Clearly Nightreign was conceived thinking first in the fanbase of Elden Ring. This community that, being gigantic and faithful, gave confidence for FromSoftware to risk this unusual spin-off that mixes Roguelike with Battle Royale. Without having had the “base game” experience, it is a fact that players will be lost for a long time until they get used to gameplay and new mechanics. Even I, who ended up Elden Ring twice and still tasting like who doesn’t want dessert to end, I was lost in the first online matches. In other words, Elden Ring Nightreign is nothing casual and can scare those who come from outside. This does not mean that it will not win a new legion of fans.
I participated in 2 of the 5 network tests promoted by Bandai Namco on PlayStation 5, which started last Friday. I entered the midnight sessions (15 and 17/02) and had a completely new, immersive and intense experience. It is a much faster game that does not punish by falling by high heights, allows you to scale certain areas and simplify the entire structure of Elden Ring, including the loot. You collect useful items and equipment (sword, shield, staff, etc.) with levels that go up to 12, identified by color that changes according to their quality (as usual in the genus Battle Royale) and bring passive effects already applied. He has an interface to manage his things, of course, but Nightreign encourages him not to waste time.
Running from the shadows of the night
Promotes 3 -playing cooperative survival, which should survive 3 days of advances in the night, and can choose from 4 characters (out of a total of 8 at launch): wild, guardian, duchess and reclusive. That is, typical soulslike characters that represent gameplay styles. They are also characters with predefined visuals, slightly changing with the equipment found and equipped. Dething them is the guardian, a humanoid -looking eagle and the most defensive class. The big news here is the two special skills that each has, with progressive loading. In short, they are offensive and defensive tactical skills.
The game takes place in a universe parallel to Elden Ring events on a circular map called Limlded. A version of Limgrave, including the same enemies we know of this region in the base game. The player begins in front of the round table, being able to explore the new version of the castle and interact with a altar of relics with relics and an external arena to train. By the way, this is the first time the game allows you to see the castle from the outside, taken by nature.
At the rites altar the player applies permanent improvements to each character, with relics that are obtained with each expedition as rewards. Increased attributes and reduction of reload of skills are some examples. In the full game, this will surely make all the difference to face the growing challenge. Finally, the player interacts with the grace of the round table and selects the only challenge available against Tricéfalo, and awaits pairing with 2 other random players. At least for now there was no way to invite friends to the co-op, but I imagine it will have this option in the final game. So I hope it was not easy to play with noobies. Fortunately I had four matches with experienced players, coming quietly on the 3rd.
How expeditions work
The expedition begins with the 3 heroes falling at a random point of limveld. The map itself brings nothing random: you will find the same enemies, bosses, dragons, dungeons and treasure chests in the same places. Only the loot is random. It is also evident the reuse of original Elden Ring material, but the speed of exploration and verticality promotes a very different experience. You run much faster by squeezing the L3 (left analog), can rise freely in areas with white spots, and also easily perform air attacks. In very high areas, you will find a blue energy out of the floor that allows you to make the “spiritual leap” – replicating the mechanics with the torrent horse.
When I say Nightreign is intended for Elden Ring players, I don’t talk to nothing: each enemy’s attack timing, as well as their weaknesses, remains the same. Knowing these things put you in a huge advantage compared to the new players. Knowing when changing and improving your weaponry (with forge stones) is also super important, as well as choosing amulets and other features to gain advantage in combat. For example: I used an amulet that, when rolling, creates area damage with lightning that falls from the sky. You also find through the map areas that recover life and mana, altars that increase the amount of bottles, and unpublished totems that give temporary status.
The places for free continue to renew their PV/PF and serve as a level upgrade point, without the need to choose specific attributes. Everything evolves together, but in a different way for each character. Another cool detail is how you raise your fallen friends. When falling, you are dominated by a night mist and a purple bar appears, divided into 3 blocks. When falling once, this bar is 1/3 full. If it falls three times, it is totally full. This represents the difficulty in raising it, and it is necessary to strike this barrier that forms around it. If someone dies, he comes back in the nearest free place and loses 1 level as punishment, but it is possible to recover his XP where he died. In fact, XP is divided equally among the players. Now if everyone falls, the trio is defeated and the expedition is closed with loot to choose.
Among other details kept, we have the perpetual jails and need to find and use a key to unlock the boss of that area. When defeated, bosses drop a totem that when interacting gives you 3 options to choose one, following the formula of the genus RogueLike. Running against the night, which sucks your life when being out of the safe area, you are directed to the Great Boss area. On day 1 and 2, they are random but give options with larger rewards. By overcoming them, the night retreates you giving you space and time to continue with the exploration. Arriving on the 3rd, entering the spiritual shelter, you prepare for the fight with the great boss: Gladius, beast of the night. A large three -headed wolf, which at times is divided into three smaller wolves to complicate the life of heroes. A difficult and equally epic fight in a scenario reminiscent of Radahn’s arena.
What to expect from Nightreign
Let’s go to the facts, without firula: In this phase of testing, the look received downgrade. It’s much uglier than Elden Ring and even choosing to run in PlayStation 5 performance mode, Nightreign cost 60 FPS. The instability was great, all the time, even though the game carries the map completely – except for the textures, loaded according to its interaction area. I saw rocks without textures and other technical bizarre, but nothing that hindered gameplay and experience.
In gameplay, I had problems with large bosses that disappear and reappeared in another area, making the fight unnecessarily slower. A problem that occurs in Elden Ring to this day, but here it could not happen because of the proposed speed. And there is also the issue of balancing the difficulty, which does not change if one or two of your companions fall from the match. It happened to me twice and it was a hell to survive, and to take all the grace of the cooperative experience. The game does not offer chat by voice, by text, and does not show the name of the players. It doesn’t even explain why the devils serve the accumulated dark points between expeditions.
Still, I really enjoyed the new proposal and I’m sure it will be successful with the fanbase. All matches were exciting (even with a bad team), the soundtrack is amazing and the accelerated gameplay worked well with me. Except to climb things, which occurs strange, truncated, not organic. I’m not asking to have parkour, but from fromsoftware needs to improve it. Apart from these technical aspects, I am quite optimistic. I only have my doubts if this game will get out of the bubble, with Fortnite players and the like. But what is promising, that is for sure.
