Elden Ring Nightreign Review (PS5): A Cavalcade of FromSoftware Properties that Almost Defeats the Final Boss

Like so many other people, FromSoftware’s Souls games have always done a great job of capturing my attention. The constant need for hard work and determination to overcome any incoming challenge has always resonated with me in a way few other gaming series have. With Elden Ring Nightreign, the company is taking what I consider to be one of the best games of all time and moving it in a new multiplayer-centric direction. While the expected overwhelming challenge and daunting boss fights remain, the experience is not flawless. Poor multiplayer implementation and underwhelming randomization aspects bring the experience down a little bit, but don’t outright ruin another quality Elden Ring experience.

Make it random or make it deliberate, not both

Taking the typical Souls formula and turning it on its head in a multiplayer style roguelike gives the game a unique but familiar feel. The learning curve is far less steep if you have played previous Souls titles. The randomization of the loot never got tiresome to me and, in fact, made me more excited to jump into each run since I never knew what I was going to get. There is a bit of a tactic to getting the general items you want. For instance, if I am running Ironeye, I should visit camps because there are often bow racks there that will get me the equipment that I want. Still, there is no telling exactly what bows will come from them, and if they will be worth picking up. This randomization works well in Nightreign and keeps you guessing when it comes to what items you will have when you fight the final boss, increasing the challenge and making you work harder to overcome that final obstacle.

On top of this, the world is randomized with each run, well, mostly. A few locations, such as Sites of Grace, mines, Spiritstreams, and Spectral Hawk Trees, stay in the same location, making it easy to navigate the map with each run if you are used to it. Along with this, the game has various world-altering events, such as a massive ice mountain or an active volcano. These areas are expansive, taking up about a quarter of the map. Like normal Souls titles, they have the same layout with each run, and so they become fairly easy to navigate once you’ve seen them a few times. Nevertheless, they add an extra bit of zest to the map that makes it a bit more unique.

While all of this is great, the game gives you too much information about what you will face in each area. You always know when a world event is going to occur and what specific event it is, taking the fun out of adapting your strategy in the moment. Each location is marked with the item types you will find there, taking the guesswork out of the game and allowing you to pinpoint exactly where you need to go in each run to maximize your damage. Once you know the map and have an understanding of how the runs operate, Elden Ring Nightreign becomes pretty predictable in how to reach each of the Night Lords.

After experiencing each of the events multiple times, they became so simplistic that my group could just run through them, ignoring half the enemies to get the prize at the end, which is always the same. Due to the nature of the game and the randomized loot, the experience of being in these events can vary, but they largely become easy after a few tries since they never change.

When the randomization is truly random, the game works amazingly well. One of my greatest moments came when I landed near a Magma Wyrm world boss at the same time my partner opened an Evergaol, causing a Godskin Noble to spawn. This turned our situation into a fight against both bosses, where we let out a sigh of relief afterwards, knowing the battle was over. This instance was great, and we have shared many experiences like this together throughout our time playing together.

Character is key

After playing all eight characters in Elden Ring Nightreign, I can say that, while I have my favorites, they are all equally great. Each of them take time to master and are quick to learn. For instance, Ironeye is my main. At first, I didn’t know how to effectively use his abilities, but given a few matches, I now know when to effectively use his marking skill to hit enemy weak points and tear down defenses using his single-shot art. Personally, I love wielding a bow in video games, so the precision nature of this character stood out to me above the others.

Each character also has a unique story that you can choose to take part in, and doing so will reward you with chalices and relics to further enhance each nightfarer by giving them added abilities. This unlocks a wide web of customization options to make your Nightfarer stand out from everyone else’s. These stories are fun and give added depth to the game, though they aren’t necessary to complete for you to have a good time. I purposefully ignored the stories for a short while to get used to the characters before jumping into one. When I finally did, it didn’t disappoint. My personal favorite is Raider’s as his story missions task you with defeating difficult enemies in one-on-one battles in an arena. While I enjoyed that most, each Nightfarer has a different quest with their own tasks that are worth the player’s time.

Let’s also talk about the online multiplayer elephant in the room that many have been discussing. I found the multiplayer elements in Elden Ring Nightreign fun, and, for the most part, the randoms I played with either helped me on my journey or had a fundamental understanding of what to do and where to go. There was the odd duck who ran off and did their own thing, but they were punished accordingly for leaving the group. The matchmaking didn’t hamper anything for me, though I will admit that I would like for a duos mode to be added so I could have a good experience with just one friend, and I would like more ways to communicate outside of pinging things on the map.

What FromSoftware is known for

One major part of every Soulslike experience is the bosses, so it should come as no surprise to know that Elden Ring Nightreign is full of them, ranging from the original game all the way back to the Dark Souls trilogy.

The boss fight run is great, but some questionable inclusions made me less interested in the game. For instance, I don’t think the Tibia Mariner boss is that entertaining and could easily be subbed out for something with more glitz and glam that players would care about. On the flip side, the Smelter Demon has never been cooler. That said, I was hoping for a lot more enemy and boss representation from the Dark Souls games.

Each run ends when you face the Night Lord – the coup de grâce of all the bosses. Each of the Night Lords is unique and fun to fight repeatedly. Despite knowing the weakness of each boss ahead of time, each one carries the toughness that FromSoftware is known for, with a splash of over-the-top cinematic action that is the best of any Soulslike game.

The Verdict

Elden Ring Nightreign stands as a great way to switch up the normal Souls formula while still keeping it faithful to its roots. The battles are fantastic, the world is finely crafted, and the gameplay is top-notch. I had a blast running through each of the Night Lords, and I don’t think I am going to stop anytime soon. However, the game removes the need to adapt on the fly, which was quite disappointing to me. While the multiplayer is good, it doesn’t quite hit the mark when it comes to communication. Overall, Elden Ring Nightreign is a great new iteration in the genre, but just like Dark Souls 2, it doesn’t quite live up to what came before it.

Elden Ring Nightreign was reviewed on PlayStation 5 with a code provided by Bandai Namco. It is also available on PC and Xbox Series X.

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