‘Elden Ring Nightreign’ Is Like ‘Fortnite’ in Hell — And It Rocks
Two types of people will likely play Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware’s upcoming roguelike multiplayer spin-off and the studio’s first standalone multiplayer game. One type will understand that exploring the map and challenging enemies together is safer and far more effective than zooming off alone. The other will see a dragon, split off from the main group to fight it, and die alone in a swamp a short time later. My first time playing, I was firmly in the second group, at least for a few rounds, while I figured out how things worked.
Elden Ring Nightreign (out May 30) is a multiplayer game set in The Lands Between, the primary location of the original Elden Ring (2022). It’s not a sequel or an expansion, like 2024’s Shadow of the Erdtree was, but more of a spin-off set in a different timeline. It was first announced during The Game Awards 2024, but little new information has been disclosed since then.
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Rolling Stone recently played Elden Ring Nightreign during its first closed network test and came away impressed by how expertly crafted it already feels. Even when we were lost and confused, pelted by deadly rain, stomped by dragons, and barfed on by evil worms, Elden Ring Nightreign was thrilling. It’s fast, unpredictable, and exciting — impressively balanced for all play styles and more rewarding than it initially seems. However, the big question is just how long that thrill might last.
Night rangers
Nightreign happens in a world parallel to Elden Ring’s, with a shared geography and bosses, but apparently bears no connection to the original game’s story and the quest to claim lordship over The Lands Between. Players start in Roundtable Hold, Elden Ring‘s primary hub, where they can test weapons and character skills before joining a match. The Hold, its halls bereft of the zealots, liars, and dung-eating murderers who haunt it in Elden Ring, feels empty and perfunctory. It’s seemingly only here because it’s a convenient base camp hub, not because FromSoftware has any interesting plans for it — at least none that we know of. Whatever narrative goals FromSoftware does or doesn’t have for Nightreign, the emphasis is firmly on the action.
The game itself is playable two ways: either solo or as part of a three-person squad (there’s no option to play with just duos). A trio of magic eagles drop the party, composed of pre-set character types such as mage of warrior, onto an island Fortnite-style, as a ring of storms gradually cuts off parts of the map until just a small circle remains. By day, the goal is dashing around — literally, as sprinting in Nightreign is exceptionally fast — and defeating enemies to gather runes, which let you level up at Sites of Grace like in regular Elden Ring. Formidable foes, similar to field bosses in the main game, lurk in specific parts of the map and drop new weapons or passive abilities that give the party a better chance to survive at night.
Once night falls and the storm closes in, a deadlier boss from Elden Ring or even an older Dark Souls game appears. The second day dawns with new enemies, and on the third day, the party faces one of eight Night Lords, though just one — a rather underwhelming three-headed, chain-wielding dog who hopefully won’t be inclined to stand motionless as often in the final release — was present in the network test. Then, you do it all again.
It sounds simple and even overly familiar, with the Fortnite similarities and all, but it’s hard to overstate just how exciting each match is. Where Elden Ring and the Dark Souls trilogy push more restrictive builds that rely on precise stats, a single weapon and accessory, and one or two skills at the expense of everything else, Nightreign challenges you to adapt on the fly with equipment that suits your character’s abilities. It’s one of the most interesting things FromSoftware has done with its Soulslike formula, and what it loses in deep strategizing, it makes up for with the freedom of experimentation.
Character study
Each character has a special skill and an ultimate ability. Two skills doesn’t sound like much to work with, but Nightreign lets you use them in an impressive variety of ways. The Recluse, Nightreign‘s sorcerer and the playtest’s most complex character, extracts essences from enemies to restore their mana and gains three charges depending on the element of the spells they used, before unleashing a final special effect. Three lightning charges give the Recluse a quickstep move, while three fire charges will set the ground on fire in a wide area. Mixing elements results in a giant explosion. The Duchess is easily the most enjoyable character in the playtest, with a skillset that rewards smart timing. They can turn invisible to avoid damage, perfect for avoiding the cataclysmic attacks Elden Ring bosses so love to use, and repeat a segment of time, so any of the party’s attacks on a single foe happen again.
They all have special relics that augment their abilities, which you earn from playing a match, whether you die on the first night or complete the full run. Some are more broadly applicable, such as a relic that reduces the Duchess’ skill cooldown timer. Others have more focused effects, like one that imbues the Guardian’s attacks with Scarlet Rot buildup. These relics were the only form of character progression in Nightreign‘s playtest, though, and most of the build work happens with item drops during a match.
It’s almost impossible to pick a build that doesn’t work in some capacity. The range of weapons and passive abilities that drop from major enemies just encourage different playstyles, rather than shoving you into a sad corner full of regrets. In one successful run, my teammates stacked “blood loss” abilities like proper Elden Ring pros, where I — having not really paid attention to my weapon choices except for basic attack power — chose several stacks of increased stamina for my Guardian. My damage output was horribly low, but I could also hold my shield up and withstand a powerful boss’ prolonged attacks without faltering. I was an absolute tank, attracting enemy attention and holding up under pressure while the other two whittled the toughest foes down.
Granted, this kind of style — and the rest of Nightreign — is only going to work when playing with people who actually know what they’re doing or, at least, are willing to learn. Multiplayer games like Marvel Rivals are a blast when teammates put in some effort and a frustrating disaster when they’re just messing around. However, over the course of the two full test sessions I played, it was easy to tell people were learning as they went along, and Nightreign quietly pushes them to improve anyway. People like me, who initially peeled off from the group soon realized they needed to stick together. And even when they didn’t, the enclosing circle of death rain made them figure it out eventually. They also grew more confident over the two in-game days with how their characters played and the best way to use their skills, and by the playtest’s last night, each match ran far more smoothly than the first.
But how long will it last?
The playtest’s map was a scrunched and vaguely recognizable version of Limgrave, Elden Ring’s starting area, with graveyards, broken castles, Fort Haight, a church, and a sliver of the magical swamp region Liurnia grafted on. I saw maybe 75 percent of it over five full matches and only just started feeling confident enough to know the best spots to hit after a match started. There’s simply not enough time in a single day to reach every point of interest, and the tension born from seeing the rainstorm close in adds a sense of significance to every choice. Sure, you could get rare item drops from any boss you encounter, but you chose to fight the magic knight instead of Wormface, to ignore the terrifying Crucible warrior in the sewers in favor of the dragon, and built your own little story of discovery and triumph in the process.
I suspect it’ll take a long time to gain a level of confidence with all of Nightreign‘s maps, where it feels like you’ve seen and know everything. Given how Nightreign is designed around having enough players to match up with, though, there are valid concerns to be had about its longevity. After finding optimal routes and figuring out how to make any build overpowered, there is, seemingly, not much reason for folks to keep playing Nightreign — no element of surprise, no customizable challenges, no secrets to uncover. Even relics won’t add enough customization to keep people interested for years to come.
That said, it’s possible Nightreign might attract new audiences who never thought of touching a Souls game before. Even aside from the easy Fortnite comparisons, Nightreign is just less intimidating than most of FromSoftware’s modern games. It’s approachable, with its streamlined character builds and bosses who feel less overwhelming when you’re tackling them as a trio. So far, the developers are able to achieve a multiplayer take on the Soulslike formula without alienating its long-time fans or diluting the essence of the genre they helped create, despite it being intentionally designed for mass appeal.
Hopefully, Nightreign‘s single-player mode will be balanced and enjoyable enough on its own to make up for the times when matchmaking queues stretch into eternity, after people drop off and play something else. Or perhaps FromSoftware has more surprises in store about how Nightreign works. The playtest only included a sliver of gameplay, after all, and we know little else about what to expect.
More details will likely surface before Elden Ring Nightreign‘s launches for PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One & Series X|S, and Windows PC on May 30.
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