- 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 20/Jun 00:25

ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN – Review

There’s no denying that ELDEN RING is one of the top Soulslike games out there. The open world setting, George R. R. Martin’s involvement in writing the backstory, and the great gameplay mechanics made for an amazing experience. Even now, the game still has a lot of followers, and there’s also a huge crowd eager to experience it for the first time with the upcoming Switch 2 release. Today, however, we’ll be taking a closer look at ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, the spin-off roguelite title that is geared towards cooperative play. While different compared to the original, we enjoyed it a lot. Story While there is a storyline in ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, it’s in the background for most of the experience. There are some cinematics after key moments, but NIGHTREIGN follows the format of other Soulslike titles, where it’s all about the gameplay. In this case, you’ll be playing as a Nightfarer who is summoned to combat the Nightlords. By doing this, you may restore order to the world of Limveld. It’s a simple premise, but it works. Graphics ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN still looks great, but that comes with a sidenote: the game reuses most of the assets of the original 2022 game. There are, of course, new bosses added to the mix, but a lot of what is present in NIGHTREIGN is recycled content. Is this a bad thing? Not really, as it all takes place in almost the same world anyway. The Nightlords provide great new boss designs, but that’s about it. We still enjoyed revisiting the world of ELDEN RING, even though it felt a lot smaller this time around due to the format of the game. Nonetheless, the game runs smoothly, safe for one or two stutters when the action gets too hectic. While we assumed this could have been an issue with our system, the same occurred for our co-op partners at the exact same time. We can’t really state if it’s an optimization issue or perhaps a server issue. Sound Even though NIGHTREIGN has a very cinematic soundtrack, it is somewhat limited in variety as you’re always stuck in the same area (albeit with a different layout for each run). What’s present is great, but if you’re playing with friends, chances are that you’ll probably be in a voice call with them. The SFX provide great audio feedback for the hack-and-slash action that takes place onscreen. Gameplay ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN is a roguelite spin-off title of 2022’s ELDEN RING. There will be no massive open world setting this time, but a more compact ‘run-based’ format instead. Is it still ELDEN RING? Yes. Is it also completely different? That too. Every run you play will consist of two in-game days where you can explore the map and kill monsters and bosses for additional experience and loot. Exploration is not unlimited, as there’s a burning ring that starts to shrink, making the area you can freely explore smaller and smaller. If you don’t go to the middle zone quickly enough, you’ll most likely perish in the fire. On the third day, you’ll take on the boss that you chose before starting your run. Win or lose, you’ll get some rewards, but defeating the Nightlords will net you cooler items, of course. The loot and experience you have accumulated will go away after each run, however. Each run will take around 45 minutes before you reach the end. The items you get after a run may vary depending on how well you performed. In most cases, you’ll get a few Relics and Murk. These Relics can be equipped on different characters, depending on the color type of the slots they go in. Relics provide characters with bonuses, giving them a minor edge during their next run(s). Murk can be used to purchase stuff from merchants, such as more Relics. The game also has a few unlockable characters, which is also progress in a certain sense. There is no real gear upgrade system in between runs, so it will take some time to get used to the roguelite format if you’re diving in after playing the original game. In terms of actual gameplay, things still feel a lot like the classic ELDEN RING experience, albeit on steroids. Everything feels faster and perhaps even smoother than the original game experience. We actually quite enjoyed the faster pace of the game, as it made sure that runs didn’t take too long. During runs, there is no real pause function, so you’ll have to keep playing until your party meets its untimely demise or when the run is over. Allies can resurrect each other by attacking their fallen allies, but when everyone goes down, it’s game over. We do have to say that the game is not very accessible to newcomers to the ELDEN RING universe, but if you have a party of patient friends, you will be able to get the hang of things in a reasonable timeframe. Even though we enjoyed what the game had to offer, NIGHTREIGN’s most egregious omission is crossplay. The game does not support crossplay at all, which is an absolute shame. While we never truly had to wait that long to find matches on PC, we sadly could not join our friends who picked up the game on PlayStation 5. Especially in a gaming landscape where crossplay is the norm for many big releases, we found it a shame that FromSoftware failed to implement this feature. Conclusion ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN proved to be an interesting spin-off of the original Soulslike title that won over fans of the genre back in 2022. This new deviation from the traditional formula is great for more focused multiplayer sessions where all players are somewhat equal in terms of power. While skill is a key component to success in vanquishing the Nightlords, we had a blast playing with friends, even when failing certain bosses for the umpteenth time. With new Nightfarers to be added to the mix in the future, we are looking forward to seeing how this ELDEN RING experience evolves.