Elden Ring: Nightreign Reviews
If you loved Elden Ring, you're going to love Elden Ring Nightreign. It's harder, faster and more varied than its predecessor, offering a truly unique gameplay experience that no one really asked for, but it's one that Elden Ring players deserve.
Elden Ring Nightreign won't be every FromSoft fan's cup of tea, and this is especially true if you're a lone wolf.
I first went into Elden Ring: Nightreign during the PS5 network test some months ago, and my expectations weren't overly high. After that network text, I was left somewhat optimistic. All the FromSoft magic was there, excellent, minimalistic writing, fantastic audio, and crushing enemies. All of this has continued into the final game.
A fascinating precursor to FromSoftware's multiplayer pivot, Elden Ring: Nightreign offers us a glimpse at the thrills, and pitfalls, of adapting the studio's signature style to meet contemporary standards. Propulsively fun gameplay loops and a killer art direction gently usher in one of the least considered efforts from the studio to date.
Elden Ring: Nightreign unleashes FromSoftware’s savage Soulsborne grit into a whirlwind of multiplayer chaos—an irresistible thrill ride that drags you and your fellow Nightfarers back for just one more cursed round. Multiplayer isn’t flawless, and solo runs, though still fun, tip into wild imbalance—leaving you bruised, battered, and beyond tarnished.
Elden Ring Nightreign delivers a dynamic, adrenaline-fuelled take on the Souls formula. It’s tailored for hardcore fans with fast pacing, and brutally tough bosses... But its reliance on recycled content, and long expedition times may deter newcomers or those seeking a more traditional Elden Ring experience. For seasoned FromSoftware devotees like myself, it’s a compelling challenge. I only hope matchmaking improves at launch — because I’m itching for another run.
FromSoftware's multiplayer spin-off is an exhilarating rush and a celebration of the studio's prior achievements Souls veterans will devour.
A near-perfect merging of FromSoftware game design and roguelike structure, Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold experiment and one of 2025's highlights.
Elden Ring Nightreign is just as confusing and abrasive as FromSoftware's other games, but there's really nothing else like it.
When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around – but that's harder to do than it should be, and playing solo is poorly balanced.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a must-play for any souls combat fan, and an excellent experience to tackle with your friends. The smartest asset reuse in the industry, it masterfully delivers addictive gameplay with some innovative ideas that only slightly miss the mark on execution and leave you wishing they had added more new content.
Diving into game after game, experiencing that Soulslike loop in a microcosm, was unbelievably satisfying, and those moments of victory have never felt better. There are some minor quirks, like the lack of cross-platform play and spongy bosses, but on the whole, Nightreign is one of the most inventive things to come out of FromSoftware since it coined the Soulslike genre.
Elden Ring Nightreign successfully condenses the Elden Ring experience, cramming challenging combat, exploration, worldbuilding, and character development into a fast-paced and thrilling multiplayer game
I can not help but to love Elden Ring Nightreign. It's a strange beast, kitbashed from parts of Elden Ring that feel clunky in places (god, the vaulting system can be frustrating at times). It has bugs, and it has blemishes. It's not a traditional Soulslike experience and as such will surely turn away fresh faces and diehard veterans alike. But it's also a celebration of you, the massive community of Soulslike players, and, specifically Elden Ring players. It's a game and a story about you, and all the weirdos you've met along the way. If this is a send off to Elden Ring and The Lands Between, it's a perfect one.
The spin-off to one of the best games in the last five years, can Nightreign live up to the high expectations of Elden Ring?
Elden Ring Nightreign takes the Souls formula in a new direction, blending rogue-like elements of Hades with the closing ring as seen in Fortnite to deliver a multiplayer challenge all its own. But with runs inevitably feeling time-consuming and pointless unless successfully besting a boss, and little else on offer in terms of replay value, Nightreign leaves a mixed impression.
Sadly, the repetitive nature and balancing issues also can make it feel like a series of the world's longest Soulslike runbacks ever—over, and over, and over.
Elden Ring Nightreign may be the hardest game FromSoftware has ever made, but not because of its massive bosses or all the mechanics you need to understand to beat the games, but because to enjoy it properly you need to have friends; friends who are crazy about Souls.
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Built as a way to capitalize on the success of 2022’s Elden Ring without committing to a full sequel, Nightreign puts a clever co-op spin on the open-world game by turning it into a roguelike. It’s a smart remix that gets more use out of existing assets while inventing a replayable multiplayer game with unexpected strategic depth despite its RPG hooks being much more streamlined than a standard Soulslike. Fully finding that hook takes a lot of effort, but it pays off for those patient enough to push through its most obvious flaws.
Elden Ring Nightreign isn’t your dad’s Dark Souls game. It’s not a slow, methodical, and exploration-driven experience. It is high octane, caffeine into the veins, run until you drop. The game kept me up at night, well past my bedtime, as I tried to clear just one more Expedition – maybe this next run would be the one. I went to sleep with it on my mind and woke up ready to dive back in. Even after rolling credits, I wanted to get in and keep playing. FromSoftware has done it again.