From Software Elden Ring: Nightreign - cooperative action game coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in 2025

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Online features are the worst part of souls games, save for messages and getting to help players who are stuck in difficult bosses (i maxxed out the sunbro medal in ds3)

 

[Vorark]

I was under the impression it was some kind of new game mode to Elden Ring when I read the thread title. Bizarre.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Online features are the worst part of souls games, save for messages and getting to help players who are stuck in difficult bosses (i maxxed out the sunbro medal in ds3)

PvP invasions can be fun and add a real emergent gameplay element to them. In the Souls games anyway. Didn't seem to add much of anything to ER imo.

 

[cyborgboy95]

So From is turning into RGG of Yakuza's fame business model-wise, they are pumping out spinoff titles to fill in the blank in between mainline games likely directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Armored Core titles helmed by Masaru Yamamura.

 

[Elttharion]

Online features are the worst part of souls games, save for messages and getting to help players who are stuck in difficult bosses (i maxxed out the sunbro medal in ds3)

PvP invasions can be fun and add a real emergent gameplay element to them. In the Souls games anyway. Didn't seem to add much of anything to ER imo.

I played 300+ hours of ER and was never invaded even once, making them dependant on MP (as in you need to be summoning other people) was a mistake imo. The older games had systems that were much more organic and, frankly, better. Like in Dark Souls 1 were you had to burn stuff at the bonfire and then progress over the whole level just for a jackass to invade you in front of the boss room. They removed the danger in DS3 as you can just ember when you enter the boss arena. Ds2 had great mp too, probably the best in the franchise. BB was a step in the wrong direction and ER just nuked almost anything that made MP fun.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Online features are the worst part of souls games, save for messages and getting to help players who are stuck in difficult bosses (i maxxed out the sunbro medal in ds3)

PvP invasions can be fun and add a real emergent gameplay element to them. In the Souls games anyway. Didn't seem to add much of anything to ER imo.

I played 300+ hours of ER and was never invaded even once, making them dependant on MP (as in you need to be summoning other people) was a mistake imo. The older games had systems that were much more organic and, frankly, better. Like in Dark Souls 1 were you had to burn stuff at the bonfire and then progress over the whole level just for a jackass to invade you in front of the boss room. They removed the danger in DS3 as you can just ember when you enter the boss arena. Ds2 had great mp too, probably the best in the franchise. BB was a step in the wrong direction and ER just nuked almost anything that made MP fun.

If Miyazaki didn't absolutely despise invaders and the PvP aspects of Souls we could have had literally the best multiplayer in the series. All he had to do was

• Turn on solo invasions in Dungeons and Legacy Dungeons. You can't summon Torrent in them anyway.
• Make Taunter's Tongue actually increase max players like the Dried Finger did in previous games.
• Allow Invaders to summon Spirit Ashes when there's a rebirth monument nearby, if they're outnumbered.

I would have rather had NO multiplayer than the barebones functionality we got in ER. Seriously, some players that are new to the series aren't even aware there's co-op in the game. It's obtuse, poorly integrated into the lore and story, and behind too many barriers.

I hate to say it, but I'm actually excited for a Souls game with a proper multiplayer-first approach to it's design, headed by a studio vet that doesn't treat it as an afterthought of an afterthought.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The only way this game can be good is if they come up with a completely new combat system that is build from the ground up for co-op.

If they do, that might actually kill multiplayer in their Souls-likes, which personally i'm a bit ambivalent about.

While i loved Sekiro i did feel the lonliness in that game compared to Souls.

 

[Anonona]

As far as I had read online, combat is mostly the same as ER. The differences are:

-Player mobility is much higher. Pretty much Sekiro's running speed abd jumping capabilities

-Each class has a unique skill and ultímate skill. One class has a Grapling Hook, other can debuff an opponent so the party heals on hit, other has a fliying attack, etc. Cant confirm 100% but these skills may have a cooldown.

-Progression is much faster, and players will quickly outpace basic enemies and fight them in big groups, in contrast with the original game smaller but dangerous groups.

-Players customization and power comes in great part from the weapons they find, stats aren't as relevant.

I think there are some articles online expanding on the differences. I may share them later.

EDIT:

An article from ING

https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-nightreign-we-played-it

Some interesting excerpts I found:

Meant for "short" sessions, around 45 min for a whole 3-day cycle:

Games lenght

"Well, each session of Nightreign is structured as a three-day cycle, with each in-game day taking about 15 minutes to complete. At the start of the first day you can pretty much pick any direction to point your team in – dropping pins on the map to highlight points of interest to the rest of your squad – but as day approaches night the space you can operate in narrows, and you’re liable to be killed by acid-like rain should you find yourself caught for too long beyond the perimeter of the rapidly shrinking circle on the map known as the ‘ring of reign"

Confirmed, the regular and ultimate skill of each character are on cooldowns:

"Additionally, each character features a unique skill and ultimate attack that both operate on cooldown timers."

No fall damage and auto-leveling:

"while the removal of any fall damage means you can lunge off cliffs or down dark holes without stopping to study your surroundings for safe platforms. You only need to walk near a site of grace to top up your health and flasks, and if you want to spend some runes to level up you just button mash through pages of auto-levelling that best suits the base traits of your chosen character, rather than having to agonize over whether you should allocate a point to faith or dexterity, for example. "

Changes to equipment

"Then there’s the complete absence of any equip load weight management. New weapons are found either in treasure chests or Destiny-style loot drops after a fight, and you can equip up to three armaments per hand without worrying about how they’ll affect your movement speed. You also don’t really need to worry about ever being underlevelled for any particular weapon, either – if you find it, you can generally pick it up and use it – and the passive effects of any given weapon such as lightning attacks or boosted stamina regeneration will apply to your character while they’re in your arsenal whether you’re wielding them or not. Meanwhile, you don’t need to collect and equip new armour at all, instead you can find and collect various buffs to damage resistance and the like by hunting through sorcerer’s towers or mining caves."

Changes about death mechanics

"Death is not necessarily the end in Nightreign, either. If you find yourself downed you have a ‘near-death’ meter that appears above you, and your squadmates must attack you while you crawl along the ground until the meter is reduced and you can return to the fray...Nightreign is thankfully a little more lenient on you during the day. If you die before you can be revived by a squadmate, you're able to respawn with full health – you're just penalised one level of your character's progression, which can admittedly be fairly costly given that the highest level I ever reached during the three-day cycle was level 14. However, although you can revive downed players during an end-of-day boss fight there are no actual respawns during these climactic moments, and should all three of you be wiped out at once it's the end of the session and you must restart day one with everyone back at level one."

About Relics

In between sessions you return to the Roundtable Hold hub...It’s in the Roundtable Hold that you can also configure each character’s relics. These are permanent attribute buffs that are unlocked after each session, and you can slot three of them into each character to further tailor them to your playstyle – one relic might boost a character’s maximum HP and allow them to deal extra damage with throwing knives, for example, while another might substantially boost attacks from heavy thrusting swords...Longterm FromSoftware fans will recognise these relics as being reminiscent of Bloodborne’s blood gems.

The article has some more detail about the experience and how each class skills synergize.

 

[Dr1f7]

Online features are the worst part of souls games, save for messages and getting to help players who are stuck in difficult bosses (i maxxed out the sunbro medal in ds3)

PvP invasions can be fun and add a real emergent gameplay element to them. In the Souls games anyway. Didn't seem to add much of anything to ER imo.

I played 300+ hours of ER and was never invaded even once, making them dependant on MP (as in you need to be summoning other people) was a mistake imo. The older games had systems that were much more organic and, frankly, better. Like in Dark Souls 1 were you had to burn stuff at the bonfire and then progress over the whole level just for a jackass to invade you in front of the boss room. They removed the danger in DS3 as you can just ember when you enter the boss arena. Ds2 had great mp too, probably the best in the franchise. BB was a step in the wrong direction and ER just nuked almost anything that made MP fun.

If Miyazaki didn't absolutely despise invaders and the PvP aspects of Souls we could have had literally the best multiplayer in the series. All he had to do was

• Turn on solo invasions in Dungeons and Legacy Dungeons. You can't summon Torrent in them anyway.
• Make Taunter's Tongue actually increase max players like the Dried Finger did in previous games.
• Allow Invaders to summon Spirit Ashes when there's a rebirth monument nearby, if they're outnumbered.

I would have rather had NO multiplayer than the barebones functionality we got in ER. Seriously, some players that are new to the series aren't even aware there's co-op in the game. It's obtuse, poorly integrated into the lore and story, and behind too many barriers.

I hate to say it, but I'm actually excited for a Souls game with a proper multiplayer-first approach to it's design, headed by a studio vet that doesn't treat it as an afterthought of an afterthought.

holy moly totally retarded opinion here WTF

ER has the most accessible multiplayer of any fromsoft game, literally every dungeon/cave/marked area has a summon statue right at the fucking beginning, and you get infinite use items that summon/allow you to be summoned right at the start of the game.. also you get infinite invasion item a few hours in (or immediately if u know where to go)

like, sorry, if you click on your tenth summon effigy at the start of any area that literally says "hey bro u can summon friends here" and ur still like "HURRRRRRR HOW DO I CO-OP???" just FUCK OFF and play cookie clicker or WoW. there aren't any barriers to this shit

DID u even play the game?? WTF

BTW, it's also a good thing that invasion can only happen vs a person doing co-op. souls invaders are largely sweaty min/max no-life gamers that wanna epic style dab on nubz with their twink builds, so it serves them right to get gang banged against a wall 3v1 most of the time. IF you could just invade a solo part way thru legacy dungeon EVERYONE would play the game solo in offline mode, and now you'd exclusively invade into 3-man meme gangbang bait squads

 

[Nathir]

What the fuck. Did I just see the nameless King and a bunch of Bloodborne beasts? Why even call this Elden Ring? Even if the gameplay is the best thing ever (doubt) and the lore makes perfect sense and all, you are just cheapening everything else Elden Ring retroactively. This has Dark Souls 3 vibes all over it.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

What the fuck. Did I just see the nameless King and a bunch of Bloodborne beasts? Why even call this Elden Ring? Even if the gameplay is the best thing ever (doubt) and the lore makes perfect sense and all, you are just cheapening everything else Elden Ring retroactively. This has Dark Souls 3 vibes all over it.

it's more like Killing Floor but with Dark Souls characters instead

 

[Damned Registrations]

IF you could just invade a solo part way thru legacy dungeon EVERYONE would play the game solo in offline mode, and now you'd exclusively invade into 3-man meme gangbang bait squads

What do you mean 'and now?' Gangbang squads are the only thing I've ever invaded into in ER. Like all open PVP games, it inevitably boils away all the normal people and leaves only the griefers and cheaters. Anybody interested in a fair fight does duels so they don't have to deal with the guy using twinked equipment or ledge guarding a ladder with a gank squad. Not to mention skipping the 'fun' of trying to find one guy in a huge fucking maze that might despawn at any moment.

 

[Dr1f7]

IF you could just invade a solo part way thru legacy dungeon EVERYONE would play the game solo in offline mode, and now you'd exclusively invade into 3-man meme gangbang bait squads

Gangbang squads are the only thing I've ever invaded into in ER.

no, you invade 2 or 3 people who are co-oping the map towards the boss
gangbang squad is 3 overgeared people who camp near bonfire and just sit around all day waiting for invaders. that's rare in ER. mostly you'll invade someone who is just playing the game.

btw remember as an invader you have map knowledge, npcs, pvp-specific build, twinking, all on your side which is a big enough of an advantage. if that's not enough for you to take on 2-3 people then git gud.

besides, invaders should just be an obstacle for the player not a death sentence

 

[Caim]

What the fuck. Did I just see the nameless King and a bunch of Bloodborne beasts? Why even call this Elden Ring? Even if the gameplay is the best thing ever (doubt) and the lore makes perfect sense and all, you are just cheapening everything else Elden Ring retroactively. This has Dark Souls 3 vibes all over it.

If you look closely you will also see the Centipede Demeon from DS1 and Duke's Dear Freja from DS2.

 

[Damned Registrations]

IF you could just invade a solo part way thru legacy dungeon EVERYONE would play the game solo in offline mode, and now you'd exclusively invade into 3-man meme gangbang bait squads

Gangbang squads are the only thing I've ever invaded into in ER.

no, you invade 2 or 3 people who are co-oping the map towards the boss
gangbang squad is 3 overgeared people who camp near bonfire and just sit around all day waiting for invaders. that's rare in ER. mostly you'll invade someone who is just playing the game.

btw remember as an invader you have map knowledge, npcs, pvp-specific build, twinking, all on your side which is a big enough of an advantage. if that's not enough for you to take on 2-3 people then git gud.

besides, invaders should just be an obstacle for the player not a death sentence

Maybe it's changed since then but yeah, 3 people sitting around waiting for invaders was exactly what I ran into when I tried invading. Over and over again. Usually near some sort of advantageous terrain like a doorway, ladder or staircase rather than a bonfire. They're not on the way to the boss, because I'd keep running into the same fucking group over and over. I don't know where the fuck you found people actually running a dungeon, but everywhere I tried was either empty or had gank squads. Not surprising since 'co-op' means a twink speedrunning you to the boss and killing it in about 15 seconds.

Souls multiplayer has always been a cool premise utterly ruined by the losers that use it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I think they just saw the popularity of the co-op and randomizer mods and decided to tap that demand to squeeze some final juice from the IP.

I can see it sort of makes sense from their pov it just sucks for us that were waiting for some big thing.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

BTW, it's also a good thing that invasion can only happen vs a person doing co-op. souls invaders are largely sweaty min/max no-life gamers that wanna epic style dab on nubz with their twink builds

The same could be said of some of the hosts I've invaded into. Tryhards are universal. Try again.

so it serves them right to get gang banged against a wall 3v1 most of the time.

No, it doesn't. Try again.

IF you could just invade a solo part way thru legacy dungeon EVERYONE would play the game solo in offline mode, and now you'd exclusively invade into 3-man meme gangbang bait squads

This is exactly how Dark Souls III and every game prior worked, and not everyone played in offline mode, or played Hollow/Unembered so they wouldn't get invaded. Souls players weren't pussies back then. We just lived with it.

btw remember as an invader you have map knowledge, npcs, pvp-specific build, twinking, all on your side which is a big enough of an advantage.

Hosts and phantoms all have access to these advantages. Invaders don't have ANY mechanical advantages on their side, and they're always, always outnumbered in Elden Ring.

besides, invaders should just be an obstacle for the player not a death sentence

If you believe this (and I partially do, too). Then you should get a Rune Arc just for "being an obstacle" or for killing the host's allies. The entire reward structure would need to change. Prior games had covenants, factions with flavored rewards for completing their objectives. ER has nothing to facilitate online interaction.

 

[Dr1f7]

The same could be said of some of the hosts I've invaded into. Tryhards are universal. Try again.

???
invadees haven't even completed the dungeon that's being invaded, so they can't be twinks, unless they had a friend drop shit for them
also u think PvE players are as try hard as PvP players? lol
i'm jealous of ur ignorance

No, it doesn't. Try again.

git gud fgt

This is exactly how Dark Souls III and every game prior worked, and not everyone played in offline mode, or played Hollow/Unembered so they wouldn't get invaded. Souls players weren't pussies back then. We just lived with it.

playing hollow/unembered is the same as playing offline.. and most people played hollow
every time i invaded in dks3 it was into a 3-man gank squad

Hosts and phantoms all have access to these advantages. Invaders don't have ANY mechanical advantages on their side, and they're always, always outnumbered in Elden Ring.

hosts have the npc enemies on their side?
hosts are twinks?
pve hosts are using pvp invasion build?
hosts who haven't completed the dungeon know the dungeon layout?
????????????????

If you believe this (and I partially do, too). Then you should get a Rune Arc just for "being an obstacle" or for killing the host's allies. The entire reward structure would need to change. Prior games had covenants, factions with flavored rewards for completing their objectives. ER has nothing to facilitate online interaction.

why do u need a reward to invade?
the reward is having fun pvp and screwing with someone
who the fuck uses rune arcs any way lmao

maybe miyazoki should come fly out and suck ur dick for being so brave to invade huh? LOL

`````````````````````````````````````````
get fucking rekt scrub

 

[Zothique]

Lots of whiners in the thread. At least they are trying something different, even if it ends up being shit.

 

[ADL]

Some people ITT are acting like they've been waiting for years and decades for a new From Soft game and this is what they're getting. It has barely been 15 months since we got Armored Core 6 and less than six months since the Erdtree expansion released.

Worst case scenario this is a low effort cash grab side project. Best case scenario it ends up being decent. Regardless of that outcome, I don't see how they can ship a multiplayer-focused project using their existing networking so I'm expecting significant improvements there and for those upgrades to benefit future "traditional" projects. In other words, Nightreign should be a net positive no matter how disappointed you are that this is what they're doing next.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Day 1 purchase. I see the usual low T homosexuals are in here whining about From Software's brilliance. Their lives revolve around crying about FS.

 

[Max Damage]

I get that it'll most likely be low effort filler release, but why 3 players limit? Couldn't they at least round it up to 4 like most quality co-op games do, or focus on a tight 2 player experience? 3 players is very uncommon, of notable releases I only remember Trine.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I get that it'll most likely be low effort filler release, but why 3 players limit? Couldn't they at least round it up to 4 like most quality co-op games do, or focus on a tight 2 player experience? 3 players is very uncommon, of notable releases I only remember Trine.

Trust in the masters who have been revolutionizing gaming since 2009. What seems impossible is not only possible but actually very easily doable. It's why they are the best, and why we follow them. FS is the savior of gaming and they will fix every genre in time. Chill TF out.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Some people ITT are acting like they've been waiting for years and decades for a new From Soft game and this is what they're getting. It has barely been 15 months since we got Armored Core 6 and less than six months since the Erdtree expansion released.

Worst case scenario this is a low effort cash grab side project. Best case scenario it ends up being decent. Regardless of that outcome, I don't see how they can ship a multiplayer-focused project using their existing networking so I'm expecting significant improvements there and for those upgrades to benefit future "traditional" projects. In other words, Nightreign should be a net positive no matter how disappointed you are that this is what they're doing next.

I think it's the trend they seem to be chasing with this that is making us recoil.

Fortnite, Battle Royale, MOBAs, extraction shooters, hero shooters etc. I just saw an IGN promo and that's pretty much how they (IGN) is trying to sell this game.

Now, it's possible this is not actually what FromSoft is trying to do, and it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't given FromSoft doesn't usually seem to be looking at the west for inspiration, but then i'm sure there are plenty of decline Japanese games they could be imitating so maybe that isn't really relevant.

Personally, i think western gaming is in the rut it is precisely because of the predominance of all this streamer bait shit. FromSoft made a name for themselves for being able to succeed in the west while bringing an old school conception of games as an experience, or as art even, in a true gaming sense (and none of that muh cinematic bullshit) in an age where all you see is shit like Overwatch, Valorant, League of Legends etc. All those games with loot boxes, micro transactions, store fronts. It's fucking sickening to even think about that shit and the idea of FromSoft going that way is just unthinkable. In fact, so unthinkable that there's a strong chance this isn't actually what they are doing. We like our black pills here in the Codex but as i said FromSoft doesn't usually look at the west for models to emulate. Unless there's popular Japanese precedents that i'm not aware of, like i said.

 

[Max Damage]

It's the next obvious step from open world, when you think about it, before they inevitably hop on gacha money.