Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows Review – New Map, New Classes, Same Old Frustrations

Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows Review

Just like the new map that’s a major part of it, Elden Ring Nightreign‘s The Forsaken Hollows is full of ups and downs. Some stellar additions rest uneasily next to some pretty obvious deficits. It’s a curious and somewhat divisive expansion to an already curious and divisive game.

Unlike a lot of DLC, The Forsaken Hollows isn’t interested in expanding the Nightreign’s player base. It’s essentially a reward for those faithful players who have stuck with Nightreign despite the ongoing lack of new content. Additionally, it may entice lapsed players to return. But anyone who originally bounced off of Nightreign’s very specific blueprint will find nothing in the DLC to change their mind.

The Highs

If there’s one thing that Nightreign players have been most vocal about wanting over the past six months, it’s new classes. Well, new classes, new weapons, and new bosses, too. The Forsaken Hollows includes two new Nightfarers. Essentially, the Scholar is a support class, using items, buffing the party, and debuffing groups of enemies through his ultimate, called Communion. The Undertaker is a pretty basic but powerful melee-focused fighter. She has a relatively useful Ultimate called Loathesome Hex, which is a potentially devastating high speed attack. It’s paired with her passive ability called Confluence, which gives her some additional Hex uses in certain circumstances. The Undertaker is probably the highlight of the DLC.

As a solo class, or in groups with more than one of them, the Undertaker has far more viability than the Scholar. Time will tell, but it doesn’t seem likely that either class will usurp long-time players’ favorites in the long run.

The new content does include two excellent new Nightlord bosses, Weapon Bequeathed Harmonia and the Dreglord (aka Traitorous Straghess). They are definitely another highlight of the DLC, which also features four new Day 1 and Day 2 bosses. For me, the standouts are a supercharged Knight Artorias and an even more challenging Mohg. As good and as welcome as those additions are, it’s hard not to wonder why players had to wait over six months for them.

Prepare to Die

The Forgotten Hollows is a large new territory to explore.  The Forgotten Hollows is aesthetically much different than Limveld, relying on an ethereal cool-toned color palette and exaggerated verticality. It’s a welcome relief for players able to run Limveld’s map in their sleep, and the chance to learn and face new challenges. The Hollows’ towers is a great spot for farming top tier weapons on Day 2.

However, there are some frustrations with the Forgotten Hollows, too. For one, the size makes reaching the day-end bosses a real challenge if stuck on the periphery. It’s also very easy to fall off the map and die. With time and experience, the initially very confusing Forgotten Hollows will become more familiar. As a solo player, it’s nearly impossible to kill some of the spread-out bosses in time.

Missing in Action

Following the mass market success of Elden Ring and its overall excellent DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, Nightreign felt like a weird move. Most studios would not intentionally create a product that could potentially alienate much of the newly enlarged player base. Yet Nightreign did precisely that. At launch it was — and remains — only really viable with a duo (finally!) or trio of cooperative and similarly skilled friends. The solo experience is brutal in the new zone, and playing with a group of random strangers is almost always an exercise in frustration. The DLC is already gated by the requirement of beating at least the first Nightreign boss. That’s not unreasonable for current players, of course. But it disincentivizes any potential new players curious about the DLC’s content.

There’s nothing wrong with a niche game, of course. But Nightreign players who have paid the price of entry and have continued to support it probably deserve a bit more than what The Forsaken Hollows has to give. New weapons — especially from Shadow of the Erdtree — and new spells are all MIA. Two new classes feel like the bare minimum, both in quality and quantity.

Elden Ring Nightreign has a solid core of fans, and The Forsaken Hollows is a welcome reward — albeit one that sets them back $15 — for their continued engagement. It might bring a few players back, at least for a while. The new map and Nightlords are quality FromSoft challenges, and the new day bosses are a relief for weary players, but the new classes are nothing truly special. The Forsaken Hollows brings a degree of freshness to the by-now familiar Nightreign, but it’s hard not to think the content could have been rolled out over the past six months for free.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher for review***