REVIEW: Elden Ring Nightreign renews the title with more possibilities and maintains the great challenges

A From Software has established itself as one of the most creative and famous studios in recent years. Elden Ring was a huge success, which brings us to the review of Elden Ring Nightreign. The new title uses the already established name, but bets on something new for the franchise, focusing on cooperative multiplayer and a strange and bold mix of battle royale on roguelike. Will this bet work in the new game? Check it out now in our full review!

History

Elden Ring Nightreign, as with other titles from the studio, does not have a narrative explained in detail. It depends on collecting items, weapons and collectibles to learn more about it. Although it has the name Elden Ring, your story is separate and has zero impact on the lore of the base game. The most important thing here is to understand that the game takes advantage of the world concepts established in the previous title and, from there, creates a spin off, probably not canon, for all of this.

What you need to know here is that the characters are known as Nightfarers (Night owls, in Portuguese) and they live in a land called Limveld, plagued by the mysterious and growing force known as Night Tide. Their goal is to fight this darkness and overcome the Kingdom of Night and their lords to thus bring peace again.

The recommendation is that you play and complete the memories No. daily of the characters. This way, you will learn the story of each of the characters involved, as well as gain new items.

Gameplay

Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold bet by From Software, after all, it mixes the already known genre soulslike with two others: Battle Royale and roguelike. This was only possible thanks to the enormous success of Elden Ring and its expansion Shadow of the Erdtree. But how does this mix of elements work in a single game?

Our characters, called night owls, live together in an alternative version of the Round Table and it is in this place where we can manage the items, read about each one of them, learn about the movements in the training area and, of course, go to the Expeditions. These expeditions place three players in an arena, where they must survive for three days to finally face the great Lord of the Night. What will change here are the mission targets, which alter the possible bosses at the end of each night.

The game's arena is clearly inspired by games like Fortnite e Call of Duty: War zone. We have time to collect items and kill mini bosses until the rain circle starts to decrease (if we stay in the rain, we will die). As for the elements of roguelike, it is more complex than it seems. Although it does not give us options to choose from every DINING like in games like Hades, the entire arena is randomly generated with each attempt, requiring you to learn the best routes, know what each region has to offer and make the most of each day so you don't arrive with bad weapons, items and levels on the third day.

All of these ideas are very interesting and when they work, they make the game very unique within the franchise. However, some decisions can be annoying. The game is entirely focused on cooperative multiplayer, but you can only play with people on the same platform, which we consider quite problematic for a current online experience. In our tests, forming a trio with friends was impossible, since each person was playing on a different platform.

Elden Ring Nightreign It also allows you to play in solo mode, but this is not an incentive for those who do not have friends, after all, the solo experience is even more challenging and requires you to study the routes and understand the game much more. We do not recommend it for those who have never played anything in the franchise or the genre, however, if you are already familiar with it, go at your own risk.

Eight playable characters, each with their own particularities, are available, including:

• Selvavem: character balanced in strength and dexterity with a focus on greatswords;
• Guardian: with a lot of HP and vigor, it is one of the tanks in the game, focusing on halberds;
• Iron Eye: has a focus on dexterity and is good with any type of bow;
• Duchess: mixes dexterity and intelligence to make great combos with spells and melee weapons, especially daggers;
• Privateer: the second tank in the game, bringing high HP and a lot of strength, in addition to delivering great counterattacks on enemies, with a preference for large axes and hammers;
• Espectro: serves as support and focuses on faith. She can also summon three powerful spirits during battles;
• Recluse: he is the team's wizard, with a lot of intelligence and faith, he can cast any magic in the game with ease;
• executor: the team's ninja. His main characteristics are dexterity and arcane skills, as well as his cursed katana that allows him to reflect any blow from his enemies.

The important thing here is that the team has a good composition. The recommendation for a balanced game is for the trio to have someone who deals more damage, another who provides support and a tank, so that one can help the other in the middle of battles. It is worth mentioning that, when dying in battle, a purple circle appears on the character's head and, if one of his friends hits him until it disappears, that character is revived. This mechanic is good, but its hit zone is somewhat small with some weapons, making battles more difficult.

Still on the particularities of the characters, they all have a special ability and a supreme ability. Taking the Wild For example, his ability allows him to shoot a grappling hook at the scene or at enemies to advance faster. When using it on enemies, you can pull them if they are small or go to them if they are heavy, in addition to being able to set your sword on fire. His ultimate ability is practically an arm bazooka. When used quickly, its radius is smaller and hits enemies in front of him. When you hold the button all the way down, the area damage increases a lot, in addition to being able to break the posture of larger enemies.

Another new feature is the movement. Now, in addition to everything you could do in the base game, you can also climb walls and run at full speed, things that are present in any modern shooter. This completely changes the flow of the game, making everything faster and more dynamic, essential for the functioning of this type of game.

From time to time, random things will happen during Expeditions. For example, in the event The Crater, volcanoes and lava will be present in the center of the map, improving the loot, but also making it harder for enemies. Exploring these new areas requires more attention, but also brings great rewards for the team.

Every time we complete an Expedition, we earn Darkness (game currency) and also relics. Relics are essential for success in the game. They are separated by color and each character can use up to three. Because they offer passive effects that can completely change your playstyle, relics will certainly make your journey easier. That's where the relic market comes in. jar, where you can buy new Rite Cups that allow new relic combinations for your characters. Additionally, for 600 darkness, you can acquire random relics and, if luck is with you, even win something great to make your gameplay easier.

Finally, it is worth noting that each character has their own story and particular missions. Going to the diary and completing these missions will make you win relics unique to each of them, being an indispensable tool for the first expeditions.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the bosses e Lords of the Night. There are seven in total and each one offers a different challenge, making you and your team prepare throughout the first two days. We have a three-headed dog, a semi-human goat that causes madness and even a giant insect. They are unique creatures and usually quite ugly, but they maintain the level of epic quality of the From Software, even in a new genre.

Sound and soundtrack

It's worth a topic in our review to write about this aspect here. Games from From Software always have super striking soundtracks, whether they are from bosses or just in calmer environments and here it is no different. While we are at the Round Table, everything is very calm, only with a melancholic soundtrack that has also always marked the franchise.

However, when you start the expedition, everything changes. There is no time to just look at the beautiful scenery in this game. Here, everything is rushed and the soundtrack Limveld accompanies this, with speed and beautiful violins in the background, referring to frenetic action.

The highlight here, as in other soulslike titles, is the battle music against the big bosses. In each of the seven Lords of the Night, we see that, even in a different genre, the essence of the studio remains, with unique music for each of them, which contributes to the epic, often melancholic tone that can mark the gameplay of us players.

Graphics and bugs

From Demon's Souls, the title that gave rise to the soulslikes, graphics have never been the most eye-catching part of these games. However, art direction has always been a highlight. In Elden Ring, this has reached new heights, even though it has better graphics than its predecessors. In Nightreign, the game works the same way. The graphics are the same, with good details on the characters, but without the appeal of being photorealistic.

Even though the game doesn't intend to give you the freedom to explore the map at your own pace, again, the art direction remains interesting and striking, after all, it reuses props not only from Elden Ring, but also from other games in the franchise souls, as notable bosses of the trilogy Dark Souls that we can find around here.

A great point is that the game has no bugs (at least, we didn't find any) and, at this point, the game has always worked excellently and without any weirdness.

Hardware requirements (minimum, recommended, maximum)

The requirements to play Elden Ring Nightreign bring good news. If you already play the base game with good quality on your PC, things haven't changed much, requiring only a little more from the processor. If you already had a good setup before, you probably won't need to change anything to play the new game. Check it out:

	Minimum	Recommended
Operational system	Windows 10	Windows 11
Processor	Intel Core I5-10600 or AMD Ryzen 5 5500	Intel Core I5-11500 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600
Video card	Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB	Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 8GB or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB
Memory	12GB	16GB
Directx	Directx 12	Directx 12
Storage	30 GB	30 GB
Sound card	Windows compatible device	Windows compatible device

Price and availability

Elden Ring Nightreign was released on May 29, 2025 at the suggested retail price of R$199. It also comes with a deluxe edition for R$250 and guarantees the new characters and new bosses that should be released in the 4th quarter of this year. The game is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One e Xbox Series S | X.

Conclusion

To conclude our review of Nightreign, you could say that he maintains the challenging legacy of From Software, but with a new approach, something that seems healthy and allows them to test new gameplay features. The issue is that for this game to really work in the medium and long term, it needs new updates, as well as a games as a service, otherwise it will soon be forgotten.

The game's possibilities are great, but we have a single map and, apart from the Lords of the Night, nothing is new in the game in terms of scenery, which contributes to it becoming easily repetitive and tiring. To make matters worse, the game can be somewhat bitter in its rewards. Everything is random and the rewards do not seem to be in line with the amount of effort we put into the title.

Um roguelike works that way, it's true, but we always have some reward left that encourages us to try again. In Nightreign, even when victory is guaranteed, we can't have that feeling constantly. It's become like just another match, just like any other online PvP game. It still needs a little spice.

Finally, only invest in the game if you like at least one of the genres it falls into. It is still a soulslike, but within a match of battle royale that has elements of roguelike. It's a big salad that will take time to understand and also friends to make it more palatable. If you're looking for a solo experience, I suggest focusing on other titles from the studio, or even others soulslike from the market.

And that was our analysis of Elden Ring Nightreign. Do you intend to buy or have you already bought the game? Comment below what you thought of it and take the opportunity to check out our other articles and reviews, such as review of Doom The Dark Ages!

The game was tested on PlayStation 5 with a copy provided by Theo Games.

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Text review done by Jaime Ninece in 17 / 06 / 2025