With Elden Ring Nightreign releasing on May 30th, many fans are curious about the development of a multiplayer-focused FromSoftware title. More specifically, how Elden Ring, the 2022 GOTY-winning single-player game, shifted into a co-op multiplayer, almost battle royale-feeling format.
Souls games have always dabbled in multiplayer. Aspects such as Dark Souls 1’s multiplayer were purposefully asynchronous, with series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki implementing the system to make it feel almost like ghosts occasionally interacted with your world.
However, with Nightreign, the game was initially and almost exclusively made for three-person co-op; the game was always envisioned for three people, as admitted by Nightreign's director, Junya Ishizaki.
In a recent interview with IGN, Ishizaki described exactly what direction the team at FromSoft gave him to achieve his goal of a fully multiplayer-focused souls-borne title, like advice such as how he shouldn’t hold back from achieving his full vision.
FromSoftware and the entire Souls-Borne series have always reveled in its ability to let developers loose and create something entirely of their own. Although doing so is incredibly risky, it's an amazing way to allow new ideas to flourish.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, for...
