Elden Ring Nightreign Review: Not Dumbed Down, Just Sped Up
FromSoftware's three-player roguelike kept everything we love about Elden Ring's combat. It even turned Ryan, our self-proclaimed Souls skeptic, into a believer.
Elden Ring is a top-five game of all time for Josh, and Ace has beaten everything it has to offer, Malenia included. Ryan has always called Souls games "dodge-roll simulators" and bounced off Bloodborne after 15 hours. So when Elden Ring Nightreign came out, we jumped in as a trio, streamed a lot of it, and got our butts handed to us on camera.
The worries going in
Josh feared it would be a dumbed-down Elden Ring, simplified and over-approachable. Ace wondered how you turn Elden Ring into a multiplayer roguelike without losing its challenge and exploration, especially when a seamless co-op mod for the original already exists. Ryan was sure it would be all dodge-rolling.
My concerns were completely put to rest. This is still Elden Ring. It's just Elden Ring with my buddies at a much faster pace.
And Ryan?
It 100% is what I thought, and I freaking love it, dude.
Yes, you dodge-roll a lot. You also time every roll for a reason, and there's nothing like breaking a boss's posture and sprinting in yelling "get him, get him!"
How a run works
1. Pick a Nightfarer. There are eight classes, from the speedy Duchess to the hammer-swinging brute to the Recluse spellcaster to Ace's arrow-slinging Ironeye, each with an ability and an ultimate. 2. Drop in. You glide onto the map like it's Fortnite. Kill something right away to hit level two. (We learned that the hard way and showed up to our first night at level one.) 3. Race the clock. Over two in-game days you hit field bosses, churches, castles and camps for runes, weapons and upgrades while a battle-royale circle closes in. Don't be in a cave when the circle moves. Don't forget it exists mid-boss-fight. (We did both.) If you die, you lose a level unless a teammate gets to your runes first. 4. Survive each night, then face the Nightlord on night three.
Leveling is simple: click a button and you're stronger, with no stat spreadsheets. Gear and levels matter a ton, and getting the balance right is the real skill.
The Nightlords
The Nightlord fights are the equivalent of fighting Radahn. You're in this giant arena, it's chaos, these things are massive.
The first Nightlord, Tricephalos, is a skill check, Nightreign's version of Margit. We threw ourselves at it about a dozen times. Beat it, though, and the game opens up: new Nightlords (like Gaping Jaw, a giant sideways-mouthed lizard), map events like a volcano suddenly erupting (which we obviously ran toward), character-specific remembrance quests, and more.
The gripes
- Arena size. Josh spends half his stamina just reaching the boss, and then it leaps halfway across the arena.
- RNG. Ryan's big complaint is that a boss's weakness only helps if the map hands you the right element, and sometimes it just doesn't.
- Light permanent progression. You earn relics that buff your starting kit, but the real progress is in learning the game.
- Randoms. With no voice chat, random teammates scatter in three directions. There was no crossplay and no duos at launch either.
The VGP take
Ace gave it an 8.9. He loves 3D roguelikes, always wanted to get back to it, and missed playing it the week we were away at Fan Fusion. Ryan gave his first real Souls experience an 8.7, docking a little for RNG, and he says he hasn't craved a game like this in ages. Josh gave it an 8.5. It's a blast, but for him nothing beats the original, and he'd rather play Elden Ring co-op.
If nothing else happens from this, I'm so glad Ryan's like, "Guys, can we play Elden Ring together?"
Nightreign is well worth the price, and it's best with friends on voice chat. Need a squad? Our Discord's looking-for-group channel is full of people playing it.