Elden Ring Nightreign review: A brilliant evolution of The Lands Between

Over the last week, I had the chance to play Elden Ring Nightreign. The original title is one of my favorite video games of all time, and when Nightreign was first announced, I was curious to know how the multiplayer aspect would work. After spending a week defeating the various Nightlords with some of the excellent folks I met during this review session, I can honestly say Elden Ring Nightreign is a great game worthy of picking up for any FromSoftware or Souls-like fan.

While the game provides a fantastic experience where you and two of your friends can queue together and fight various enemies, a few hurdles on the road can ruin the experience. Let's take a deep dive and find out how good Elden Ring Nightreign is and where it fumbles the bag.

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Elden Ring Nightreign nails its core gameplay loop, even if a few frustrating bumps occasionally disrupt the ride

Gameplay

A fantastic experience (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming, FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Nightreign is not your typical souls-like experience where you follow the story and defeat bosses. It is a three-person co-op game, where you will be deployed into the map of Limveld (a modified version of Limgrave) and thrown into a gauntlet where you must survive two nights and defeat a Nightlord.

Let me say it out of the gate: Elden Ring Nightreign's gameplay loop is brilliant, showcasing the tried and tested FromSoftware formula with a few tweaks made to suit three players tackling the challenge.

Combat and characters

Characters (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Nightreign's combat follows the tried and tested souls-like formula, with eight different characters following various archetypes and classes. Recluse is your mage build, while Wylder is your typical Dex build. Each one of the characters plays and feels different, with separate abilities and ultimate skills.

While all of the characters are fun to play, some can feel quite underpowered, while some are extremely busted. Ironeye, the archer, is one of the most powerful Nightfarers in the game, while Guardian can feel underwhelming to use. For the most part, I ran with the Wylder with either a shield and a greatsword or some powerful weapons.

Combat in this game is similar to the base Elden Ring or any souls-like title. You will fight normal enemies and bosses, learning their patterns to overcome each challenge. If you get knocked down, your friends or teammates can revive you by attacking you.

Your character's movement is also tweaked, as it will feel smoother now. Given that you need to traverse the map at high speed to collect resources, FromSoftware has adjusted the speed at which the Nightfarers move, alongside giving new movement abilities and objects to help you traverse.

You will be able to use a variety of weapons regardless of your character, which offers a ton of flexibility without adhering to the traditional class-based gating system. Weapons also come with various damage and status effects like rot or bleed, which is crucial for tackling the bosses.

Similar to a battle royale, Elden Ring Nightreign's world of Limveld shrinks as time passes. This is indicated by a flame wall closing in, with the area beyond the boundary damaging any player. You will need to be quick, collect resources, and farm bosses to level up for the night.

At night, you will have to fight a boss, namely one from the older games, such as Duke's Dear Freja from Dark Souls 2 or the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Once you defeat the boss, you will be able to progress to the second day, where you will repeat the process. On the third day, you will be able to challenge the Nightlord, and if you defeat it or get defeated, you will be returned to the Roundtable Hold.

How the world functions

Start of an expedition (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Nightreign will thrust you into the world of Limveld, an alternate take on the Limgrave area from the original game. You will get two days to level up, collect resources, and farm bosses for weapons and runes before you can face off against the Nightlord, the final boss of the particular expedition.

Elden Ring Nightreign introduces a new system called the Shifting Earth, which diversifies the gameplay. Sometimes, the map will have some optional areas, such as a Rot forest or a snowy mountaintop that you can explore. These areas come with their own set of rewards and also bosses, and challenges.

Exploring these areas is quite fun and can be worth the trouble, based on the boss you are fighting.

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Art direction and soundtrack

Definitely not a Lord of the Rings reference (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming, FromSoftware)

FromSoftware has proved again and again that the developers are passionate about video games as a work of art, and they stand by that statement again with Elden Ring Nightreign. The world of Limveld is simply spectacular to look at.

This game's art direction is nothing short of amazing. From breathtaking landscapes to fantastic set pieces, you will hardly get bored of running through Limveld. It is FromSoftware, so it is not unexpected that the team will cook with the design of the bosses in Elden Ring Nightreign.

The game also features some of the best soundtracks crafted by FromSoftware. Many classic boss themes make a comeback, which can make many Souls fans nostalgic.

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PC Performance

FromSoftware doesn't have a good track record of releasing good PC ports. However, this is certainly not the case with Elden Ring Nightreign. The game is well optimized, and I don't think there are any major bugs.

I did face stutter at times, but that is like five minutes or so out of my 25-30 hours of playtime. Below you can find the specs of the device on which I played the game on.

• Ryzen 5 5600X
• AMD RX 6600 8GB VRAM
• 32 GB RAM DDR4

There can be a few minor bugs and some performance issues you might face, which I personally didn't. FromSoftware will likely iron those out in the coming weeks.

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Beneath the Brilliance: Nightreign’s Shortcomings

Losing levels can be frustrating (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || FromSoftware)

While the core gameplay loop is quite fun, the game unfortunately is not perfect. It is plagued by various issues, from matchmaking to unbalanced characters and bosses, which might create frustrations when the game eventually comes out.

I have one major complaint about the game, which is how the leveling system works. When you die, the game not only takes away your runes but also reduces your level by 1. While you can get these back by retrieving your runes from the spot where you died, it does come with a bit of frustration.

As I already mentioned in the gameplay section, the map shrinks as the day passes and night falls, similar to how the circle or the zone in a battle royale works. The biggest issue with losing your levels comes with the fact that at times, you will die out of the zone, hence losing access to your runes, and can get severely underleveled during a boss fight.

This definitely caused a bit of frustration when I got caught in the zone and had to fight the boss underleveled. I think tweaking this system so that you only lose your runes will be a great way to fix the issue.

Another issue with Elden Ring Nightreign, which is definitely a big deal as the game is multiplayer, is the matchmaking system. Sometimes, it won't work, and you will be left in a queue, and the only way to fix it is to restart the game. This should be hopefully fixed by the time the Elden Ring Nightreign releases.

The last issue I think FromSoftware will address is the fact that certain bosses feel frustrating to fight against. While I don't mind a challenging foe, a boss fight should provide an equal amount of breathing time when you can formulate strategies. Most of the Nightlords are balanced, except a few like Libra, Creature of Night.

These will hopefully be tweaked in a balancing patch in the near future, either before or after Elden Ring Nightreign is released.

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In conclusion

Another fantastic addition to the souls-like catalogue (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Nightreign is a great game from a studio fixated on delivering brilliance. FromSoftware hardly made any bad video games, and Nightreign is another worthy addition to its portfolio. The gameplay loop is enjoyable and retains the excellent combat system of the original Elden Ring.

Hopefully, the balancing issues with the characters and the bosses are something FromSoftware will address before the game comes out, as some of the fights are not fun and can feel tedious. Taking away one level when you die can also feel unnecessarily punishing for something that is not entirely your fault.

Elden Ring Nightreign's matchmaking system also needs a fix, as it concerns me about the future of The Duskbloods, FromSoftware's next offering, which will also be another multiplayer title coming next month.

Despite a few hiccups on the road, if you love Elden Ring or are a big fan of souls-likes as a whole and want a game to play with your friends, Nightreign is the game just for you. It is fun, addictive, and defeating the bosses alongside your buddies feels extremely rewarding.

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Elden Ring Nightreign

The Scorecard (Image via Sportskeeda)

Reviewed On: PC (Key provided by Bandai Namco)

Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5

Developer: FromSoftware

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Release Date: May 30, 2025