Whenever we talk about FromSoftware nowadays, it often paints the picture of a developer who can never seem to do anything that can be deemed “flawed” or “non-functional.” And that’s certainly something that the studio has earned for themselves.
As someone who has been playing their games since before they were a household name, I can attest to the fact that their works are some of the most engaging and thought-provoking experiences out there. However, that does not mean there aren’t flaws in FromSoft’s creations.
From King’s Field to Elden Ring, every FromSoft game has had its fair share of “issues.” Some major, some minor, but issues or “quirks” nonetheless. But there’s one game under their catalog that’s probably the developer’s most flawed creation to date.
And no, I’m not talking about Dark Souls 2. We already made a video on why we think Dark Souls 2 is a misunderstood gem, one that shaped the future of their games, for better or for worse.
We are instead talking about Elden Ring Nightreign, the game that I think is FromSoft’s most flawed title, and yet it keeps me coming back to it every single day. Dare I say, their most flawed game is also the most addictive.
But why is that? Why do I keep going back to Nightreign knowing full well that most of what it offers is just a patchwork of reused assets stitched together in a roguelike format? Why do I go back to a game that offers very little incentive, whether it be in terms of its gameplay rewards or narrative revelations, on repeat playthroughs? And why do I keep going back to a title that I’ve already gotten the Platinum trophy for in less than 30 hours?
Well, I can summarize the answer to all those questions in a single word: fun. Though flawed, Nightreign excels at one thing: being an absurdly fun video game. When it was first announced, the concept of Nightreign never really made sense to me, and I think that was the case for most FromSoftware fans out there.
But, it turns out the whole concept of mixing roguelike and soulslike elements works incredibly well. Add to that the unpredictability of players as they work together towards a common goal makes for an very engaging gameplay loop.
However, that is also where the flaws of Nightreign start rearing their ugly heads. For starters, the game has an abysmal reward economy. Outside of a few outfits, which are rather cool, especially the Dark Souls-themed sets, there are barely any good rewards to encourage replaying Expeditions.
Yes, there are Relics, which are essentially the “upgrades” you can equip on your Nightfarer. But the randomness of said Relics and the marginal impact they have on an Expedition makes them somewhat pointless to grind. That said, there are some really powerful Relics that can give you an inherent advantage. But at that point, you’re in “minmaxing” territory, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Especially not in a casual PvE game.
But then how come Nightreign kept me playing for upwards of 600 hours? Well, to answer that, I should explain what makes up an Expedition in Nightreign. You see, in Nightreign, every run starts you at Level 1 with only your Relics defining your build. However, as you progress through said Expedition, defeating bosses, clearing Ruins, Great Churches, and more, you start piecing together a makeshift build.
And by the end of Day 2, which is the penultimate part of an Expedition, right before you face the Nightlord, you’re more or less set with an endgame build. This cycle repeats for every single Expedition. And this is precisely what kept me hooked to this game for so long. You see, Nightreign is basically offering me almost the exact same feeling I get when I replay Dark Souls, Elden Ring or Bloodborne, but without having to invest upwards of 10 hours of my life just to complete one area.
Instead, it delivers the exact same feeling of creating a fresh character, working towards a new build, and then defeating a bunch of bosses using said build, all within a short timeframe. Furthermore, it delivers all that while also making it a shared experience. The game heavily encourages you to play in co-op, but I sometimes prefer playing it solo as well.
That being said, it’s this very unpredictability of other players and their builds, which makes co-op a much more enticing proposition in Nightreign. So at a certain point, I’m not playing Nightreign to get god-roll Relics; instead, I’m playing it just because I find the gameplay loop, the in-Expedition progression, and the combat to be extremely fun.
I think in many ways, the rewards not being that “flashy” is FromSoft’s way of conveying that the Expeditions themselves are the reward.
Now this is where I let you in on a little secret: my first few Expeditions in Nightreign were probably the worst experiences I’ve had playing a FromSoftware game, period. Far worse than Dark Souls 2 by any metric. These were times when my friends and I were all new to the game and were desperately trying to figure out how the whole concept of a roguelike-soulslike works.
And honestly, we hated it; we were not having a good time. I mean, the first few expeditions we had, we were not even able to get past Day 1, let alone reach the Nightlord.
But it was also this frustration that kept us going. It’s a very familiar feeling for Souls fans, like being stuck in Blighttown for the first time and spending hours just to figure what you need to do. And at the same time, you just want to keep making some progress, so you never truly give up.
Nightreign provides a similar experience. You’re trying out different builds, strategies, and whatnot just to take down the boss in front of you. You’re doing all this because you know you can defeat the boss; you’re inching closer to victory on every single attempt. And eventually, the stars align, and you take it down.
And this is precisely the high that every every FromSoftware fan, is looking forward to when they step into one of these worlds. And this is what kept us going through Nightreign’s rather tumultuous opening few hours as well. When I first started playing Nightreign, I approached it as I did every other soulslike. However, after a few hours, it dawned on me that Nightreign is not your typical soulslike affair.
It’s a game that demands to be played on its own terms; the usual soulslike logic or structure won’t work here. You’re always on the clock, and that restricts how much you can explore. This, in turn, incentivizes you to make the most of your time, picking the POIs that are best suited for your build and the Expedition itself.
One of the best aspects of Nightreign that kept me returning to the game is how it teaches you the fundamentals of its progression and gameplay loop without ever “tutorializing” it. This is pretty much how most FromSoftware games are designed, and if you’re a fan of the whole “figure things out your own way” stuff, I think you’re going to enjoy piecing together Nightreign’s gameplay puzzle as well.
Now, coming back to the Expeditions themselves, let’s talk about the Nightfarers, aka the features that will either make or break the game for most players. Unlike some of the recent FromSoftware games (save for Sekiro), Nightreign features preset characters as your playable avatars. At first glance, these characters look nothing out of the ordinary.
You have your usual spellcasters, ranged specialists, prophets, and the unga-bunga strength classes. However, instead of being relegated to vacuous classes with no personality, every Nightfarer has their own stories, their own character arc, if you will. Unlike the Tarnished, these aren’t blank slates. Far from it.
Instead, Nightfarers are incredibly fleshed-out characters that, if you play the game long enough, will eventually grab your interest the same way NPCs from FromSoft’s other games do. Though the storytelling in Nightreign isn’t perfect, as it hinges on the Remembrance system, it’s still quite impactful, should you take your time to decipher all of them.
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I started my Nightreign journey as the Raider, since this was the character that resonated the most with my playstyle at first. However, as I progressed through the game, I eventually started trying out other Nightfarers and eventually settled for Wylder as my main. And let me tell you, it wasn’t Wylder’s choice of weapon or his skills that got me hooked on the character. Instead, it was his story, his Remembrance quest, that left a major impact on me and made him one of my favorite characters to play with.
I can understand that most players who pick up Nightreign will never go through all the Remembrance quests, which is unfortunate considering some of FromSoft’s best writing and character arcs are portrayed in them. Just take a look at Wylder’s or Revenant’s Remembrances, for example. These two stories are probably the best character arcs that I’ve ever experienced in any soulslike to date.
And to be honest, I do blame FromSoftware for this, as the usual vagueness that their games are known for does not really work in something like Nightreign, where you’re supposed to feel connected to the characters you choose to play as. However, as someone who really enjoyed Nightreign enough to go through all the Nightfarer Remembrances, I truly think these short stories were much more impactful than anything I’ve experienced in Elden Ring or Shadow of the Erdtree.
Most games compel or entice you to try out different preset characters based on how they work in terms of their gameplay and build synergies, with their personal stories taking a backseat. However, for me, at least, Nightreign took the exact opposite approach. It compelled me to step out of my comfort zone and asked me to try out a foreign playstyle, not because it was fun, but because it came with a story that I just cannot afford to miss out on.
Don’t get me wrong, the storytelling and characterization in Nightreign is far from perfect. It’s yet another flawed aspect of the game, something that cannot be remedied by item descriptions or dialog. Apart from boss and Remembrance-specific Relics, Nightreign has no object permanence. Everything you obtain during an Expedition, or even after it, is RNG, and as such, does not have any lore or history associated with it.
Furthermore, some of the Remembrances, such as the ones for Ironeye, Executor, and Duchess, felt vacant and incomplete to me. However, despite these flaws, I still liked whatever little story, lore, and unique NPC interactions I got with them.
Well, at least all these Remembrances kept me playing the game for roughly a hundred hours before I shelved it for about a week or two. However, I once again I got addicted to the game once FromSoftware started releasing the Everdark Sovereigns. While I wasn’t initially sold on the whole idea of “more challenging” Nightlords, Everdark Sovereigns did eventually grow on me.
As someone who also really enjoys Monster Hunter, I’ve had my fair share of boss reuse with the “more challenging” tag. In World (and now Wilds), we call these Tempered and Arch-tempered Monsters.
However, what I did not expect was for FromSoftware to completely revamp the existing moveset of a Nightlord with its Everdark variant. They made so many changes to the Everdark versions that they honestly feel like a completely new bosses that can catch you off-guard even if you have mastered the regular version.
It was a great feeling to face these Everdark bosses alongside many other players. Figuring out what works, what doesn’t, and coming up with unique strategies. Then finally defeating the Everdark Sovereign felt like we were all experiencing the game from scratch.
The same happened when The Forsaken Hollows DLC was released. While the content was limited, it was enough to keep me coming back to the game regularly for more than a month. Not only did the DLC add new Nightfarers, i.e, the Scholar and Undertaker, it also sneaked in a completely new map, in the form of the Great Hollow Shifting Earth.
The new areas were not perfect, especially the Great Hollow, which feels very antithetical to Nightreign’s gameplay philosophy and structure. However, it’s still something new that kept the game fresh for me, and also the main reason behind me spending close to 200 hours trying to figure out the entire map.
I firmly believe Nightreign is a game that will never realize its full potential. It will always be a flawed title, a game that is patched together with assets of FromSoft’s past works and made to somehow work in a roguelike environment.
Also, I won’t want to end this on a note of doom and gloom, as I do think Elden Ring Nightreign does have the potential to be one of the best roguelike experiences out there, granted FromSoftware is willing to make some fundamental changes to it. The biggest issue with Nightreign is its rewards economy. Outside of the sheer fun of just playing the damn thing, there’s no point in replaying Nightreign once you’ve gone through all the Nightlords and Everdark Sovereigns.
This essentially boils down to the Relics and that they aren’t a compelling enough reason for players to return to the game. Now, if Nightreign took some inspiration from games like Returnal, Saros, or maybe even Hades, it could’ve made for an even more engaging roguelike experience for both new and returning players.
Imagine if Nightreign offered specific guaranteed Relics or Chalices alongside recolors of existing outfits for its Deep of Night or Everdark Sovereign modes? That would instantly increase the game’s replayability value tenfold. Also, while it might be a tall ask, seeing how profitable Nightreign ended up being, I fail to see why we can’t get more content in the form of Dark Souls bosses and Shadow of the Erdtree weapons?
I’m not even asking for new Nightlords or Nightfarers. The game can get a new life with just some new overworld bosses and weapons, something that won’t even take that much work. But I digress. You see, Nightreign has a lot of potential to be more. However, even in its current state, I can’t seem to put the game down. And that’s honestly the biggest compliment I can give it.
I remember talking to my friends and colleagues about how uninterested I was in Nightreign. To me, FromSoftware’s best work is always their single-player offerings. And a game that’s an always-online PvE soulslike/roguelike asset flip of Elden Ring can never get me hooked.
But here we are.
Now, Nightreign isn’t going to click for everyone. I’ve got plenty of friends who tried Nightreign, played it for a few hours, and even finished some of the Everdark Sovereigns. However, they never returned to the game as I did. They had their fill and then shelved it. However, there are also a few I met online who, just like me, can’t seem to put it down.
For us Nightreign nerds, there’s no bigger high than facing a Depth 5 Expedition with Everdark Libra as the Nightlord and still making it out alive with our sanity mostly intact.
