Elden Ring: Nightreign Reviews
Check out Elden Ring: Nightreign Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 45 reviews on CriticDB, Elden Ring: Nightreign has a score of:
There's nothing more satisfying than finally overcoming a tough challenge that has been haunting you with your friends.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is the spinoff no one expected but instantly makes sense. FromSoftware goes full experimental, tossing out slow-burn exploration for something faster, tighter, and more frantic. It’s a roguelike remix of the Lands Between where you sprint through 30–45 minute co-op runs, grab loot on the fly, crush bosses, and take down a big bad Nightlord before time runs out. The soul of Elden Ring is still here, but the rhythm has changed, and it hits hard.
Read Full Review
I’m firmly in camp FromSoftware, but I’ve had an interesting journey in getting there. I’ve always appreciated the likes of Dark Souls and Bloodborne — as my latter review can attest to — but there was a time when the very gameplay loop that’s now formed the core of the Soulslike genre wasn’t my cup of tea.
Read Full Review
A fascinating precursor to FromSoftware’s multiplayer pivot, Elden Ring: Nightreign offers us a glimpse at the thrills, and pitfalls, of adapting the studio’s signature style to meet contemporary standards. Propulsively fun gameplay loops and a killer art direction gently usher in one of the least considered efforts from the studio to date.
Read Full Review
FromSoftware struggle to force the square peg of Elden Ring into the round hole of a co-op roguelite, and while they just about manage to make it work the whole game feels like only a half-successful experiment.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring: Nightreign offers a fast-paced gameplay and a return to the kind of raw challenge I’ve come to love in soulslikes. And that’s exactly what I wanted, the more time I spent with Nightreign, the more I found myself enjoying it.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign does its best to let players have fun, get stronger, and take down big, bad bosses together. I can’t speak for the greater FromSoftware fanbase, but after these shared triumphs, I’ll have a hard time going back to doing it alone.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring is undoubtedly one of the most important games that FromSoftware has made, completing the studio’s ascent from hardcore niche to the mainstream. It is staggeringly successful, having sold over 30 million copies, and when you compare that to the 2.5 million of the original Demon’s Souls and the 10 million of Dark Souls 3, you get a feeling for how far this genre has come. So, it’s probably only natural that FromSoftware then choose to make a spin-off title to try and make some more money, you know?
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign successfully condenses the Elden Ring experience, cramming challenging combat, exploration, worldbuilding, and character development into a fast-paced and thrilling multiplayer game
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a bizarre game. It’s the Majora’s Mask of the Soulsborne family, with a mix-up of locations and bosses from Elden Ring with some Dark Souls trilogy foes sprinkled in. It’s got battle royale elements and roguelite features. It’s fast paced and as brutally difficult as it gets. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s fast becoming one of my favorite entries in FromSoftware’s pantheon of titles.
Read Full Review
The announcement of Elden Ring Nightreign last year was a surprise for most players. Following the release of what has become FromSoftware's most celebrated action RPG to date and its expansion, it has been reiterated multiple times that a sequel was not in development, suggesting that it would be a while until Tarnished could return to the Lands Between, counting teased IP expansions that most thought were a few years away. The doors of the Roundtable Hold, however, could not stay shut for long, and the iconic location is about to be opened up to welcome the Nighfarers and aid...
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign manages to blend many gameplay systems flawlessly to create a highly addictive formula while keeping the soul of Elden Ring. Even if it lacks a two-player mode and some solo balancing issues, it is another FromSoftware masterpiece and one I hope sticks around for many years to come.
Read Full Review
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring Nightreign is upon us, with it, the studio’s first multiplayer-centric Soulsborne. Like many, I too wasn’t thrilled by the idea of it, raising concerns that the studio was going down the dark and gloomy rabbit hole that many consider live services to be.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a game that does so much, and none of it feels arbitrary. The world is fascinating, the combat is exceptional, and there's plenty to see.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold new take on the critically acclaimed 2022 Elden Ring. Even though Nightreign shares the same name as Bandai Namco’s previous title, it’s drastically different in various ways, making its entry into the Souls-like genre much more approachable than most players would expect.
Read Full Review
With a lucky roll of the map, a skilled trio, and lots of practice, Nightreign provides transcendent moments of fun and accomplishment. It’s a far more complex and nuanced battle royale/roguelike than some of its more populist contemporaries. In its release form at least, Nightreign has a few limitations, like a somewhat unrewarding solo mode, no AI party members, and no duos. Still, while it may be a game that few Souls fans thought to consider essential, Nightreign is an unexpected gift that will no doubt be a new addiction for many.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is paradoxically bigger and smaller than every Souls title before it – reserved in scope but bottomless in ambition. FromSoftware’s most experimental title yet wears contemporary inspiration on its sleeve without entirely separating itself from tradition, but it won’t be for everyone.
Read Full Review
FromSoftware's multiplayer spin-off is an exhilarating rush and a celebration of the studio's prior achievements Souls veterans will devour.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a surprisingly well-executed roguelike that melds well with the core of Elden Ring and even builds on it with a refreshingly rapid pace and spectacular new bosses. It's also excellent with friends, making for a superb co-op experience, but limited matchmaking options and mixed bosses mean it can be as frustrating as it is fun.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is just as confusing and abrasive as FromSoftware's other games, but there's really nothing else like it.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is an unusual yet well-executed effort by FromSoftware, blending rogue-like progression and battle royale mechanics into a fun co-op experience despite some nagging issues.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a pleasant surprise. Its thrilling bosses, well-crafted character archetypes, and strong combat make it worth your time, but don't expect the usual FromSoftware lore standard.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign shoots for the stars with a clean retrofit of familiar assets into a roguelike format, but it’s dragged back down to earth with repetitive encounters, overtuned bosses, and lacklustre meta-progression. Random chance and an urgent pace rewards blind haste over careful buildcraft, but I'm confident its biggest issues can still be fixed.
Read Full Review
When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around – but that's harder to do than it should be, and playing solo is poorly balanced.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a multiplayer game for people who prefer single player games. It’s a celebration of the power of silent connection, of fleeting virtual bonds, of giddy celebratory gesturing between strangers, and of collective, gruelling perseverance. It's a fresh take on the steep challenge of the Souls formula that burrows into you, begging to be repeated. It delivers a frenzied high that’s quite unlike anything FromSoftware has produced so far.
Read Full Review
I've found that runs can go south very quickly unless every player is on the ball. Death is severely punished in Nightreign because if a teammate doesn't revive you, you'll lose a level and potentially all your currency if you don't run back and grab your stack of souls. Sometimes teammates will run off independently, die, lose levels, and be under-prepped for the Nightlord. This can happen at the start of a run to set the tone, or at the very end. Given how runs can top out at around 45 minutes (boss fights have no time limit), it's an...
Read Full Review
Despite the lack of crossplay and some frustrating multiplayer issues, Elden Ring Nightreign is a fantastic example of how to reuse and reshape an existing framework into a captivating and addictive experience. By removing a lot of barriers and focusing on combat flexibility, player discussion, and map knowledge, FromSoftware has created an impressive co-op experience at launch. It is also an experience with room to expand over the years as new bosses, characters, and world events are added.
Read Full Review
Nightreign is so unlike every other game out there that its sheer novelty may be enough to tempt FromSoftware veterans and newcomers alike. It's polished, is easy to get into the action and has a very high skill ceiling. If players stick through its lack of direction and difficulty, they'll find a multiplayer game that feels rewarding to win in a way few other games are.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign takes the Souls formula in a new direction, blending rogue-like elements of Hades with the closing ring as seen in Fortnite to deliver a multiplayer challenge all its own. But with runs inevitably feeling time-consuming and pointless unless successfully besting a boss, and little else on offer in terms of replay value, Nightreign leaves a mixed impression.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a game that's likely going to split FromSoftware players in a way we haven't seen before. In addition to being a clear departure from what fans expect from the studio, it's also a title that 100% hinges on the team you experience it with. Play with Elden Ring pros, and it can be a blast. Play with average Nightfarers or casual matchmakers, and it can turn into a slog. This leaves the game in a little bit of a No Man's Land, too punishing and brutally tuned for the mass audience the new genre format wants...
Read Full Review
Throughout the years, there have been only a handful of transformative games that have truly helped redefine gaming. Whether it’s the more recent Baldur’s Gate 3 or classics such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, these games helped revitalize gaming in different sectors of the industry. Another just so happens to be Elden Ring. While FromSoftware has been known for their challenging but highly rewarding Souls games, it wasn’t until Elden Ring three years ago that they really hit the perfect stride. A vast open world to explore, a familiar vague narrative that keeps the player intrigued and...
Read Full Review
In typical From Software fashion, Elden Ring: Nightreign sets out to be a truly hardcore PvE experience. However, this time the pain is shared between three Nightfarers as they must band together to use what little time they have to banish the Nightlords and cleanse their curse from the realm.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is yet another playful slice of experimentation, with breezy movement and rich multiplayer mechanics.
Read Full Review
Most telling about Nightreign is that those sentiments were not immediate but earned. At first, Nightreign feels almost antithetical to the methodical approach of FromSoftware's other titles. Nightreign is blindingly fast - offense is prioritized above all else, players have little control over how they "build" their characters thanks to pre-made selectable heroes, and the whole package almost comes off as a more fleshed-out boss rush mod made with the approval and resources of FromSoftware. But the more you dig into Nightreign and get acclimated to its unique gameplay loop and undeniably-FromSoftware take on the action roguelike subgenre, the more...
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is truly worthy of its namesake. Fans who still have the Elden Ring itch even after the DLC should gear up for some jolly good cooperation.
Read Full Review
Nightreign is a powerful send off for The Lands Between, brimming with experimentation, mysteries, and intrigue. Despite everything, FromSoft has done it again.
Read Full Review
I was skeptical of Elden Ring Nightreign when I first learned of it. Elden Ring is a masterpiece, and though I yearned for yet another visit to The Lands Between, doing so in a run-based roguelite format with a battle royale-style circle closing in on me wasn’t my first choice. In my first dozen hours in Nightreign, I remained skeptical. I wondered if this arcadey format cheapened everything that made Elden Ring so great – it certainly felt like it was on its way to doing so. But at some ...
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a daring experiment that succeeds in delivering a fast-paced, replayable multiplayer experience, but only for genre veterans seeking a fresh take on the traditional FromSoftware formula.
Read Full Review
“Elden Ring: Nightreign is a thrilling co-op game kneecapped by archaic online integration.”
Read Full Review
It’s important to note that if anyone wasn’t a fan of Elden Ring, Nightreign still won’t convince them. On the surface, it’s more of the same but offers a lot of complexity to the mix that’ll make each run a lot of fun. Everything feels shorter and tighter, which makes for a compelling gameplay experience. While some gamers might roll their eyes at seeing another Elden Ring title being considered Game of the Year, Nightreign deserves to be in the discussion.
Read Full Review
I think of the themes FromSoft's Miyazaki is so fond of revisiting, of monarchs clinging on to life and power well past their time, and becoming something warped and hollow in the process. And I can't help but see an exhaustion in Nightreign, despite splotches of sprightly inventiveness. I'm left asking why I should want to throw myself at these bosses once again, absent much of the delight or discovery that would give these challenges context. Instead, this is challenge for challenge's sake....
Read Full Review
Elden Ring Nightreign is a vastly different kind of FromSoftware experience. It’s taking the hallmark, tough-as-nails combat and applying it to a three-player co-op title that takes inspiration from battle royales and roguelikes. But with these core changes, does that FromSoftware magic remain? This may not be what most people want or even like from the developer, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Read Full Review
Not every idea in Nightreign lands cleanly, but its willingness to push Elden Ring’s mechanics into unfamiliar territory is admirable. It’s a game made for a specific kind of player—those who crave a punishingly difficult challenge. If that’s you, this detour is worth the journey.
Read Full Review
There's fun to be had with Elden Ring Nightreign, especially if you're a skilled Elden Ring player who loves a challenge or can get a good team together, but it does have a range of issues. The fact that there's only one map means repetition quickly creeps in, for example, and the Relic system simply doesn't feel as impactful as it should. Being a multiplayer-focused game, the lack of cross-play is also egregious.
Read Full Review
Elden Ring: Nightreign is both a love letter and a remix of everything FromSoftware fans adore. While the multiplayer focus won’t work for everyone, the sheer amount of challenge, variety, and the ever-elusive dopamine hit make it something special and something to be remembered.
Read Full Review