatively comfortable with the map, success in a campaign shakes things up (and without spoiling things too much, I hope you like lava). I wasn’t prepared for the concept of a negative blessing further along and greedily gobbled up a couple levels of power not realising I’d then drop a level whenever I used a flask. Oops.
Beyond all that, Nightreign just has a lot going on at any given time. When the ring of fire closes in on you, it REALLY closes in on you. In both single-player or multiplayer, it’s hard to both keep tabs on the ring and worry about fighting bosses like the Royal Carian Knight. Far too often, we’d killed the boss and benefit from a huge rune intake only to find ourselves outside the ring. You’ll die quickly in those instances; goodbye runes.
In other instances, you’ll just fall victim to terrain, being too far down the extremely vertical map and without any scalable surfaces or shortcuts to propel you to higher ground. The ring also plays a part in final battles, which take place in a very small area — you’ll usually find yourself sprinting near the end just to get inside and safe. I’ve had far too many runes in possession and simply no State of Grace nearby to cash in before a fight.
Simply put, the nature of Nightreign means you’ll find yourself dying quickly and alone, or wasting runes, all because you didn’t take time — or have time — to carefully plan your traversal.
These gripes are far more mitigated when playing in a group of three; failures like the ones I’ve detailed aren’t the end of the world for your group. That’s not the case when you’re in single-player mode — make a big mistake, and you’ll be too under-levelled and underpowered to put up and real fight.
Bosses of all types will generally melt under the barrage of three players — levelled or not — but one lowly player will have a tough time on their own. While Elden Ring fans may laugh at this assessment and argue that carefully timed parries and dodges can keep you alive so you can attack at just the right moment, you’re forgetting about that ring again. There’s a constant sense of frenzy and need to hurry that takes strategic combat and throws it right out the nearest window.
In a group, you’re better off just following one person and the map markers they set. Working as a collective will fell enemies the quickest, allowing for upgrades and time to plan your next move. If you scatter to the winds, you’ll find yourself victim to bosses more often than not.
And, unless you’re legendary with a bow, don’t pick the archer. They are way too slow in terms of damage and end up as liabilities that struggle to heal your party. The same applies to the extremely slow (but very cool looking) falcon man.
Elden Ring Nightreign won’t be every FromSoft fan’s cup of tea, and this is especially true if you’re a lone wolf; that said, a $55 AUD price tag might be enough to change your mind. If you’re somewhat intrigued, grab a couple friends, be prepared to fail at first, cooperate, and jump in. Otherwise, you’d be best sticking to Elden Ring itself.
Expect Elden Ring Nightreign from 30 May 2025 on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, and PS5.
Elden Ring Nightreign was reviewed using promotional code on [platform(s)], as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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Elden Ring Nightreign30 May 2025PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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