Summary
- Elden Ring Nightreign is a PvE co-op spinoff with predetermined playable characters, including Duchess.
- Duchess appears to offer a fast-paced, dexterity-based playstyle with Restage and Finale abilities.
- Three more characters are yet to be revealed before Elden Ring Nightreign's launch on May 30.
A new trailer for Duchess, one of Elden Ring Nightreign's eight playable characters, has been released. Elden Ring Nightreign is a PvE co-op spinoff of FromSoftware's 2022 open world masterpiece, Elden Ring. Closer to a battle royale-style experience, players drop into a procedurally generated alternate version of Limgrave, named Limveld, where they must find gear and level up across three in-game days and nights as they ramp up toward a final boss fight at the end of day three.
Unlike Elden Ring, Nightreign doesn't feature a character creator or any visual customization, as its eight playable characters are predetermined and set in stone. So far, four of the eight characters have been revealed and detailed by developer FromSoftware. Gracing the game's cover art is Wylder, the game's classic sword-and-board all-arounder. Guardian is perhaps the most visually interesting of the revealed characters so far, as they're a humanoid falcon seen equipped with a two-handed ax and giant shield; likely a heavier playstyle. The mage of Elden Ring Nightreign's roster is a woman named Recluse, and Ironeye is the game's archer archetype.
Elden Ring Nightreign Could Allow FromSoftware to Repeat a Once-in-a-Lifetime Feat
As a new experiment by the creator of the Soulslike genre, Elden Ring Nightreign might be the start of a new subgenre pioneered by FromSoftware.
With about a month and a half left to go until Elden Ring Nightreign's launch, FromSoftware has gone ahead and dropped a new gameplay trailer for another one of its characters, Duchess. Seen throughout the trailer equipped with a dagger, Duchess is likely to offer a fast-paced glass cannon dexterity-based playstyle with her agile movement and quick combos. Shown off in the trailer, Duchess' Restage skill takes the amount of recent damage dealt to an enemy and deals it again, while her Finale ability cloaks the player and nearby allies from enemy vision, allowing for a quick escape or a sly ambush.
Elden Ring Nightreign Reveals Duchess Character
Duchess is also seen in the trailer wielding some sort of large sword, so it may be possible for players to build in a way that allows her to use heavier weapons. With five of the eight Elden Ring Nightreign characters revealed, that leaves three more characters that are still to be fully unveiled. Judging by the game's 2024 Game Awards announcement trailer, it seems like one of the three mystery characters is a second heavy-type hero who wields a giant hammer, and another is an agile sword-using character. Not much else can be gleamed from the original trailer regarding the eighth and final hero.
Elden Ring Nightreign is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on May 30, and fans should expect FromSoftware to properly reveal the final three heroes over the coming weeks leading up to launch. In other FromSoftware news, a new PvPvE game named The Duskbloods was revealed last week as a 2026 Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. FromSoftware and Nintendo fans alike are eagerly awaiting any new information that may come out about the mysterious new Bloodborne-looking multiplayer title.
Elden Ring Nightreign
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 78%
- Released
- May 30, 2025
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Roguelite
