I was genuinely terrified when I was asked to review this for the site.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Souls games and Elden Ring is up there as one of my favourite games of all-time. But to play it on a timer, with random players on the internet. Considering I don’t really play multiplayer games much these days – this felt like an ask.

Reader, here’s the thing. This might be the game that gets me back into playing online gaming again. I’ve spent the entire weekend playing this, essentially non-stop. I am spamming the expedition run as soon as one finishes, I’m dabbling in the different classes, I’m tweaking my rune formation, checking out any guide I can find, all while trying to explore and see new things.

And I love it! And also hate it at the same time.

This is as Elden Ring / Dark Souls as it gets, but it’s been sped up for the online gaming community, in a way that makes complete sense and is infinitely replayable in a mashup that probably shouldn’t work as well as it does but has one of the most addictive core-loops I can remember in a good long time.

You can dare try this single player – there’s actually going to be a new patch this week that supposedly makes it more user-friendly – but if you thought past Souls games were hard, this one is punishingly evil. Even when there’s a full party of three, it’s painful.

Where to begin with this one. It’s a little bit Fortnite where you have a shrinking circle closing in on you from the start and if you’re caught by it, you’ll quickly lose health. But it’s also a little bit Diablo in fighting through waves and waves of enemies to level up as fast as possible so you can scale up for the bigger challenges ahead, There’s a feeling of Monster Hunter here too, but it’s also very much like a speed-run, boss rush mode for Elden Ring. Which probably sounds morifying and completely unappealing in equal measure.

It’s also none of those things and very much its own entity in that you also find landmarks on the map to visit, planning out each run strategically so you’re giving yourself the best chance of success. And that includes venturing down mines to get rare materials to upgrade your weapons, fighting a myriad of bosses from easy to difficult in the hopes of them dropping rare loot, stopping off at churches so you can increase your flask refills and even discovering plans which reveal secret locations.

But you’re on the clock from the moment you drop on the map and with each expedition, your time is even more finite with the circle closing in on you faster and faster. To make things even more complicated, the world also opens up even more, so you can venture right down into the depths of lava to fight all sorts of abominations. You can also see your world get invaded by devastating phantoms who are unrelenting and deadly.

In each run, you cycle through Three Days. The first day is the lightest of the three, building up your levels, using Graces to increase stats, finding the right weapon. From there, you are forced into a boss encounter to progress to a second day. Likewise again to get to the Third. And it’s here you’re transported to an arena to take down the creature you’re hunting for a particular expedition.

Each creature has a weakness and resistance, some are suspectible to Holy Damage or Poison, so factoring that into your builds and strategies is also pretty important, but to really expand the possibilities further, you can choose between 8 different classes. Two of which you’ll need to unlock throughout your game session.

Finding the right class for you is also pretty tricky and it becomes a bit of a comfort thing, which is where also this game feels like a classic MMORPG when you do a dungeon or raid. As a group of three, you should try your best to compliment each other – having a tank and ranged damage dealer or two. Perhaps some sort of healer or more of a wild card.

That early decision can decide an entire run but you also need to be sure the character you’re rolling is actually reflective of your playstyle. There’s casters, necromancy types, brawlers, hybrids, archers. And each has their own special ability and ultimate as well as passives that they automatically benefit from.

The archer – Ironeye – for instance has a single shot that pierces through any defense and can actually blow back enemies in close proximity as well, which is an extremely powerful crowd control tool. Which the Revenant can actually summon spirits to fight for her and those can work as tanks in a pinch if you don’t have one in your party. But she can also make her allies temporarily immortal.

This is why I’ve really started to fall for this game. Where many online games claim to have some strategy to them, ultimately there’s also a lot of luck involved. And sure, that’s partly true here too, particularly when fighting the bosses, and the random happenstance that you can always fall ill to in Elden Ring, but you can at least prep and set yourself up for success and go about it in any number of ways. All while getting to experiment with different character types, and even spending some time going it alone to fully grasp each world and creature.

The other wonderful thing about Nightreign is I kept encountering new bosses all the time! No matter how many times I ran an expedition, somehow I would go up against a mini boss I’d never seen before. Most areas do have a similar feel to them in that you either venture to the highest peak and fight on a roof, or the lowest depths and take on abominations below. There’s also open courts that lend themselves to spaced out battles and some closed quarter areas that feel arena like.

And of course, Elden Ring fans will find some favourites or similarities here, but there’s also some new surprises too, from fire-breathing hell wagons to some of the most horrifying looking dragons unimaginable.

If all of that wasn’t enough, as you progress through the game you’ll gather runes and relics which you can assign to your character to give them different properties, like increased strength, more intelligence, dexterity. There’s even ones that can benefit allies like filling up their flasks. Later on you can also have multiple loadouts for each character too by buying urns and goblets from the shop keeper, which then lets you experiment with more different colored relics.

On top of that, there’s also a story to be told here beyond defeating the Nightlords. You can also learn about the individual characters through written and playable memories that will eventually lead to special relics and apparel that you can customise your warrior in. It’s a very cool way to give you outside objectives from the main game and often gives you some fun missions which, actually, do a good job of teaching you about the game.

In many ways, it might even be best to play through the memories first, but these are only unlocked by playing the base game and fulfilling criteria. Most notably, actually beating a Nightlord. So the idea is you’re playing both side by side, though none of the memory fragments are at all essential and more of a fun optional extra.

But damn, this game and I just clicked. In some ways. Obviously it’s very much contingent on having a good party though you don’t necessarily need to stick together. It helps, of course, especially if you’re going for bosses but the idea is also to explore the map and prepare yourself so you can do your part in the final battle with the Nightlord. If your damage output is below par or you’re not able to stand on your own two feet for longer than two seconds, everything quickly falls apart.

Some bosses, for instance, can get you and the party in a deathloop. Unlike normal Souls games, because you have a party, you can revive a fallen ally at any point until their death circle is full. By attacking near them, you gradually help them get back into the fight. It’s a cool way to get some team work in there, but also watch your six when you’re doing it, the bosses in Nightreign are very jumpy and can vault an arena quicker than you’d imagine for their size. Protect your teammates, but also make sure to protect yourself!

By the way, something else to think about, certain classes are much better at getting you up and into the fight again than others. All I’m gonna say is, don’t rely on Ironeye to be the one to stop your entire party wiping, but Revenant and Guardian are absolutely, always reliable.

This game is also super unpredictable. The first time I downed a Nightlord, I had zero faith my group would survive the run. I’d had multiple, more successful and cohesive atempts before that which had ended in failure. Including one time where we’d got the lord down to a fingertip of death. I was feeling super confident in Ironeye and was definitely in my groove.

But I actually first beat a Nightlord with a Duchess. And it happened to be one of the first times I’d played as her. Instead of range fighting, I was going in for closed-quarters combat and the character is incredibly glassy, particularly on early levels. As such, I must have died at least ten times within the first two days. It was diabolical, I wanted to quit and I felt embarassed for my two teammates.

And yet, somehow, when it came to the crunch, we did it. By hook and by crook, we hung in there and beat the first boss, Tricephalos. I was in shock! I’d played awfully and yet somehow crawled over the finish line. And that’s just Nightreign in a nutshell. Nothing is obvious, nothing given, and persistence really will steer you true.

Of course, there’s problems here. Like the whole matchmaking element itself, you’ll often find expeditions get stuck in a bit of a matchmaking loop. You’ll have found 1 person for a good few minutes, but the game won’t find anyone else to join you. Restart the expedition and the matchmaking, you’ve found a game in seconds. It’s odd!

Same when someone drops. If you lose a teammate because they decide to drop and leave you to it, the game won’t find you a replacement. Meaning you could be having a fantastic, successful run but if someone rage quits or their internet gets nuked, suddenly you’re down to two and the odds are brutally against you and the pressure has mounted.

There’s also no voice chat or messaging service in game. Pretty wild, but basically you’re going to have to use Discord or some other means if you’ve got a group of you together and want to communicate. Also the traditional messaging of Souls games has been totally removed, which is really quite interesting seeing as how this is how online play really sort of began for the series.

And these frustrations do present some issues for the game, ultimately. For an online game that requires a good half hour per run per time, it’s quite an ask to be so silent and reliant on other people at the same time. I’ve had people drop right before we’re about to fight a Nightlord. I’ve also had people purposefully try to sabotage games or direct a party to the hardest bosses on the map because they want to challenge themselves, not actually work together. So it’s a bit of potluck if you don’t have an active friend pool ready.

And like I said, singleplayer is going to challenge even the most ardent Souls player. But also, bizzarely, this game might be the best entrypoint to the genre as you play alongside others to get to grips with the flow. Though don’t get used to that fall damage not being a thing!

This game is surprisingly, a joy and easily the most enjoyment I’ve had in a multiplayer game in so very long. I love the creativity, the ambition, the quirkiness about it, but also how it is so inherantly Elden Ring. Somehow. The whole idea of boss-rushing a game like this is mortifying for a player like me who takes time to slowly but surely build myself up to these battles, but it’s also incredibly exhilerating.

Weirdly, when I was running around the open lands as Ironeye, it’s also the closest a game has made me feel to that moment in Lord of the Rings where Aragon, Gimli and Legolas are sprinting through Middle Earth, killing every orc in sight to help out the Fellowship. The temptation to blare some Howard Shore instead of the in-game OST was tempting.

Speaking of, it’s beautifully composed, just as all previous Soul games. The sweeping symphonies, the broad strokes, and the score to suit all the different boss types in the game, from a sinister spider theme to grand, epic pieces that suit the most bad ass of bosses. It’s beautifully brilliant.

And while aesthetically, this is a like for like recreation of Elden Ring, the game still feels beautiful to behold years after the original game’s release, showing it’s still as stunning and captivating as it was three years ago.

Nightreign is such an interesting game, one that I hope From continue to grow. It plays with such interesting ideas, has a lot of long term potential and really works in ways that continue to stun and surprise. Some character balancing and tweaking would definitely be welcome and supported and a lack of cross-play could be a long term issue and feels surprisingly lacking for such a massive franchise for a game in 2025.

But if you’ve been looking for something different in the multiplayer space and love a challenge, Elden Ring Nightreign ticks a lot of boxes. Go in there with friends though, it’s absolutely the best way to play!

Verdict

Elden Ring Nightreign is one of the most interesting, creative takes in the multiplayer space for years. It’s unlike quite anything else out there with dashes of Monster Hunter, Fortnite, Diablo and a good old fashioned MMORPG in there, but it’s also distinctly Souls-like with the focus on brutal bosses and punishing challenges. The irony being that most of the game’s drawbacks come from a technical point of view, with matchmaking issues and lack of functionality, but if you want to try something different and interesting, if you have the patience and resolve for it, you’re going to fall under this one’s spell pretty fast!

Pros

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Elden Ring Nightreign is out now on PC, PS, and Xbox.

Played on Xbox Series X

Code Kindly Provided by Bandai Namco for review purposes