Waking up in a familiar room consumed by the very vines and trees it laid its foundations on, the Roundtable hold had seen much better days, even as a place of sanctuary to fellow Tarnished warriors of whichever numbered fingers they pledged allegiance to. It had seen much worse as well, going up in flames as you receive an old friend’s dying wish to put an end to ethereal beings older than himself, whilst the charge he no longer recognises weeps across from him. The Roundtable hold’s rooms are filled with rolled-out rugs and tents for the weary, its walls broken down in certain sections that now lead to an outdoor training area, with candlelit hallways that illuminate doors to familiar rooms where you’d expect to meet familiar faces, but which are now otherwise unoccupied except for the storage of supplies and scrolls.
This is now a Nightfarer’s home, as the Spectral Hawks await their call to fly into uncertain lands and embark on the hunt for the Night Lord. Geek Culture was granted a preview of Elden Ring Nightreign, the upcoming action role-playing spin-off from FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment’s award-winning original, and it continues to be a wonderfully anxiety-inducing time in the same Souls-like spirit that fans have come to love.
Marking a departure from before, it introduces a three-player experience that can only be explained as a boss-rush-meets-rogue-lite by way of player-versus-enemy (PvE) battle royale that has you and your friends strategising every little thing, from exploration to gear load-outs, in a race against time to prepare for nightfall. There’s a lot more emphasis on cooperative action here, with three players working together over three in-game days to face a boss at the end of the cycle, only for it to repeat two more times until the grand showdown – although a solo outing is also possible.
While the world of Limveld, which is the first open-world area in Elden Ring, might not be as vast as its precursor or the accompanying DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, the playable demo that we found ourselves in saw the return of many familiar locations, making it easier to navigate the map in its 15-minute day cycles, especially when a blue-tinted ring is just around the corner. A hallmark of the battle royale genre, it acts as a safe zone and damages any player beyond its boundaries, forcing them to be on the move and allowing for faster-paced gameplay.
Instead of a typical character creator system, you will choose from a pool of eight Nightfarers available during launch, of which four were presented to us during the preview: Wylder, Guardian, Duchess, and Recluse. Each resembles the archetype of Warrior, Vanguard, Rogue and Mage, respectively, but there isn’t a limit to the number of classes you can have in your party, so you and your buddies can roll into Limveld as a trio of Guardians, and rain absolute bird hell on the mobs.
No matter the class, all characters possess a passive stat that would aid your character without any activation, a skill with a relatively short cooldown to dish out a character’s unique attack, and an ultimate art that unleashes either a ton of damage or greatly aids your team. Elden Ring Nightreign has plenty to offer on this front, offering a slew of options that includes a hook skill that breaks poise, an explosive stake ultimate art from Wylder that feels like a Sekiro and Armored Core mash-up, area-of-effect (AoE) attacks from literal fly boy Guardian, the squishy Recluse’s interesting Magic Cocktail skill which combines elements inflicted against enemies into lightning bolts and homing spell bombs depending on the concoction, the Duchess’ Bloodborne-esque sidestep, and more.
To trigger a character’s skill and ultimate abilities, FromSoftware has incorporated an interesting button combination, where holding the “Y” or triangle button (by default) with the left trigger would activate the former, and the right trigger for the latter – a great preventative measure for premature activations.
An example of a great combo we encountered in the preview saw a Wylder dealing damage with his explosive stake ultimate ability whenever an opportunity arose, as the Guardian bore the brunt of enemy attacks and used their AoE aerial ultimate skill to revive teammates. Holding the backline is the Recluse, who would use their ultimate to provide perks for teammates and share the effects of the consumables between teammates nearby through an equipped relic. Another great idea would be to have two Guardians soak up and dish out damage with their ultimates, allowing a flanking Duchess to trigger Restage, which repeats the most recently landed attack on a targeted enemy.
The possibilities of team synergies are endless, which also means teamwork and communication are key to winning fights. Similar to the base game, every dodge, hit, and heal in Elden Ring Nightreign needs to be accounted for, with revive mechanics requiring players to damage their allies and reduce their night-fuelled bar (or the health bar, in simple terms), so the chains of death can be broken. This makes for some tense moments, as prioritising your stamina bar, the distance between your downed party members, and attention towards enemies are all part of the gameplay loop.
If the effort is unsuccessful, the game punishes you by pushing you one level down. While regular enemies and bosses will likely feel slightly easier for veterans, since they mostly share the same attack patterns, they hit just as hard here if you’re not careful. The real threats are the mysterious Night Lord and final-stage bosses – any other foe can be easily defeated and used for levelling purposes.
Once a session is completed, players won’t retain their levels and equipment. Relics, or crystals of differing qualities and effects, are the only items that can be held permanently, granting access to additional perks like boosting certain stats, applying bleed damage to one’s attacks, and more (think of them like the weapon sockets in usual role-playing titles). The rarity of weapons is denoted by a coloured system, adding variety and a value system that forces players to equip an unfamiliar weapon type and keeps things fresh on reruns. More importantly, the passive skill of a weapon will stack, so long as they are equipped in any of the six slots.
The lack of a weight penalty also allows Nightfarers to pick up any gear regardless of level requirements, and pair them with passive abilities to complement equipped relics. Then, there are the slots with access to consumables like pickled feet, molasses, and more, offering perks that range from boosting physical attacks and increased immunity to status effects like poisoning. What’s cool here is the ability to recover randomised weapons of other fallen players – in the preview, picking up a “+2 Great Mace” of purple rarity proved extremely handy against the troublesome Centipede Demon from the first Dark Souls game as a Recluse casting spells from a distance.
With 15-minute days, it’s important to prioritise the sequence of locations. Each location has a different icon of an Ashes of War – game speak for ‘weapon skill’ – that comes in useful for the initial planning stage. The next thing is to look out for Churches Of Marika to increase the charges of your default three-charge health flask and grab valuable consumables from throwing knives to boiled crabs. While navigating, players can sprint at a breakneck pace, fly high with jump pads called “Spirit Springs” and parkour up certain cliff sides that would put our trusty steed “Torrent” to shame. As fall damage is removed, it’s now possible to jump off heights without fear, which will be a strange feeling for returning players at the start.
Attacking locations as a party is important because experience points and runes are shared among nearby players. However, random encounters are something to fear, running the gamut from Giant Ants spilling out of a portal in overwhelming numbers to Margit, The Fell Omen – during the preview, the former seemingly spawned around player levels one to eight, whereas the latter would appear from level eight onwards. Working together and moving as a squad is always of great essence, unless someone has to break away to gather specific weapons, purchase items from a shop, or level up at a Site of Grace.
A single session in Elden Ring Nightreign spans three days, and defeating the bosses of the first two nights will advance players directly to the last and final day, so all the prep work and levelling up needs to be completed before the second boss. Although boss drops include powerful gear and useful passive skills, it wouldn’t be wise to rely on them solely; beginner and intermediate players will benefit greatly from a healthy inventory.
It’s possible to get through the nights in Limveld with adequate communication and skill, but playing with friends comes highly recommended because there is much potential for triumphant moments, humorous beatdowns to revive each other, and overall great fun to navigate the world while watching the chaos unfold.
Elden Ring Nightreign releases in 2025 for PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with the closed network test taking place from 14 to 17 February.
Abandon Reason Know Only War! Zinho is a shooter fanatic still waiting for direct sequels to Black (2006) and Star Wars: Republic Commandos. He also truly believes that the Warhammer 40K universe can take on any franchise and destroy them. To think any different is heresy and punishable by Exterminatus.
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