Elden Ring: Nightreign | REVIEW

 

“Nightreign felt like a greatest hits album that does nothing but ROCK YOUR FACE OFF" 

PC | PS5 | XBOX SERIES

HOW I PLAYED: I played Elden Ring Nightreign on all available platforms! I played on PC via Steam on my R7 7800X3D, RTX 3080 gaming PC. Then I played on PS5 via the Digital Deluxe edition, which includes both the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game, and I 100%'d all three of those. And I even purchased the Xbox One version of the game to play on my Xbox One S.

 

I want to start off by setting an expectation for this review. I am a complete FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki GLAZER! Full time! I would suck Miyazaki's dick to completion in a heartbeat if it meant we get the next FromSoft title out faster. I have been a fan since 2015 and Bloodborne completely took over my life. I have played every Miyazaki-era FromSoftware release and have probably put at least 300 hours into each game on average.

Most people ask me if I enjoy a lot of the "Souls-likes" that have released in recent years, and my answer is always "No," as none of them have even come CLOSE to FromSoftware's legacy in the gaming genre THEY created. Some games have come close to being "decent"—Lies of P and Black Myth: Wukong come to mind—but they still don't hold a candle to FromSoftware's worst title in their series, Dark Souls II (Fight ME).

So keep all that in mind before we continue with this review.

STORY — 16/20 

INTRO -4

Elden Ring Nightreign has a great cinematic intro (which us FromSoft fans aren't used to) and you get a quick glimpse of the world of Limveld and how the Night mechanic works in the game. You are introduced to the new mechanics of Nightreign with a quick intro section that gets you accustomed to the new minor ult and major ult as well as the new running and vaulting / climbing mechanic. You walk in thinking "I don't need a TUTORIAL? I am an ELDEN LORD" and you will be quickly humbled when you have a match against Margit The Fell Omen again, who is MUCH more nimble and has some new attacks up his sleeves to DUNK on you with. No matter your outcome you are brought to Nightreigns version of the Roundtable Hold which is the main hub of the game.

CUTSCENES -4

True FromSoftware fashion the Cutscenes in Nightreign are sparing but when they happen they are incredible and leave you with more questions than answers to previous ones. There is an incredible Story Trailer that Bandai Namco released on the games launch, and I wish that cutscene was included in the game (Same as previous story trailers) but it is not. If you complete each of the games Nightfarers story quest-lines you are treated with some pretty amazing / shocking cutscenes. 

WORLD BUILDING -4

Elden Ring Nightreign is based in the same Universe as Elden Ring and even Dark Souls to an extent. But it is neither a prequel or sequel to any of the series. It exists on it's own, and I personally love that. I really didn't care too much as I saw this game like a Hyrule Warriors or just as a "Greatest Hits" compilation with the new Multiplayer mechanics. I think all of the story elements that were packed into Nightreign were a nice treat, I literally would have been fine with

"Wouldn't it be cool to fight the Nameless King again?"

"HELL YES! TAKE MY MONEY"

OVERALL STORY -4

The overall story of Nightreign is a great end to end experience. It leaves it open to sequels if this game is proven successful (As of writing this, FromSoftware has announced the game has sold 5 million copies already). 

Basically your squad is after the "Nightlord" who is trying to take over the lands with permanent night. And each of the "Nightfarers" has their own unique backstory and drive for why they want to end the night. It is nothing too convoluted but the trusty VaatiVidya has already made a great video explaining in great detail the story of Elden Ring Nightreign. When I rolled credits for the first time I left feeling very satisfied and was greatly surprised how my experience with the game ended up being.

GRAPHICS — 11/15 

CHARACTER MODELS -4

The Nightfarer character models all look incredible, you think you have an idea of what the characters might look like before jumping in. But in true FromSoftware fashion they completely exceed your expectations. You have your cover art hero "Wylder" and a character who we all thought was the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls 3. Turns out we were all wrong and it is actually a new character named "The Dutchess". All of the 8 nightfarers all have unique aspects and details that are immensley carried by FromSoftware's art direction. And even on their aging graphics engine they still look amazing.

ENVIRONMENTS -3

The Environments are very close to Limgrave from the base game. I was a little let down by this as I was sure before the games release that we were only seeing 1 map and that there would be multiple. FromSoftware does change up the map of Limveld with "Shifting Earth Events" that can give you 1 of 4 events (The Crater, The Mountain Top, The Rotted Woods, Noklateo the Shrouded City). But basically if you have played Elden Ring than you have seen what most of the environments look like in Nightreign. 

SPECIAL FX -4

It's Elden Ring but turned up to 11! All of the weapon effects from Elden Ring are present in Nightreign but some new ones have been added as well. The speed of the game is might faster and therefor the action is much faster. I love the twist on spirit springs and how they absolutely LAUNCH your character in the stratosphere. All of the ashes of war available on weapons look incredible and each of the Nightfarers but what is really badass is each of the Nightfarers ultimate abilities. 

AUDIO — 14/15 

AMBIENCE -4

The music team at FromSoftware have really hit a peak that no one can touch. The OST for Nightreign is pretty close to being as epic and insane as the Elden Ring & Shadow Of The Erdtree OST but it's not quite there. But still I am massively impressed how much heart they put into each track featured in this game. If you listen to the main title track carefully it sounds like a play off from the main Elden Ring theme. Truly amazing!

BOSS MUSIC -5

The boss music is top tier in Nightreign, no different than other FromSoft titles of the last 10 years. You will understand why soo many other studio's boss music disappointed me when you have heard any FromSoftware boss track. 

I laughed to myself as there were times going up against one of the final nightlords with some friends and one of them mid fight stopped to say "This Boss is so majestic". But it was true! Some of the battles are super cinematic and majestic with the combination of how amazing the boss mechanics are along with the amazing boss music. 

SOUND DESIGN -5

It's a FromSoftware game, so everything is amazing. They only get the BEST voice actors even when it's a tiny nothing role. All of the sound effects of weapons and enemies are top knotch. Playing this game with headphones as I was queuing up with friends I loved how much spacial awareness is in the game. The sound design and mixing is on the level of a Call Of Duty who has been making multiplayer for 20+ years. 

PERFORMANCE — 9/10 

FRAME RATE  -4

Like I mentioned earlier I have tested Nightreign on every single platform. I was let down that they did not include a high frame-rate option to 120fps like they did with Armored Core since this is a multiplayer game. The game caps out at 60fps which is standard for FromSoftware games, but this was disappointing for 2025. On consoles you only have the 2 standard options, Performance or Quality but I would never recommend anyone play this game on Quality mode and be capped at 30fps in a high paced game like this. 

 

On any decent PC you should be able to get consistent performance at 60fps. I found the PS5 struggled to keep a consistent 60fps and would have occasional dips to the mid 50's or even high 40's. This even happens on the PS5 pro due to the CPU limitations. You CAN play the PS4 version of the game on PS5 and you will be at a locked 60fps but there are major drawbacks to achieve this. The Draw distance of the game is massively reduced so you will be running into an area and the enemy would appear right in front of you all of a sudden. Also the lower res textures and details do stand out a bit when you have played the other versions.

Also the PS4 version had a weird input delay, you would run up to an item or site of grace and you would not get the button prompt for a few seconds instead of instantly.  so hopefully that gets fixed in a future update.

STABILITY -5

I am genuinely shocked at how this is FromSoftware's FIRST ever multiplayer focused game and it JUST WORKS. Literally the game launched with almost no issues, and the core gameplay mechanic is FUN and addictive. There were no major bugs or glitches, every once in a while when you kill a field boss an item didn't drop, but I blame that on my friend not paying his internet bill 👀

GAMEPLAY — 36/40 

CONTROLS -5

It's Elden Ring with a twist. I loved how they changed up the controls to fit the faster playstyle and now I find them more fluent than the base game. I hate to admit but I do find it weird now holding circle or B to run...

MECHANICS -5

I LOVE the new mechanics in Nightreign. The SPEED at which your character moves is a complete game changer. At first you have to get used to just how fast you move and you will over run your target and miss. 

NERD MOMENT

it reminded me when Zechs from Gundam Wing had to get used to driving the Tallgeese suit. 

 

The diverse abilities the Nightfarers have and how well they work together when playing together. If you have a tight group of people to play with it is almost like conducting an orchestra with the different abilities. But if you don't have a group that is working well together it can be a MASSIVE travesty.  

PACING -5

Elden Ring Nightreign is so fast paced that it will definitely (and has) turned off a lot of old school FromSoftware fans. This game is NOT about exploring or taking a moment to enjoy scenery. This game is about making split second decisions and I fucking LOVE IT!!!!

This game is all about flexing your souls game skills in short 45 minute chunks. The game splits each session into 3 nights. Day 1 and day 2 take about 15 minutes each as the map gradually closes in after each 5 minute increment, finally closing in on the final night boss fight. 

My biggest complaint with Elden Ring is that it is such a big game and whenever I replay it I always get to about Radhan and I am already kinda fatigued with how far each section of the game is from eachother. Nightreign is the PERFECT solution for me, because if I want my Elden Ring fix in about 45 ish minutes, BOOM I can just play a round of Nightreign. EXACTLY what I was looking for.

UI/UE -4

Nightreign adds new mechanics with map and how you can mark your next objective. I wish you could have numbered markers like you do in the base Elden Ring so you can show your team where you are planning for them to go. 

I still love how minimal FromSoftware keep their UI and menu's. It's still a long time joke as to imagine "What if a studio like EA or Ubisoft made this game?" How much crap would be on your screen. FromSoft just have the essentials! There are some small announcement texts when the Night is closing in or if there is a world event. But other than that its just the normal Elden Ring UI that you are used to.

 

If it aint broke... 

BOSS QUALITY -5

All of the newly released Nightlords are amazing! There is a little bit of everything amongst the 8 bosses. I have seen a lot of people complain because in the first 2 days you just fight re used bosses from Elden Ring and some of the Dark Souls games, but I am on the other side for this. I think it is AWESOME! Getting to re match The Nameless King or Smelter Demon with your Fast as FUCK Nightfarer is soo much fun. Again I treat this game like a FromSoftware greatest hits. And There is still DLC that has yet to release so I am looking forward to the plethera of bosses they can add from the previous titles. And FromSoftware has been releasing "Enhanced" versions of the 8 bosses which adds a 3rd phase to the previous boss fights and enhances them to make them harder for players who are looking for additional challenges.

 

These bosses are no throw away bosses either! They are all pretty much peak. Most players have probably been filtered from Libra or even the very first Nightlord Gladius. 

ENEMY VARIETY -3

The basic mobs are all from the base Elden Ring, which can be kind of dissapointing. But to be honest, when you start getting smart with your runs they all end up just being fodder that are mostly temporary obstacles than they are enemies that you fight. So I am perfectly fine with them being the basic godrick soldiers and dogs and a few other base level enemies.

GAMEPLAY VARIETY -4

If you don't like Elden Ring combat then you won't like Nightreign and you won't think there is any gameplay variety. But I am giving this game a high score because you can literally replay the same Nightlord run and have different experiences. You can replay as the different Nightfarers who play completely different and do challenge runs, this game is just soo addictive with it's gameplay loop. 

REPLAYABILITY -5

Let's put it this way. I started this game on PC and got the 100% achievement on Steam, then I moved to the PS5 version and got the platinum trophy there and then I had to get the platinum for the PS4 version that comes with buying the digital deluxe edition. THEN I even purchased the Xbox version of the game so I can get the 100% there. 

I have dumped 250 hours into this game and it is LITERALLY all I think about. Any souls lover will LOVE Nightreign

IF

You have friends to play with. I can totally and completely understand the low reviews for this game if you don't have friends who at minimum semi competent souls players to play Nightreign with. If you play this game solo or with randoms you can't communicate with... this game becomes PURE GARBAGE.

But when you have a tight group of 3 (and now 2 with the new duos feature) it feels SOOOO FUCKING GOOD when you are fighting a boss and one of your friends pulls a clutch Ultimate or get's the final hit using a super dumb attack. This game is all about the multiplayer experience. YES YOU CAN play it solo and offline, but the experience quickly drops to a 5/10 or lower. 

BONUS — 0/3

FromSoftware has never really added good accessibility options, and you know what? I am ok with that. 

OVERALL — 86/100 

GREAT

Elden Ring NIGHTREIGN Is my surprise game of 2025, as a full time FromSoftware GLAZER I knew I would like this game but the multiplayer aspect did have me worried. I have never enjoyed the PVP scene in their previous games and I assumed I would play this game solo and finish the campaign and maybe get 20ish hours out of it and move on.

I WAS WRONG!

This has become the most addicting game for me in years! And it scratches all the itches I crave for FromSoftware games and I get to satisfy that itch with it's condensed 45 minute experience. I think Nightreign was a slam dunk for FromSoftware, testing out a new Director Junya Ishizaki and letting him try something new while playing it safe and responsible by using a HUGE well of assets the studio already owned with their previous titles.

 

This game at no point felt like an "asset flip" it felt like a greatest hits album that does nothing but ROCK YOUR FACE OFF with each track. As of writing this review Nightreign has sold over 5 million copies... this game has completely exceeded expectations and should probably win Action Game Of The Year.

 

FromSoftware... you had my curiousity with Nightreign... but NOW you have my ATTENTION! And I 100% am looking forward to The Duskbloods. 

PROS

✅ Addictive gameplay

✅ Fluid movement and combat

✅ Amazing bosses

✅ Insane replay value

 

CONS

❌ PS4 version has input lag on PS5

❌ Xbox One and PS4 versions are almost unplayable on previous gen consoles

❌ It will take over your life

TLDR: 86/100 (GREAT) Elden Ring: Nightreign is a blisteringly fast, multiplayer-focused spinoff that plays like a FromSoftware greatest hits album - pure fanservice, and unapologetically awesome if you're the right audience. It brings tight, 45-minute sessions filled with intense action, smart new mechanics, and insane boss fights, all wrapped in familiar FromSoft style. Story is solid but not the focus; instead, it thrives on addictive gameplay and high replayability. It’s best enjoyed with a competent squad—solo play is drastically weaker. If you love FromSoft and have friends to run with, Nightreign is a must-play.

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