The Soulsborne series has always been known for a few key things: brutal boss fights, hauntingly beautiful music, gorgeously grotesque creature design, and a deep commitment to trial-and-error gameplay. Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware’s latest twist on the formula, takes that familiar melting pot and stirs in a heavy dose of multiplayer chaos. When I first previewed it, I was cautiously optimistic—skeptical, even. But after going hands-on, I was intrigued. Now that the full game is out, one thing is clear: your experience may vary wildly.
If you’ve got a solid group of three friends to team up with, Elden Ring Nightreign can be an absolute blast. But if you’re relying on random matchmaking? That’s where things get tricky. Some bosses simply aren’t designed for teams that can’t coordinate, and while solo play is technically possible, the game clearly wasn’t built with that in mind.
Playing alone means facing a punishing challenge—and not the good kind. You’ll miss out on the intended cooperative experience. That said, Elden Ring Nightreign remains an ambitious mash-up of the franchise’s most iconic bosses, minus Bloodborne, though fans of it will still find a few welcome nods. All of this is packed into the chaotic, multiversal realm of Limveld, and there’s a lot to unpack. Frustrations aside, this game is kind of incredible.
You might be wondering: “How does it make sense, lore-wise, that bosses from Dark Souls I, II, III, and Elden Ring are suddenly sharing the same universe?” The short answer? It doesn’t—and honestly, that’s fine. The premise is simple: these champions have gathered at the Roundtable Hold to take down the Nightlord and lift its curse over Limveld. The focus isn’t on a grand, cohesive narrative, but on the characters themselves—and more specifically, their remembrances. Each character retains only a faint memory of their past, which the player must unlock and piece together.
“Elden Ring Nightreign won’t be for everyone, but for those willing to embrace the madness, it delivers a thrilling, unforgettable ride through a nightmare realm of remixed legends.”
These remembrances are revealed through a journal that fills out as you defeat Nightlords or complete side tasks around Limveld and the Roundtable Hold. Tasks can include scavenging for materials marked on the map, defeating specific Nightlords, or speaking with NPCs to unravel their complicated relationships and backstories. Some interactions are genuinely compelling (a few are best left unspoiled), but for the most part, your motivation lies in the rewards: chalices, relics and class-specific outfits. Each class has six outfits—one unlocked via remembrance, with the rest available through purchases or earned by defeating Nightlords. In short, the story exists, but it’s not the focus.
Where things start to get interesting is with relics and chalices. Relics offer passive buffs—think “Vigor +2,” “using your flask also heals allies,” or adding elemental damage to your starting weapon. Most relics drop randomly, though class-specific ones are tied to remembrances or boss encounters. These can dramatically change your approach. For example, one relic adds poison damage to your weapon, and one of the Nightlords happens to be weak to poison. Since you can only equip three relics per run, choosing the right combination becomes a strategic balancing act between maximizing your own power and supporting your team.
Later in the game, I found myself locked into a set of relics that perfectly matched my playstyle. No matter how many new ones I unlocked, I kept selling them for Roundtable currency. That currency can be used to buy high-end cosmetics or gamble on randomized relics. It’s a fun system, and I’m sure someone will find a way to absolutely break it.
Chalices, on the other hand, are more straightforward. Each has three colour-coded slots—red, blue, and green—and you can only insert relics into a matching colour. This prevents players from stacking all their favourite red relics, which, in my experience, tend to favour aggressive playstyles. Each chalice has its own unique slot configuration: some offer two reds and a blue, while others might include yellow, red, and grey, where grey acts as a wildcard slot for any colour.
Now, let’s talk about the core gameplay loop. After selecting a class, you choose a Nightlord to challenge and enter matchmaking. In my experience, runs with friends or teammates on voice chat went smoothly. Random matchmaking? Not so much. Relying on pings alone can be… difficult.
“Ultimately, Elden Ring Nightreign captures that signature Soulslike adrenaline rush—the high that comes from conquering a brutal boss—and delivers it over and over again.”
Once you drop into the map, you’ll find camps, towers, and castles scattered across the region, each guarded by a mini-boss. These enemies usually drop gear tied to their elemental theme—rot, fire, ice, lightning, holy, poison, bleed, and so on—or grant a gameplay boon, like 10 per cent more health or a lightning strike triggered when you dodge. As you defeat them, you level up. Thankfully, Elden Ring Nightreign eliminates stat micromanagement—your stats are automatically distributed based on your class archetype.
Each class is tailored to a specific playstyle. The Duchess, for example, is a faith/dexterity hybrid—well-suited to sorceries and rapiers. The Raider, by contrast, leans heavily into strength, favouring great axes and hammers. As you explore, you’ll come across churches that increase your flask charges, which are used for healing. But after four minutes and 20 seconds (yes, I timed it), you’ll receive a message: “The night grows stronger.” A ring of fire begins to close in on the map, forcing you inward. After another six minutes, it shrinks again—and that’s when the Night Boss appears.
Night Bosses are returning foes from earlier Soulsborne titles and act as gatekeepers before you can face the Nightlord. The first boss you encounter is usually manageable; the second, significantly tougher. However, the game rotates these encounters cleverly. Each Nightlord pulls from a curated pool of bosses, so the challenge never feels repetitive or unfair. Expect to fight the Tree Sentinel flanked by allies, the Smelter Demon, Firesage Centipede, Dancer of the Boreal Valley—the list is extensive. Even after 60 hours, I was still discovering new ones.
Once you beat the second Night Boss, you’re transported to a bubble arena to battle the Nightlord. These encounters are tough. Thankfully, you’re given a short description before selecting your Nightlord, which hints at what element or status effect to bring. Pay close attention—these bosses are punishing, but their weaknesses are real. Without spoiling anything specific, just know full communication with your team is essential. If you die, you’re kicked back to the Roundtable Hold and must start the run over.
When everything clicks, Elden Ring Nightreign is ridiculously fun. That said, the lack of proper communication tools with random players remains a real hurdle. You can ping as much as you like, but sometimes a teammate will wander off, leaving you scratching your head. Voice chat, however, changes the experience completely—you can plan ahead, adjust on the fly and coordinate responses to major in-game events.
One of the biggest reasons communication matters is the Shifting Earth events. These randomized environmental challenges occur during your time in Limveld, but are revealed before you select your Nightlord. Each event introduces large-scale hazards—icy mountains, volcanic zones, rot-infested forests or ancient cities. These areas are packed with enemies, but also grant powerful boons that can turn the tide of battle. The more Nightlords you defeat, the more Shifting Earth events you’ll unlock.
Take the Scarlet Rot event—Bloodborne fans will feel right at home. If you can survive it (and I won’t spoil how), you’ll unlock a boon that greatly boosts your HP and grants Bloodborne-style health regeneration. When you take damage, health isn’t lost immediately—it turns pink, and you can regain it by going on the offensive. You’ll also gain near-immunity to rot and bonus attack power when anyone, including bosses, is afflicted. It’s a brilliant nod to Bloodborne, and it forces you to rethink how you approach both combat and boss fights.
Each Shifting Earth event ends with a boss battle and usually offers a big advantage in your upcoming Nightlord encounter. In some cases, if your timing is right, you can chain these events together to steamroll even the toughest Nightlords. That said, not all Nightlords stay put. In later stages, they can invade your run through world events, making the battlefield even more unpredictable.
You might be fending off a swarm of locusts or dodging floating bubbles, only to realize you’re being hunted. These surprise mini-encounters aren’t as tough as full Nightlord fights, but they still demand your attention. Like the Shifting Earth events, these skirmishes are worth the effort for the boons they grant. Success becomes a matter of prioritizing which events, camps and bosses you can clear to give yourself the best shot in the final showdown.
Ultimately, Elden Ring Nightreign captures that signature Soulslike adrenaline rush—the high that comes from conquering a brutal boss—and delivers it over and over again. One of my favourite moments came during a night run when the second Night Boss turned out to be none other than the Nameless King.
After surviving his two-phase encounter, we barely had time to breathe before Margit suddenly appeared, ready to finish us off. But our team, still riding the high, managed to bring him down, too. It only happened to me once—three bosses in a row on the same flask count—and no one else I’ve talked to has seen it. Moments like that make the grind worth it, and this is going to be one of those games where no two players have the same experience.
Visually, Elden Ring Nightreign is stunning. The boss arenas are breathtaking, and seeing old favourites reimagined in this new setting is wild. Limveld is rich with environmental storytelling—it feels like a cursed, broken world inhabited not by people, but by monsters. The soundtrack is, as expected, top-tier. Each returning boss retains its original theme, preserving their identity and emotional weight. It’s a beautiful, grotesque love letter to the series’ legacy.
“Elden Ring Nightreign is a chaotic, beautiful, brutally rewarding love letter to the Soulsborne legacy—highs, lows, and all.”
At the end of the day, Elden Ring Nightreign is a multiplayer experiment that mostly pays off. If you’ve got a squad of Soulsborne veterans, this game will hook you for hours. If not, and you’re relying on matchmaking, the experience becomes more inconsistent. Still, the core gameplay loop is so rewarding that even after beating the final boss on my fourteenth attempt, I jumped back in the next day for three more 45-minute runs. I was buzzing with excitement. Our team erupted in cheers—the kind of shared joy only a Soulslike can deliver.
I logged about 50 hours before rolling credits. Since then, I’ve added another dozen or so, replaying boss fights and experimenting with different classes. The loop is that good. Sure, the narrative lacks depth, and it’s clear the focus is squarely on gameplay. But when the combat feels this polished, it’s hard to complain.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a chaotic, beautiful, brutally rewarding love letter to the Soulsborne legacy—highs, lows and all. It’s not perfect: solo-unfriendly design, uneven matchmaking and minimal story content do hold it back. But when everything clicks—when your team is in sync, your relic build lands, and the soundtrack swells as a boss falls—you’re reminded exactly why FromSoftware remains at the top of the genre.
Elden Ring Nightreign won’t be for everyone. But for those willing to embrace the madness, it delivers a thrilling, unforgettable ride through a nightmare realm of remixed legends. It’s ambitious, flawed and kind of incredible. And I’ll absolutely be diving back in for more.
