As an avid Soulsborne fan, it is needless to say that I am excited for Elden Ring Nightreign. After besting past FromSoftware titles, I am eager for a new challenge. Not only did my time in the Nightreign beta scratch that Soulsborne itch I’ve been feeling since beating the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but it showed that the series can adapt to fit new genres and still keep its relevance. The beta has solidified my choice to purchase the game when it is released and left me wanting more.
You’re not in Limgrave anymore
The gameplay loop of Elden Ring Nightreign starts with you selecting one of four (eight on-release) characters. After this, you are thrust into a scrambled version of Limgrave called Limveld where enemies and locations from all across the original Elden Ring game appear. After landing, you quickly need to decide what locations you want to hit before the impending storm closes in on you and rapidly drains your health, similar to a battle royal but without needing to worry about children building fortresses to snipe you from the top.
While it can be repetitious, the gameplay loop didn’t feel tiresome. Instead, it challenged me. Just like in any Soulslike game, if I bit the dust and the team failed, I was eager to jump back in and try again – forever damned to beat my head against the metaphorical brick wall that is the Soulslike experience. As my team and I collected gear, we were able to take on bigger and stronger foes, which there were plenty of, as bosses from all across the original game made their home in Limveld.
Nightreign takes Elden Ring’s gameplay and puts it on steroids. All the movements are fast-paced and you have new skills to help you traverse the world which makes it all the better. If you saw a cliff, you could easily jump your way up it. Finding a spirit tree meant you could fly across the map on the same bird that brought you in. Better yet, if you want to jump down to a location, there is no more need to do acrobatics with Torrent. You can simply jump and say to hell with the fall damage. The entire gameplay experience is a revamped version of Elden Ring that any Souls fan will enjoy.
These characters are cool and I want more
One of the best aspects of Elden Ring Nightreign is the characters and the four you get to choose from in the beta are pretty awesome. For starters, you have Wylder – the more well-rounded knight that can use heavier weapons. He is able to grapple enemies, slam around heavy weapons, oh – and he can cause a massive explosion that heavily damages enemies and rocks their stagger meter.
Next up is Guardian – one of my favorites. This large anthropomorphic bird starts off wielding a halberd and is great at using heavier weapons along with finesse weapons. He has a strong defense that can withstand heavy hits and can use his wings to create large gusts of winds, damaging nearby foes. His ultimate allows you to divebomb enemies from above. This is also a great tool for reviving your downed allies.
Duchess, the third character on the list is the fast-paced glass cannon-style fighter who can deal damage quickly with light weapons but cannot take a hit to save her life. One or two hits will easily take you down so you need to be good at the dodge game. This is rewarded with high damage and the ability to turn your entire team invisible to escape enemy detection for a while.
Finally, there is Recluse – another one of my favorites. She is the magic-focused class who is great with a staff and can cast whatever type of spell is dictated by the equipment you currently have equipped. She is great for distance fighters and deals high damage with the right equipment. She also basically never runs out of mana if you use her ultimate ability correctly as it keeps replenishing your mana as you hit a marked foe.
Overall, each of these characters is amazing in their own way and I was glad to play any of them. I never felt disappointed if I needed to fill a role for the team because each of the characters was pretty amazing. With more characters being added to the final release of the game, I am excited to see what else FromSoftware has in store for Elden Ring Nightreign.
Final beta thoughts
The Elden Ring Nightreign beta has shown that the game has some strong features. While it shares some similarities with battle royales, it goes above and beyond to set itself up as a strong standalone title that co-op players will enjoy. The mishmash of various Soulsborne enemies and gameplay mechanics works in a way that I never thought possible. The characters all felt unique and enjoyable to the point that I never had to worry if I wouldn’t like the character I was playing. This is a solid start to what the full game will be when it is released and I for one am excited to see what FromSoftware does with the latest Elden Ring title.
