For a long time, Soulslike games – especially those created by pioneers of the genre, FromSoftware – have had an intimidating aura. While not outright hostile to the average gamer unfamiliar with their cryptic and sometimes obscure design, they’ve certainly felt unwelcoming. These games are, after all, supposed to be routinely challenging and punishing offerings that are not consciously directed at the mainstream. Looking to change things up in this regard, Elden Ring Nightreign seeks to maintain the high degrees of mastery associated with Soulslike efforts while also providing a tempting on-ramp of sorts for newcomers that have yet to dip a toe in these swampy waters. As such, this is how FromSoftware is about to create the most accessible Soulslike ever with Elden Ring Nightreign.
Multiplayer First, Single-Player Second
A markedly different proposition than Elden Ring itself, Elden Ring Nightreign instead channels the core design of the former into an all-new, multiplayer-focused experience, which naturally has a sizable knock-on effect on its learning curve. A standalone title that takes place within the Elden Ring universe, Nightreign has between one and three players embarking on a quest to take down a ruling boss of that particular night before darkness swamps the land.
Being very much geared towards the multiplayer side of things (you can play Nightreign solo but it would be a lonely experience), Elden Ring Nightreign allows players to support each other, share Runes (Nightreign’s version of experience points) and combine their classes to create unique synergies that are key for overcoming Nightreign’s challenging boss encounters. With help never far away and cooperation running through every strand of its design DNA, Elden Ring Nightreign is arguably the most welcoming a Soulslike effort has been since the inception of the subgenre.
Streamlined Class Selection Allows Newcomers To Hop Right In
With both Elden Ring and the numerous Dark Souls titles that have come to pass, actually picking out a class and completely understanding its various strengths, weaknesses, and other eccentricities isn’t a straightforward process, especially for newcomers. Elden Ring Nightreign hopes to address that issue directly by introducing beginner-friendly Nightfarer classes that have a clear set of skills, abilities and playstyle.
The hulking Guardian Nightfarer class, for example, has a ton of HP and great defence stats, making it an attractive choice for first-timers that don’t necessarily want to get one or two-shotted just as they walk in through the door. Beyond just being a compelling choice for new folk, the tank-like Guardian Nightfarer class also looks to blossom into a more than capable support role, too, thanks to its ability to soak up damage and revive teammates safely. Handily, the Roundtable Hold, which serves as the player hub prior to leaping into the game proper, also allows players to experiment with different classes via its Sparring Grounds training area.
A Smaller Open World Map With Clear Navigation
Another aspect of its design where Nightreign also hopes to attract new faces is that while you are indeed exploring a sizable open world mass (known here as ‘Limveld’ – a nod to Elden Ring’s ‘Limgrave’ realm), the map is both smaller than what you would find in Elden Ring, yet it also happens to be procedurally generated as well, offering up a new experience with every run. In addition, the Limveld map can be seen in its entirety at the start of any given run, with key objectives, optional dungeons and other such points of interest identified for players from the get-go. Clearly, this was a key design choice for the development team to make early on, as it helps to make every run swift enough that Nightreign can focus on its core gameplay loop without players becoming lost in the sprawl of its world.
Speaking of the map, Elden Ring Nightreign also employs a mechanic known as the Night’s Tide, where a darkness gradually encroaches on Limveld, sapping the hit points of any poor souls that happen to be stuck in its shadowy embrace. Essentially a take on the shrinking map mechanic that has been predominantly featured in Battle Royale titles such as Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, the Night’s Tide neatly provides players with a grand incentive to keep moving in ways that Soulslike games don’t typically do.
Overhauled Movement System That Takes The Pain Out Of Traversal
With Elden Ring, or indeed any other Soulslike to come out in the last decade or so, traversal has often proven to be a fairly laborious slog, often punctuated with sizable chunks of spicy peril thanks in no small part to these games’ typical obsession with death by gravity. In Elden Ring Nightreign, though, developer FromSoftware has utterly overhauled movement and traversal so that it all falls in line with Nightreign’s much more accessible approach to the Soulslike formula. In practice, this means that not only does the player character sprint faster, but sprinting now no longer depletes your stamina pool, allowing players to keep up a much more frenetic pace as a result. Further afield, a new wall-jumping mechanic provides additional opportunities for traversal and exploration, while the trusty Spectral Hawk mount can be used to cover large amounts of ground at speed. Finally, fall damage has been entirely removed from Elden Ring Nightreign, not only allowing you to throw caution to the wind and quite literally leap into any scenario, but it also removes the chance of an untimely death due to an accidental stumble, too.
A Sleek Approach To Progression
Whenever you gain a level in Elden Ring, you are typically presented with a veritable smorgasbord of different stats and abilities to pile your Runes into. With Elden Ring Nightreign, this system is pared back in a smart, yet elegant way, with points automatically being assigned to stats that are the most appropriate for your chosen class. There’s no more fiddling about with towering stat screens here, Elden Ring Nightreign makes the levelling process so seamless it barely registers during gameplay, helping to keep everything moving along at a refreshingly furious clip.
Weapons & Items For Everybody
In addition to character levelling being automated, Elden Ring Nightreign also takes a similar approach to the various weapons and items that you’ll collect and use. Here, weapons and items no longer scale or have stat requirements and can be used by any of the Nightfarer classes, with only the more powerful armaments being locked to the players who have the correct level to use them. Again, this is just one more example of Elden Ring Nightreign stripping back the complexity of Elden Ring and other Soulslike titles to create a genre effort that everybody can just hop into and enjoy.
Death Doesn’t Have The Sting That It Used To
If there’s one aspect of the Soulslike experience that is immutable, it’s, well, dying. Often leveraged as a way to punish the player with additional consequences, dying in Soulslikes can be a controller-squeezing experience to say the least. With Elden Ring Nightreign, however, FromSoftware has taken the figurative sting out of its tail somewhat, so as not to discourage newer players. In Elden Ring Nightreign, you lose your current level should you die, but that’s it – there are no lingering penalties, no shortening of your health bar or anything like that.
Even better still, before your character pops their digital clogs, it’s now easier than ever to keep them alive. This is thanks to a Near Death gauge which triggers when your hit points reach zero and enables that player to be rescued by a friend who attacks them over and over until the gauge disappears completely. Naturally, should the gauge run its course, the player dies, while repeated entry into the Near Death state causes the gauge to increase in size (though this can be reset by resting at a Site of Grace).
In Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware hasn’t just built a new chapter in the Elden Ring universe; they’ve reimagined the very soul of the Soulslike genre. By refining its systems, easing its learning curves, and encouraging cooperation at every turn, Nightreign offers a rare blend of challenge and accessibility that’s as inviting to genre veterans as it is to wide-eyed newcomers. Whether you’re a longtime fan of punishing boss fights or someone who’s always wanted to try a Soulslike without the fear of constant failure, Nightreign feels like the perfect gateway.
Ready to dive into the shadows of Limveld? Pick up your copy of Elden Ring Nightreign now on Green Man Gaming. Adventure awaits, and this time, it’s not going it alone.
