ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN REVIEW/IMPRESSIONS

 Elden Ring Nightreign: A Game of Storms & Runes

So ladies & gentlemen, here we have my review on the newly released game from the giants at FromSoftware, Elden Ring Nightreign.

Released on PS4/5, Xbox Series S/X & PC respectively on the 29th May 2025.

Although all consoles were joining in on the fight to the Nightlords in Limveld, Crossplay was not available. To a lot of people's dismay it was, but I didn't find this out until later. Still a downer.

When entering Elden Ring Nightreign for the first time, it kind of feels like home again. Throwing you in to fight a boss with a few starting levels to get you going, where you're scripted to NOT WIN. Then you appear at the Roundtable Hold, greeted by a myserious character, donning a white hooded poncho of some kind. A familiar but oddly different looking place from the last game, to note.

Now myself, I'm quite the adventurer. I'm such a curious bastard, might as well be a cat (well I am a pussy lol). Nonetheless, I was eager to see if there was anything hidden around the Roundtable Hold, and to start with, nothing. But I managed to talk to the other characters you can play as (you start off with Wylder, Guardian, Ironeye, Raider, Recluse & Executor) and got some dialogue. I was able to find where to change characters & where to purchase relics for murk, from The Jar Bazaar. But I jumped in as Executor as he looked the most fun & he wasn't originally in the network test. (only Wylder,  Guardian, Ironeye & Recluse I think?) 

The game is laid out in the form of a Roguelike: you go Dungeon crawling ,with a random number attached to each individual item, meaning no two expeditions are the same.

Each level has a Nightlord, the final boss. Your goal is to defeat all Nightlords. 

All Nightlord have resistances, but also have weaknesses. Some Nightlord are weaker to Lightning, some are weaker to Fire. This can be checked before starting a match, which are titled "Expeditions".

And each level is laid out into 3 nights: you go out into Limveld on your spectral hawk, for Night 1. You go out, fighting field bosses, getting loot, find graces to level up using runes from bosses/enemies killed, getting health flasks from churches, fighting bosses for smithing stones in caves & while all of this is taking place, a circle will get smaller & smaller as time advances. If any of your team goes down during your run, you can revive them by hitting them with your weapon. But do be careful, the more times you go down, the longer it'll take to get you back up again. The revive meter above your character will keep filling each time you go down.  The circle, will then entrap you under an erdtree to fight the boss of the first night. Once cleared, the storm resets, night 2 begins. Same process as night 1: fight bosses, level up, get good loot, & aim for weapons the Nightlord you're fighting is weak to (So Ice Dragon? Fire weapons). Then when Night 2 finishes, you go inside a special lift to Night 3, where you get 1 final grace & merchant, to get prepared for the final fight against the Nightlord you chose at the start. 

Once slain, you'll recieve a great reward in the form of Relics. These items can be equipped to your character using Vessels, a multi-coloured item. A vessel has 3 slots to place Relics & these can benefit you & even your team during your expeditions. They comes in various colours: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow etc and can only be equipped to the corresponding slot on a vessel. So red ones in the red slot, yellow ones in the yellow slot, etc etc..

Each relic is different & has certain abilities to help you on your next run. So extra runes for you & your team, extra dexerity & arcane, extra stonesword key at the start etc..

The more Nightlords you defeat, the more rewards you get. You get rewarded a Garb (to change outfits & use merk earned from Expeditions to purchase new ones), some events that can happen during your Expeditions that'll benefit you (don't fault these, especially The Crater), and more. Even more so when the DLC drops in Q4 2025 (I called September, & they announced September).

Now my experience with Elden Ring: Nightreign? I had a blast playing it, of course, got infuriated at certain points & nightlords. I mean, it is a soulslike game still, you still have to dodge & use iframes etc. There definitely were some hard bosses; field ones, evergaol ones & nightlords alike. Some of them are also fights from previous games, but with maybe a new move or resistance on it, and some of them were really fun & great fights. A couple of them jarred me. But making sure you're strapped up for the fight, and you're on your dodge game, you'll be okay. 

The overall element of looting with a moving ring, surviving in the form of nights, is a fun & refreshing experience for me in the Elden Ring line, another great game from FromSoftware.

2 features that automatically stand out to me, like Elden Ring initially did, which is the soundtrack for the fights & the overall atmosphere/scenery of Limveld. It is beautiful, & was in awe once again, like I was on my first playthrough of Elden Ring.

Now of course there are some setbacks, that don't make this game perfect. The one constant issue I had was no indication on when the ring was going to start moving again. What I mean by this is to implement some form of, like, a 30 second timer as a reminder to move, then the ring moves as normal after that timer ends. This has led me to multiple lost runes & levels. An example of this is when I go down underground of a castle to fight a boss, and the storm is coming in through the room so quickly, I don't notice & die & cannot get my runes back as it's in the storm. Why? No indication on when the ring is going to move.

Another issue I did have with the game is also the lacking of Duos (just playing with 1 friend), as when I played this on release, it was only on my own or in a trio, and I only had 1 friend who joined me. So we were left with 1 random player, which probably didn't help that guy either. In any case, as of writing, they announced Duos being added.

There are some smaller, buggier ones, but those have typically been covered in the Elden Ring Discord.

Is this game flawless? No. Is it a fun game? Oh yeah of course. Is it worth the price tag? personally, yes I'd say so. Better if it was on sale, but the price is good enough. A game you can pick up for about $30-40, a game for those who want another fresh take with Elden Ring, an Elden Ring Co-Op PvE experience, overall a very fun & emotional ride. came for Executor, stayed for Ironeye. 

My verdict?

8.5/10

Can do with more tweaks & adjustments, but overall as of writing, it is a great game to play with friends.