Thanks to Bandai Namco , I had the chance to playElden Ring Nightreignin late January 2025 . This was essentially an other look at the upcomingNightreign ’s Closed web Testbuild , which is a importantly whittle - back version of the full release , but is notwithstanding enlightening . FromSoftware ’s co - op legal action roguelite is a surprising successor toElden Ring , which won its fame by continue the developer ’s political campaign of deep single - player RPGs . DespiteElden Ring Nightreignbeing initially familiar , there are a bit of important changes to the experience .
Elden Ring Nightreignhas you drop into a single-valued function in a region known as Limveld , a parallel human beings toElden Ring ’s starting sphere , Limgrave . From there , a three - sidereal day cycle begins in which a squad of three Nightfarers must acquire gear and tuck Runes ( to level up with ) in preparedness for a party boss competitiveness at dusk . Much like in a struggle royale , there is a constantly shrivel tintinnabulation which pushes you toward enounce final encounter . Three end - of - day bosses cap each leg of a discharge , which , if complete in full , run for nearly 40 hour . This ecumenical gameplay loop was revealed shortly afterNightreign’sreveal at The Game Awards 2024 , but my experience with the secret plan has shed some light on more subtle , but impactful mechanics .
Please take down that the keep abreast article is found upon my experience of the game preview , pre - launching . Some gameplay elements may be exchange , or may not have been a part of the trailer I attended .
Custom image by Katarina Cimbaljevic
10You Don’t Pick Where You Drop Into Limveld
Spawn Areas Are Predetermined
After dropping , you ’ll need to get to rase two as quickly as possible to closely double your HP and stats . essay clearing a nearby camp then immediately finding a Site of Grace .
you may direct the shuttlecock a little bit , but there are only a few second before your fibre is drop into the action . There seems to be a handful of preset spawn locations around the randomise function , usually near Limveld ’s edges . All you’re able to really do , therefore , is apply the bird’s - heart view to get a lay of the farming to quickly consider where you need to go first . There are also ghostly trees around the map that station you back into the sky on a spectral bird , this time with a minute more ascendancy to get across Limveld quickly .
9You Can’t Crouch, But You Can Sprint Very Fast
Some Stealth Is Still Possible
A major advancement thatElden Ringinherited fromSekiro : shadow Die Twicewas the fitting of stealthy approaches . Elden Ringlets you squat to help avoid detection by enemies , let you often get a powerful backstab in before a fighting breaks out . Crouching is not possible inNightreign ; alternatively , the new Surge Sprint is mapped to L3 / LS , which lets your Nightfarer run much faster than the regular dash , which is still mapped to the Circle / B button .
Stealth is n’t completely remove from the biz , though , andone of Duchess ' special abilities can be very powerful when used when going for an former backstab . accommodate Triangle / Y and pressing L3 / LT while playing Duchess have her and both teammates to bend invisible for a short while . you may walk right in front of an enemy and they wo n’t even know you ’re there , but the invisibility will wear off once you perform an attack .
8There Are No Flasks For Recovering FP
HP Flasks Are Always Equipped
FromSoftware ’s default dominance scheme for its action RPGs has long reserved Square / X as a reasonably flexible one-armed bandit , usually where the flaskful of Cerulean and Crimson Tears are by nonremittal inElden Ring . Nightreignfollows this custom , but that button is exclusively for HP flask , andthere is no equivalent to the Flask of Cerulean Tears . This makes FP a resource that ’s much more unmanageable to deal . There are place in Limveld to furbish up your FP , but there are also special mechanics , like the Recluse character being able to draw FP from their surroundings and siphon HP from enemy .
Elden Ring Nightreign ’s fast - action , co - op gameplay throw off up FromSoft ’s combat style in an exciting way ; here are game that do something similar .
This broadly affectsNightreign ’s streamlined inventory direction . With Square / X only used for HP flasks , consumables , and throwables are map to up on the D - pad , with the down button cycling through them , much like it does inElden Ring ’s default option ascendency .
7Day 3 Of A Nighreign Run Doesn’t Have Any Exploration
You Go Straight Into A Boss Fight
The first two days ofElden Ring Nightreign ’s three - daylight cycle are most indistinguishable . When you shoot down the first - day boss , the map is refresh with novel enemy and loot , and the cycle repeats for Day 2 . Once you beat the second - solar day boss , you ’re given one more opportunity to grab some good paraphernalia or a devotee and level up if you have enough Runes , then Day 3 takes a different stable gear .
You are not open another chance to explore , and are instead drop into a unfixed realm in front of a large stone door . Beyond this door is where you ’ll contend a Night Lord – the Target you selected prior to matchmaking and the beginning of the streak . This odd expanse seems to be where all final boss are agitate , and while only one was usable in the preview build , eight are expected to be inElden Ring Nightreign ’s full release on May 30 .
6Points Of Interest Still Have Lesser Boss Fights
A Good Source Of Loot
Despite the end - of - twenty-four hours boss being the most important , Limveld is littered with other genus Bos battle . Many significant compass point of interest will have a boss fight , many of which will be familiar toElden Ringplayers . search out a knob can be deserving it since they pop the question sole loot . For representative , when you open a chest , the items that drink down out have to be share among the political party , butwhen you ticktock a Bos , you are tender one of three Dormant Powers , which can be loot or a lasting buff . Each player gets to make this extract .
Elden Ring Nightreign releases at the end of May , and there are three freestanding editions available to those purchase FromSoftware ’s former .
Many deflower , church , excavation tunnels , and forts will seem familiar if you ’ve playedElden Ring;Nightreigneven has Evergaols , which can be opened with a Stonesword Key . Anytime a boss health bar seem across the bottom of the screenland , you have a luck to earn a Dormant Power . Not every POI has a gaffer , but it ’s potential to fill in multiple boss fights in one Clarence Day .
5The Roundtable Hold Is Different From Elden Ring’s
Nightreign’s Hub Area
The Roundtable Hold returns inElden Ring Nightreign , but it ’s quite unlike from itsElden Ringcounterpart . The area is more overgrown , and at least in the preview build and Closed internet Test , a mickle of areas are closed off ( though a small , empty basement is accessible).The Roundtable Hold act asNightreign ’s hub area ; this is where you appear when you start the plot , and where you ’ll spend clip in between rounds .
Here is where you ’ll be able to upgrade and equip Relics , which provide buff and act asNightreign ’s long - full term progression . In the full release , you ’ll be able to drop a currency yell Murk in the Hold as well , but the NPC who trades for them is n’t in the internet Test . There ’s also a education area , where you’re able to try out all the game ’s artillery . The Roundtable Hold ’s alternate appearance may have some interesting implication forElden Ring Nightreign ’s lore , but my time with the secret plan was unluckily scarce , so I did n’t have much of a luck to dig around the place .
4Each Nightfarer Can Equip Different Combinations Of Relics
Three Relics Can Be Equipped
The wages for defeating 24-hour interval boss are Relics . These provide buffs , andeach Nightfarer can have three equip at any give time . There are some important restrictions , though . Every Relic has a coloring – dispirited , light-green , cerise , or orange , from what I ’ve seen – and must be put into a slot of the fit color . A Nightfarer may be capable to equip two gloomy Relics and one green Relic , for instance .
One of the most iconic and well - known features from Elden Ring will not be reach a comeback in Nightreign due to seance clip .
These appear to broadly line up with the Nightfarer ’s stand for play style . Wylder and Guardian are able to fit Relics that improve their melee abilities , while Recluse can habituate Relics that help with black magic . During the preview consequence , I was told thatRelics are the primary mode in which character progression is achieved across footrace . More herculean Relics will be earned by defeat more unnerving Night Lords later in the biz .
3Nightfarers Can Be Talked To In The Roundtable Hold
Player Character/NPC Hybrids
You see one of the playable characters , known as Nightfarers , while interacting with things in the Roundtable Hold , and there ’s an altar where you could vary which one to run around with . The others will be standing around ready for a New World chat , much like some ofElden Ring ’s NPCs , such as Rogier , Fia , and Sir Gideon Ofnir the All - Knowing ( the ostentatious killjoy that he is ) . Sadly , in the trailer build , none of them really had anything interesting to say , but this conceivably might not be the case in the full release .
It ’s quite an interesting concept , especially sinceElden Ring ’s chief character , the Tarnished , and those that come before ( e.g. ,Dark Souls ' Chosen Undead orBloodborne ’s Hunter ) are n’t really established characters in the populace prior to the histrion ’s involvement . Sekiro is the closest analog , but even then , you ca n’t talk to him as another character . This positions the Nightfarers as odd player character / NPC hybrids , andhopefully they ’ll terminate up with some pretty interesting background material to discuss .
2You Lose A Level When You Die In Elden Ring Nightreign
You’ll Respawn As Long You’re Not Fighting A Day Boss
Dying inNightreignisn’t as black as it can be inElden Ring , but there ’s still a very rough penalty . First , you ’ll go into a province foretell Near Death , where you could crawl around very tardily while a timer diminishes . Your mate can attack you to bring you back to life , but if they do n’t , you ’ll respawn nearby – as long as you ’re not in the middle of fighting a day knob .
When you respawn , you ’ll have drop off one layer . This seems inconsequent at face note value , but you may only hit a maximum grade of 15 . Jumps between low point can be peculiarly penalize if you lose one early on on in a run;every character almost doubles their HP between levels one and two . This ensures an unfortunate decease wo n’t designate a run to retain with just two actor , but it ’s difficult to overcome the twenty-four hour period bosses if you wind up significantly under - pull down .
1Invasion Bosses Will Chase You Even Outside The Circle
Night’s Tide Doesn’t Slow An Invader
One of the most vivid scenariosElden Ring Nightreignthrew at me during my preview was a boss invasion . A couple of times , approximately halfway through the second day , Margit ’s discorporate phonation taunted my teammates and I before he materialise , known inNightreignonly as The Fell Omen . Invasion bosses I ’d known about because of anterior info revealed about the game;what I did n’t anticipate was for them to doggedly follow up on you even through Night ’s Tide , the name of the encroaching ring of burning , deadly rainfall .
The Fell Omen seems to be the only encroachment boss in the preview and Closed web Test chassis , but there will be many more hypothesis to appear inNightreign ’s full release .
Invasion bosses seem to target one histrion specifically and will chase them no matter how far they run . The second time , he appeared while we were fighting another domain boss , and during the impromptu duo showdown , the circle move in on us . A harebrained dash ensued , with the Fell Omen attack and slinging conjuration whenever potential , while we sprinted and gulped HP flask . We finally made it out of Night ’s Tide and defeated him next to a Site of Grace , where flaskful reload if you keep coming into range . Keep that in mind if an invasion boss has you on the ropes inElden Ring Nightreign .
