While various influencers already talked about their experience with a Nightreign demo, it seems they left out some details. After some long network issues, the Network Test has given fortunate players a keen taste of what’s to come. Here’s a rundown of the 11 biggest realisations I had, while playing the Network Test for several hours.
1: Elden Ring Nightreign is Fast
This news came to light before the network test, but now we know exactly how true it is. Nightreign is a roguelike that is constantly pushing the player to move from one spot to another. Harvesting enemies and bosses takes time, and the damaging ‘Night Rain’ encloses surprisingly quickly, so there’s no time for anything unnecessary. This pressure is good, motivating players to think fast about their priorities, and traverse the world efficiently. New movement mechanics are both satisfying and important to use all the time. Even familiar bosses are wonderfully dramatic, if you can see the rain is close. Chills!
This pressure will have downsides for some. To be frank, players who find it uncomfortable to play at a fast-pace should abandon Nightreign. The game leaves very little time for you to admire the new environment and architecture. It looks just as striking as Elden Ring, with its own visual quirks such as the Shadow Giants that roam the edge of the map, and new castles. But unlike Elden Ring, the player lacks the option to explore at their own pace. That’s not to say the game is excessively fast, and you don’t have to play perfectly to win. It’s very similar to the beloved ‘Risk of Rain 2’, suiting a specific niche.
Fun fact: It’s most likely that Risk of Rain 2 served as the main inspiration for this game formula. It was one of the few games asked about in the Network Test survey.
2: Start Weak, Progress Fast
One aspect of the game drawing criticism is how weak your heroes feel at the start. It’s true that heroes begin at level 1 with very low maximum health. At this stage you’re a few hits from death no matter what you face, and fragile classes have it worse. The trick is that you can snowball in levels very quickly, you just have to pick your battles cautiously in the beginning. The issue is overblown and strategy wins the day.
Elden Nightreign has introduced a hands-off levelling system, where every level-up increases your stats by a preset degree, depending on which hero you picked. The process has been streamlined so players don’t lose momentum. You collect plenty of runes from any enemy you’re comfortable fighting, find a grace in the world, and spam those level-ups. All your bars go up, giving players so many more options to meet level-requirements for gear and survive harder bosses. Graces are still your bread-and-butter just like Elden Ring, as they also restore all your health and flasks. Forget graces at your own peril! The difference between Level 1 and Level 15 is colossal.
3: Your Team is Everything
Nightreign allows you to play with friends using password matchmaking, just as before. In a newer discovery, you can select whether your password group contains 2 or 3 players. Select 2 if you only have one friend to play with and need a random 3rd. It’s not true duos, but it’s the next best thing and helps out lone players.
Unsurprisingly, the difference between custom and random matchmaking is night and day. I found that before passwords were enabled, play with randoms was a struggle that made some runs almost impossible to win. Nightreign has impressive map marking communications, and randoms usually stuck together well enough. But if your teammates keep dying, there is little chance you can clutch up on your own against the horde. Souls games just aren’t designed for you to fight multiple boss enemies at once by yourself.
I had 1 successful run, but after passwords were enabled, I had 3 consecutive successful runs. Spoken communication is a game changer, allowing you divvy up loot less greedily, stick to a precise travel plan, and save your ultimate abilities for when you truly need them. Heroes like Wylder and Duchess have incredible ability synergy, while Guardian’s ultimate is a saving grace that needs to be stored. Friends can make the whole thing too easy, especially if they’re hardcore. But as the game is bound to get harder, I’d aim to play Nightreign with friends.
Unfortunately we know nothing yet about how true solo play will work, we only know it’s possible.
4: Nightreign Bosses are Tanky
This is another aspect of the Network Test under fire. The bosses you fight at night were tanky far beyond what we’re used to. This is the case because enemies are scaled to match the power of a trio. Alone players hit for low damage, but together they can beat on the boss while damage snowballs. This does take away from your individual power, but teaming and abilities are clearly the keys to Nightreign.
That being said, some bosses were too tanky. Network Testers agree that one of the second night bosses, Draconic Tree Sentinel, was overpowered. Whereas Morgott was a tanky solo boss, Sentinel was a trio boss that felt tanky x3. Hopefully Fromsoftware can fix such imbalances, and nerf group bosses a bit.
5: New Character Movesets
I was surprised to find heros not only have unique abilities, but weapon movesets unique to them. Wylder, Duchess and Guardian had different attack animations for their starting weapon class. Wylder is a pro with greatswords, Duchess with daggers and Guardian with halberds. These changes breathe new life into old weapon types, and break a Fromsoftware trend of reusing animations. Even critical hits are newly animated to feel faster and smoother than ever before, preserving the game’s momentum. It’s a nice incentive to search for loot that fits your hero’s style and talents.
6: New Boss Attacks
Pleasantly many returning bosses have new abilities that can spice up or completely transform the fight. This is especially true for night bosses. I saw the demi-human queen spawn enslaved demi-humans, the Draconic Tree Sentinel transform into lightning like Placidusax, and Morgott use countless new attacks. There are enough small additions in the right places to build completely fresh encounters using old assets. Morgott fought like an upgraded, potentially more lore-accurate version of himself. Let’s hope returning bosses like Nameless King get the same treatment.
7: Legendary Weapon Effects
We’ve heard already that every weapon you pick up has a passive effect, different rarities, and you can carry 6 at a time with no weight cost. The higher the rarity, the more flat damage the weapon deals. So you should aim to use your rarest weapon, and rack up 5 useful passives on the side. This motivates players to experiment with different weapons every run, making use of blue and purple loot.
In the Sparring Grounds I got to try out any weapon I liked. What I discovered is that every legendary (golden) weapon has a special passive effect tied to it. Boss weapons have received exciting upgrades in Nightreign, related to the boss. For example, the Blade of Melania restores recently lost player health on hit, and Morgott’s Cursed Sword releases curse explosions on critical hits. These are seriously powerful effects that will deepen your build in ways base Elden Ring did not, if you can find them!
8: Nightreign Ultimates are Awesome
We’ve seen already that Nightreign’s heroes are capable of showier abilities, such as epic dive-bombing, that they use on a cooldown. What I’ve learnt is that every hero’s Ultimate gives them complete immunity to damage. No matter what the situation is, you can get as close to the danger as possible before letting it rip. Therefore it’s a great move to use when you feel cornered. You can use it as a panic button, or time it right to ignore a boss’ scariest attack. Even if your Ultimate is supportive or niche, the immunity helps elevate your gameplay.
Ultimates are also revive machines. When your teammates are down, you actually need to damage them on the ground to get them up. The damage required gets higher and higher as they keep dying, so often your Ultimate is your best option to pick them up without risking your neck.
9: Nightreign Catalysts are Streamlined
We now know how spells have been incorporated into Nightreign. You don’t have to build a collection of spells. Instead, every Sorcerer’s Staff or Sacred Seal you find has 2 spells attached to it. For example, I found a Gelmir Glintstone Staff that came with ‘Swift Glintstone Shard’ and ‘Magma Shot’ as a light and heavy attack. Any character can use spells, and you don’t even have to cycle through them. It’s worthwhile to have such ranged attacks, especially to revive downed teammates.
10: Morgott is Special
The rumours were true: Morgott can ambush players in the world at any time during the day. This gets especially hectic when you’re already fighting a boss and he joins in. He appeared every few runs, teleporting on a chosen player and marking them for death. He’s designed to single out players, and if he successfully kills them he debuffs them before disappearing.
This is an interesting, high-stakes encounter. He was a difficult boss we were supposed to beat later, but if you manage to beat him early the team gets a special reward. We all received an improved cooldown for our Ultimate abilities. This invasion mechanic is shaping up to be an interesting challenge for the best players, that will likely include other icons besides Morgott and keep you on your toes.
11: Full Sprint is Awesome
There are 2 sprints in the game. The classic one, and a breakneck sprint like Sekiro that allows you to travel great distances without torrent. The new sprint takes away your ability to crouch, but it is fun and a massive bonus even in combat. This sprint is all you need to keep yourself safe from bosses, positioning around their attacks and outrunning their projectiles. Many projectiles that could not be strafed in base Elden Ring now can be, which is great for the fragile heroes. Support heroes can use it to remain in the background as long as they like.
Similar to Torrent’s dash, the full sprint consumes a lot of stamina during combat, but only when you start it. This means full sprint is best used to move great distances, and basic sprint still has its place. Still, it changes the dynamic of Elden Ring completely as players can now keep up with even the speediest bosses.