Elden Ring Nightreign is the first FromSoftware game that I honestly wish I could play on easy

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Elden Ring Nightreign is hard in a way that no FromSoftware game over the last decade has been.

In contrast to Dark Souls and Elden Ring, which typically reward careful play, Nightreign calls for the frantic pace of a speedrunner. Unlike their intricate dungeons that require memorization for efficient navigation to collect powerful weapons or crucial items on subsequent tries, Nightreign’s layouts are randomized. The map may be brimming with weapons that can quickly defeat bosses… but it might not provide any at all.

In most of FromSoftware’s recent titles, you usually have an option to quickly retry a boss after failure by using a shortcut or respawn point. However, in Nightreign, if you lose, you must redo the entire 40-minute level for another attempt.

Following approximately 30 hours of gameplay with Nightreign during the specified timeframe, I am confident it has the potential to become an exceptional cooperative social gathering game; however, this can only be achieved if FromSoftware incorporates features that significantly simplify the gameplay experience.

Moreover, it becomes more difficult as well. However, the true appeal of roguelikes lies beyond simply conquering progressively tougher obstacles, which is where traditional Souls games shine.

Nightreign isn’t as challenging as Sekiro or Bloodborne in every moment, but dying can feel disheartening because FromSoftware’s multiplayer experiment lacks the full-fledged features typically found in roguelike games, such as supporting systems that usually make these types of games engaging.

Randomize this

Back in Tokyo’s FromSoftware offices last December, conquering and vanquishing the initial Nightlord, Gladius, was an exhilarating milestone: after enduring four grueling hours of getting our behinds handed to us as we acclimated to the game and honed our teamwork skills, we were ready for payback when we scored some fantastic weapon upgrades on the following run. What a rush!

As a gamer, I can tell you that reaching the boss in Nightreign, only to lose, feels particularly disheartening. The few scraps of random, seemingly insignificant loot hardly make up for the time invested. Losing in any roguelike game can be frustrating, as they are designed to keep things fresh and tough with their vast arrays of weapons, enemies, and modifiers. Yet, losing in Nightreign hits differently because it presents a single objective – survive to the end and defeat the Nightlord for superior rewards, or fall short and receive lesser ones. This singular focus can make each setback feel more personal and impactful compared to other roguelikes that offer multiple paths to success.

In Nightreign, every “day” is merely a few minutes of intense looting, and each climax presents a life-threatening confrontation with colossal enemies who can easily eliminate you with a single strike. This game represents the epitome of FromSoftware’s challenging design; if you’re not completely focused, you’ve likely already met your demise.

Occasionally, I’m very eager for it, but as I delve deeper into Nightreign, I believe its long-term appeal could be significantly enhanced if FromSoftware had dedicated more effort to reusing assets and included a multitude of bosses from Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Some of these bosses would have been relatively easy, allowing me to defeat them with minimal concentration.

Additionally, I prefer the challenging bosses that Nightreign offers! However, rather than serving as the sole objectives, the Nightlords, numbering eight in total, could represent the pinnacle of the game’s goals. This would be followed by a range of less difficult and more diverse challenges spread throughout the game.

As a gamer,

1. Elden Ring Nightreign Tips – Kickstarting My Adventure Right: Discover the optimal strategies to begin my journey in Nightreign.
2. Nightreign Tier List – Unveiling the Most Potent Nightfarers: Explore the rankings of the most powerful Nightfarers for an edge in combat.
3. Best Nightreign Rune Farm Route – Speeding Up My Leveling Process: Learn the most efficient path to collect runes and level up rapidly.
4. Ideal Nightreign Team Compositions – Achieving Squad Goals: Uncover the best combinations of characters for a formidable team in battle.
5. Nightreign’s Best Relics – Essential Items for the Rite Stuff: Gain insights into the most useful relics to enhance my abilities and equipment.
6. Nightreign Bosses List – Conquering Every Nightlord: Prepare myself by familiarizing with each boss I will encounter on my journey through Nightreign.

Night scores

It’s amusing to observe certain commentators swiftly dismiss Nightreign as a trend-following cash grab, not realizing that it actually avoids incorporating most of the conventional characteristics often found in roguelikes which keep me coming back for more. To illustrate this, let’s consider Hades as a point of reference: at first, reaching the final battle against the underworld god is quite challenging. However, as your abilities improve, you also accumulate points that allow you to become stronger. The game doesn’t end with that final battle; instead, it continues to evolve and grow, offering so much more beyond just beating Hades—and this is what makes the experience truly rewarding, rather than leading to a quick “ggwp uninstall”.

1. Each weapon has multiple variations that alter their gameplay style.

2. By adding specific modifications, you increase the difficulty level during each playthrough, leading to enhanced rewards.

3. Spending time cultivating connections with various characters will yield exclusive items.

Apart from being gratifying, these activities also provide a reason for multiple playthroughs. For instance, you might desire to increase the challenge by adding numerous difficulty settings and emerge victorious against Hades in his toughest form – such an endeavor demands full concentration. However, following one of those intense battles, you might prefer simply enjoying the game’s environment, completing a less demanding run with a weapon that isn’t frequently used, or wrapping up the questline for a character that you haven’t fully explored yet.

In the game I enjoy most, Risk of Rain 2, my friends and I frequently adjust the challenge level to easy so we can witness how insanely powerful our character builds become. We typically skip engaging the final boss and instead focus on repeatedly progressing through levels to accumulate as many bizarre items as possible. On other occasions, we crank up the difficulty to hard, aiming to reach the boss as swiftly as possible to vanquish him and conquer one of the game’s main objectives—an achievement that requires both skillful play and a fair dose of luck with random number generation (RNG).

As a gamer, it’d be absolutely thrilling to have similar options in Nightreign! I’d love to tweak some imaginary settings to make gameplay last longer, like playing for four days instead of two. Imagine having my entire inventory filled with legendary weapons, taking down field bosses with just one swift strike using the Sword of Night and Flame! Or how about facing the final boss on a tougher difficulty level like NG++, and receiving a unique reward for such an achievement.

It’s not unusual for FromSoftware games not to include checklists of challenges and rewards, so it’s not surprising that Nightreign doesn’t have them either. However, adding more objectives for players could have been easily achieved with minor structural adjustments, such as introducing additional progression systems beyond just finding random relics and the memory fragment tasks for each character. Additionally, including lower-level bosses to fight in casual playthroughs would have provided more content for players to engage with.

I’d like to enter my boss’s office and find Pinwheel there, ready for me to shatter his bones with just one strike. Let’s provide each character with a couple of initial weapons and unique ultimate abilities that can be unlocked by completing specific tasks during battles. How about setting a goal for me to defeat every boss in a single attempt?

This version aims to convey the same meaning as the original while using more natural and easy-to-read language, and adding some additional details like providing each character with alternate weapons and abilities. The final sentence challenges the player to complete a difficult task, which adds an element of excitement and challenge to the gameplay experience.

It’s possible that Nightreign could receive more post-release updates compared to the usual games from FromSoftware. The developers have hinted at adding new characters, additional bosses, and “extra DLC,” which presumably means they’ll be introducing new content. I hope this translates to them borrowing ideas from successful games that thrive on unpredictability. Much like PC Gamer’s Tyler Colp, I’ve enjoyed the rapid-fire reinterpretation of Elden Ring offered by Nightreign. However, I’m eager for more reasons to continue playing it extensively.

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2025-06-01 18:03