“Where are we landing?” It is a phrase I never thought I would say while playing an Elden Ring game, but boy, am I glad to be saying it. FromSoftware’s latest game, Elden Ring Nightreign, is a giant swing and hit for many reasons. First and foremost, it changes many core mechanics players have come to know and love from Elden Ring. It simplifies it in a way that just about anyone can understand, all while maintaining the difficulty that fans have come to expect from the studio.
How Nightreign Reinvents the Formula
In the 2022 Elden Ring game, your character build is crucial, especially towards the end of the game. This means genuinely thinking about what skills you want to invest in to optimize your character. Thankfully, that’s no longer the issue, and leveling up your character is much more user-friendly this time. In Nightreign, players have four different characters they can play as, each playing drastically differently from the others.
For example, there’s Wylder, who, by all accounts, is the generic build most players go for. He’s meant to be up close and personal but can use magical items if need be. Next up, you have Guardian, who’s your traditional fighter in heavy armor. Then there’s Duchess, who players would call a glass cannon. Last but not least, Recluse, who is your standard magic user.
Each character is truly unique in their own ways, but one thing they all have in common is that they can perform their own ultimate attack. These vary from character to character, and admittedly, I wasn’t able to try them all. But I was able to use Wylder’s. His move allows him to use a grappling hook that can be used on enemies or objects to travel from A to B as fast as possible. At the same time, his primary ultimate is essentially a giant rocket shotgun that he shoots at targets from point-blank range.
Before jumping into a game, players load into an area called The Roundtable. Here, they can select different characters, try their moves, and even equip Relics to upgrade their characters. By all accounts, this is meant to serve as the central hub before you jump into the main game.
Each game starts the same way. You and your teammates use giant birds to glide onto the map. From there, you’ll be racing against the clock because the map will begin to shrink as if you were playing a battle royale. So speed and teamwork are the name of the game. The three of you have to work together and quickly decide where you want to go and which bosses you want to kill.
Each time a boss is killed, they’ll drop various items, from character upgrades to items they can use to help ensure they survive as long as possible. The map is filled with various nooks and crannies for players to explore.
The world is what you’d expect it to be. In true Fromsoftware fashion, it’s filled with many caves, camps, and hidden bosses waiting to throw their hands on you. On top of that, the world is absolutely gorgeous and worthy of the name Elden Ring.
Killing enemies isn’t the only way to get your hands on shiny new toys. Throughout the map, you’ll find vendors who sell all sorts of items. Some of these allow you to upgrade weapons, buff your character, and new gear altogether. The hard part isn’t finding good weapons. It’s actually staying alive to use them. Once everyone goes down, the game ends, and you’re thrown back into the main lobby and forced to repeat the process all over again until you defeat the final boss.
To make it to the final boss, players will need to survive a total of three days in-game. Once they’ve accomplished that, they’ll be transported to a new biome resembling the Radahn fight from the regular Elden Ring. Similar to the Radahn fight, this one will have you running all over the place to avoid all sorts of colorful attacks. But that just makes killing the final boss that much more rewarding.
A Bold New Direction for Elden Ring
Even though Elden Ring Nightreign is a fresh take on the 2022 title, it changes what makes Elden Ring unique and replaces it with something even better. The game steps away from the solo-style gameplay and trades it in for a co-op-style mode meant to be played with others. The only bad thing I have to say about Elden Ring Nightreign is that there weren’t enough hours in the day for me to play it.
