Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
"You know what would make Elden Ring better? If it was more like Fortnite!", said no-one, ever.
Yet that's exactly what Nightreign is, with a dash of Hades_-_style roguelike looping gameplay thrown in for good measure. It takes the devilishly difficult action RPG elements of 2022's groundbreaking original, and repackages them into a multiplayer focused experience where an ever-shrinking combat zone drives groups of three into epic battles against savage "Nightlord" bosses.
It shouldn't work. To the Elden Ring faithful, it probably sounds borderline heretical. And yet, in true FromSoftware fashion, the famed developer of beautifully bleak outings including Dark Souls and Sekiro makes it work. Mostly.
Those Nightlords aren't just lurking around waiting for a beating, though. Instead of wandering an imposing open world taking them out at your own pace, here your trio of warriors will tear across the island of Limveld – a procedurally generated hodgepodge of Elden Ring's varied locations – in strictly timed expeditions, that Fortnite-style boundary ring constantly forcing you into tighter and tighter spots.
Each expedition takes place over three in-game days, the first two of which are focused on killing grunts, gathering dropped gear – which can have passive buffs even if you're not actively using something – and levelling up ahead of mini-bosses that arrive each night. Survive those, and the third day sees you transported to face the Nightlord in ferocious multi-stage battles that put everything you've learned to the test. Win or lose, you'll earn Relics to boost stats, hopefully improving your chances next run, since everything else resets – there's that Hades influence.
With speed of the essence, combat as a whole feels a lot faster than in Elden Ring or Shadow of the Erdtree, and there's less room to obsess over character stats. Rather than an endlessly customisable Tarnished, you play as one of eight Nightfarers, pre-defined classes. From the all-rounder Wylder to spell-casting Recluse or bow-wielding Ironeye, each comes specialised for a particular role, with unique skills and ultimate attacks. In a neat twist though, every class can use every weapon, allowing for some fun on-the-go experimentation.
Pelting it across a canyon, getting rocketed up a cliff face, and racing towards your next enemy like a Dark Ages Flash feels like another significant departure, but it's also a great thrill...
And this is a game that rewards experimentation, whether it’s in testing out that slow but powerful Greatbow you just found with your normally quickfiring Ironeye and figuring how that immediately changes your approach to tackling even the meekest of foes, or working out on-the-fly strategies with your allies. When you line up the right triumvirate of classes with the right relics and the right skills to obliterate a Nightlord in record time, there's little else as satisfying. That such opportunities and tactics emerge often organically just from running about the world together is all the better.
You'll be doing plenty of running, too – Nightreign is a much faster experience than its precursors, both in general movement speed around the map, and with new ability to use spiritsprings on foot (rather than on horseback, as in Elden Ring). Pelting it across a canyon, getting rocketed up a cliff face, and racing towards your next enemy like a Dark Ages Flash feels like another significant departure, but it's also a great thrill – especially if you do all that while the edge of the battle area ring is right on your heels.
While just about everything has been streamlined, that doesn't mean Nightreign has been dumbed down in the name of multiplayer mainstreaming – it remains every bit as tantalisingly tough as any of FromSoftware's previous outings. Arguably more so, in fact – while it's possible to tackle its challenges solo, only the most masochistic should attempt to do so. Almost everything is designed around that three-player structure, from areas in Limveld peppered with groups of tougher enemies needing to be divided and conquered, to Nightlords who demand a three-prong strategy to overcome, such as Gladius, a chain-wielding Cerberus that splits into three separate Stygian wolves.
The near-necessity of multiplayer has its own issues, though. There's no crossplay available at present, meaning all three players need to be playing Nightreign on the same platform, and all expeditions must be tackled either solo or as a trio. If you only have one other friend available to play with, tough. While you can be matched with randoms to form a party, that can lead to lengthy waits as the servers try to group players of comparable skill. These are technical issues that can hopefully be improved as the game develops though.
If there’s a difficult adjustment for Elden Ring players here, it’s in the pacing. The rapid clip and adrenaline-pumping action of it all is great, but some of the best experiences in the original game were found in its quieter moments, those occasional chances to step back from the brutality of its dark fantasy world and take in the majesty around you, explore its ruins, unpick parts of its subtle but layered lore. With Nightreign limiting players to matches of roughly 45 minutes, and constantly shrinking the explorable area, there's no real chance for any of that here. Limveld is beautiful, but you never get a proper chance to take it in, and while there's the odd background note to be found, to be looked at later in the hub area between missions, you're so likely to be racing straight back out for "one more run" that you're likely to forget you even picked them up.
Despite the changes, Nightreign still feels like Elden Ring, but in never really slowing down or allowing players space or opportunity to explore, it lacks the same spark that made the original such an all-time great. Yet in stripping everything back to a hyperfocus on tight mechanics and player prowess above all else, it also becomes the quintessential expression of the series' signature demand for combat perfection. For those who relish a challenge to "git gud" or die trying, this will be a dark delight.