Elden Ring Nightreign Closed Beta Impressions
Have you ever had a dream where you were in your house, but it wasn’t really your actual house? You know, the rooms were all in different places, the furniture was weird and there was a cat on the sofa instead of a dog. Yeah, me too. That was the feeling I had while playing Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware’s upcoming standalone cooperative action game. It most ways, it looks like a remixed Elden Ring. A lot of the monsters and weapons are the same. But like that disconcerting dream, things are juxtaposed, rearranged and everything’s just different enough to make you pay surprised attention.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a rogue-lite, a brain-melting surprise that precisely no one could have predicted prior to its announcement a few months ago. It begs the question, do we need to come up with yet another genre mashup name? Roguelite-Soulslike is pretty awkward. It’s also one of those rare, unexpected products that subvert expectations, and we need more of them, especially from the heavy hitters. But I might be in the minority. After the announcement, there was a lot of predictable chest-beating, whining and negativity. I snuck into the closed beta, and I’m here to tell you what I saw.
Three Glorious Days
A match in Nightreign takes place over three in-game days and nights, in a new zone called Limveld. At the end of each day, a Fortnite-like barrier pushes players towards a boss arena. Defeat the boss and the circle disperses, opening up the entire map again until the third day and endgame boss. The concept is simple but effective twist on familiar battle royale mechanics.
During the day cycle, players comb the map for loot, including weapons, consumables, spells and powerful passive abilities. You fight enemies ranging from typical Elden Ring low-level canon-fodder to elites and mini-bosses with a health bar. As you might expect, you level up, but not individual stats. Your character just grows into a stronger and more capable version of your starting build. With each upgrade, better weapons become accessible.
That ever-ticking clock adds a surprising amount of pressure to everything, from exploring camps and dungeons to each minor fight. You can’t stop and take in the scenery. The day will end, and you’ll face a boss unprepared. So, like a shark, you keep moving or you die. Breathless is probably not an adjective most people associate with Elden Ring. Until now.
Core Values
Aside from the three person co-op/roguelite premise, what’s really interesting about Nightreign is what the developer chose to add, leave behind or change from the base game. Gone is your faithful steed Torrent. Instead, you can ride the the Spirit Springs yourself, and there’s no fall damage. Your character has a turbocharged sprint for jetting around the landscape and can scale walls. The map really emphasizes verticality.
In the closed beta, players can choose from one of four classes: Wylder, Duchess, Recluse and Guardian. These roughly correspond to traditional RPG archetypes like tank, rogue, mage and paladin. However, weapon pick-ups can be used by anyone with high enough stats. Even more uniquely, weapons come with passive or active bonuses and these are in effect just by having the weapon slotted. The full game will release with eight total starting classes.
Death and resurrection are handled a bit differently than in games like Fortnite. When players are incapacitated, they’re healed by a teammate attacking them, either with a weapon, spell or in splash damage from hitting an enemy. Each time they die, it’s a little more time-consuming and difficult to bring them back. When everyone dies, the party’s over and everyone spawns back at the Roundtable Hold’s Nightreign doppelgänger. There are persistent rewards to apply after every match, win or lose.
The Long Run
I went into Nightreign’s beta both excited and skeptical. Like millions of players, I love Elden Ring and FromSoftware’s games in general. But I also love the deliberate pace and sense of exploration those games encourage. I enjoy grouping to take down a boss or helping others, but I’m generally a solo-focused player. While soloing is technically possible in Nightreign, enemies don’t scale. I haven’t tried it, but I can’t imagine it being anything less than a daunting challenge. The game’s bosses are built for a trio to take down, after all.
What’s clear from playing several hours of Elden Ring Nightreign is that this is not just a halfhearted attempt or lazy remix. It’s very much its own thing. The novelty of seeing familiar faces in all new places will wear off. And the game’s new mechanics won’t take long to understand. What will remain is the tense, breakneck pace and exploring the myriad of strategies inherent in the game’s structure. There are definitely some questions, though. What will the other four classes bring to the game? Will there be enough variety to sustain a long-term love affair with this new game?
Elden Ring Nightreign is clearly not meant to replace the core FromSoftware RPG experience, but supplement it. In this regard, it succeeds quite well even at this early stage. Matches are thrilling, tense and challenging and the experience of surviving the three day cycle with your team easily matches beating a traditional Souls boss. I can’t wait until the full game releases on May 29, 2025.
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.
