Elden Ring: Nightreign

I have been gaming since 2003 originally on the PS1 I've seen games evolve for the longest time.

To my eyes Elden ring is to the gaming industry what Patrick Swayze was to the music industry.......



A one hit wonder🤸🏻‍♂️

Nightrein is like an onion. There are many layers to peel in order to find out if you'll like it or not.
Have you played Elden Ring? What about the previous From Software games? Do you like rogue-likes? Are you ok to die over and over again with very few progression? And the hardest question of them all, Do you have not only one but TWO friends?! Well all of my answers are yes so this is the perfect game for me. But Nightrein is not a perfect game.
I played though the game with two of my buddies(shout-out @iTeacher and @JoyBoy2187) which are souls junkies like me. Aside from some server issues and minor bugs I'd say we had a great time. The foundation of this game is obviously Elden Ring (which is a masterpiece) so I'm not gonna talk about that aspect. The rouge-like aspect however is From Software's first foray into different game design territory and I have to say this was a hit and miss. All eight nightfarers are very different and all fun to play. My favorites being big bonk Raider, Sekiro man Executor and Legolas Ironeye. This game is very addictive and the journey to master it was very satisfying. But there was a few glaring issues. The loot is very random and I mean that not in a good way. The runs could feel very samey and you'll rarely get a build which makes you feel like "oh shit I'm cooking". There are some random events or boss fights but they're too few and far between. I know there will be a DLC later this year with new characters and boss fights. I wish there will be some game play tweaks too because this game can be much better than what it is today.

I think I'm in a hate/love relationship with this game.

The game has an addictive roguelike nature. You want to come back to it. You want to reach further every time. You want to clear that boss.

It has the combat of Elden Ring, but at a much faster pace. You pretty much have to speedrun each time you go for a run.

The game has 8 bosses in total, and 8 classes that you can use. Wylder, Raider, Executor, Guardian, Ironeye, Dutchess, Recluse, and Revenant. 2 of which you must unlock by a fight, the Dutchess and the Revenant.

Each class has their own journal story and remembrance. The remembrance is a quest specified for every class, it's an objective that is either done in the hub area or the expedition.

When going on an expedition, you get to choose the nightlord that you want to fight, each nightlord has a weakness. The expedition works similar to the Pubg and Fortnite battle royale circle that keeps closing off. But instead of fighting PvP, you get to clear enemies on the map, this includes camps, castles, caves, jails, it also includes shrines that give you extra health flasks. Clearing those enemies give you levels, equipment, buffs that you will definitely need for the boss fight. You get "3 days" in each expedition run, through which you fight a total of 2 normal bosses and it ends with the nightlord on day 3. It is basically like having 2 rounds of battle royale and then the big boss fight happens.

I have mainly played the game using Ironeye, which is the archer class. Surprisingly, you can also use this class to also fight in melee weapons. It can be very strong if you find the right equipment.

Many things are cryptic in the game that you don't find out simply by playing. I got many hints from online forums, people around me, videos just to be able to fully grasp my class and it's benefits. You also get to use relics that you can equip before entering the expedition. They are 3 passives that will definitely help you build your class.

My biggest gripe with this game is the bad luck that you some times get through the run, as you never get to keep any of the equipment, except for the main weapon of each class. Matchmaking is always a hit or miss, but it feels like the game has now filtered out a lot of people. My experience with it was with a group of friends and it is much enjoyable this way. You can also solo the game if you want, but personally, I don't find much fun in that.

I did all 8 bosses, but you don't need to do all 8 of them to get to the final one. Just clearing 4 of them is enough to unlock the final nightlord. Beating that one gives you the ending and credits. But keep in mind, the game has a "true ending", and it also has endings for each class. Not bothered to do them all, Ironeye is enough for me.

The game has a lot of potential, it also now has weekly bosses that are harder versions of the nightlords, but again, I am not bothered to do them. The game is draining and as addictive as it is, I don't feel like playing this game again after clearing all nightlords. Even if new ones appear or new characters release.

I would recommend it if you have someone to play with, otherwise matchmaking can do the job. Solo, wouldn't recommend it.

FromSoft didn’t reinvent the wheel—they spiked it, set it on fire, and made you roll uphill.

Combat remains tight and responsive, with just enough jank to keep things spicy. What Nightreign adds is pressure. More ambushes. More environmental hazards. More “wait, that’s legal?” moments

Enemies hit harder. Move weirder. Some teleport. One whispered my Social Security number before killing me. I don’t even live in the U.S.

Boss fights

Chef's kiss with a gauntlet. Every one of them feels handcrafted to ruin your day and teach you something. There's no "easy one" this time. The Nightreign Lords are beautifully deranged creatures of lore and pain. One of them screams your character's name before initiating a 5-phase beatdown

By the way I'm still playing it when I don't have anything to play It is just the kind of game that will keep going back to with every update I don't know it's addictive

6 fucking days, SIX! Just to beat this game. We were a trio, one of us became busy, two remained, decided to play with Seamless Co-op mod to become a duo, got fucked 3 days straight because it's unbalanced to duos, decided to install a rebalance mod, we fucked and got fucked both. But it was fun... so fun and adrenalinic experience, and that dose of seratonin and joy after beating the night's boss it's something universal. The game is good but has some flaws, played this pre-patch so I don't know if they fixed the flaws it had or what. You feel like there are things missed, the game isn't completed, it needs to be repaired, fixed, and patched to fix its flaws, but it's okay, the flaws didn't ruin the experience.

While playing the game you'll know who your real enemy is, it's not the final bosses of the day nor the mini bosses, it's not the nightlords, it's not the world events' bosses, it's the fucking servers, the lag, the delay, that's your real enemy, that's who you will really fight and you must survive, or your hardwork, your everything will turn to ashes.

Shoutout to PadishahAnmar 🙏🙏 for carrying with the revenant on the final boss

wasted potential, the game has 4 hours of unique content which you'll be doing for +30 hours, on the other hand the boss selections from the DS trilogy and elden ring itself are horrible(mostly). It's a shame because the character orientated nature of the game alongside with the unique bosses were appealing.