Why Some Players Might Never See Elden Ring Nightreign's…

Summary

Elden Ring Nightreign has ambitious formulaic shifts designed for online play, but some players might not see its best moments.
Progression is a tedious uphill battle, with unbalanced rewards that require a perfect team to reach Day 3 and defeat Night Lords.
Solo play is impossible, and multiplayer coordination is limited. Players may quit due to the game's unrewarding, unbalanced nature.

One of the most anticipated games of 2025, Elden Ring Nightreign, has finally arrived, taking players to an alternate version of the Lands Between for one of the most ambitious formulaic shifts FromSoftware has ever made. Specifically, not only has Elden Ring Nightreign been designed for online cooperative play, but its roguelike mechanics are meant to keep players on their toes at every turn. Given how innovative it sounds, one would think this might reignite a fire in those who have fallen victim to Soulslike burnout over the years. However, Elden Ring Nightreign might have reached too far on this one — so far, in fact, that some players might never see its best moments.

Soulslike games have never intentionally tried to be accessible to everyone, as their identity lies in their limited appeal due to the fairly uncommon nature of their difficulty, design, and depth. Elden Ring Nightreign was initially perceived as a more accessible formula for newcomers and casuals, with its roguelike mechanics and cooperative framework reinforcing that perception. Unfortunately, it hasn't taken long for that to prove immensely untrue, as Elden Ring Nightreign's best aspects are locked behind first impressions that it currently has a very difficult time landing, meaning some players aren't likely to stick around long enough to see how things unfold.

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By Josh Cotts

Elden Ring Nightreign's Best Moments Are Locked Behind First Impressions

Progression in Elden Ring Nightreign Is a Tedious Uphill Battle

At the moment, Elden Ring Nightreign is severely unbalanced when it comes to progression. Firstly, attempting to play Elden Ring Nightreign solo is a nightmarish slog, as it's almost impossible for lone players to accomplish anything in a session, let alone in a single day of the three-day run. Even in multiplayer, however, progression is still deeply unrewarding. In a sense, Elden Ring Nightreign's progression is similar to when someone recommends a television series to their friend, but they encourage their friend to tolerate the unimpressive first season because it only starts getting better in the second.

Each failed run in Elden Ring Nightreign simply rewards players with minor Relics and a handful of Murk.

Players can earn rewards with each failed run, but these rewards are far too insignificant to be of any real benefit in future runs. The real rewards come when players manage to defeat a Night Lord in Elden Ring Nightreign after reaching Day 3. The only problem is that getting to Day 3 isn't just a matter of waiting out the clock but completing a major boss encounter at the end of the first two days, and during those days, exploring Limveld and defeating bosses along the way to increase character levels and gain better equipment and items. Add to that the need for a perfect team to accomplish this, and progression in Elden Ring Nightreign becomes a tedious uphill battle.

The Need for a Perfect Team Is a Wall Some Players Won't Climb

Again, it's pretty much impossible for solo players to make any significant progress in Elden Ring Nightreign at the moment, so they just shouldn't attempt it at all. However, running a multiplayer expedition isn't all that reliable either. There is no voice chat in Elden Ring Nightreign, for one thing, thereby limiting the amount of coordination a team can truly have. But what it really comes down to is how heavily each run in the game relies on a team being perfect, or at least near so.

If just one player on a team is underskilled or simply gets lost, it can compromise an entire expedition in Elden Ring Nightreign. It doesn't necessarily mean that players won't eventually reach the session's Night Lord, but considering the fact that being defeated by a Night Lord still doesn't reward them with much more than they might have received had they perished on Day 1, a perfect team is absolutely necessary. No member of the team can afford someone not to do their job in Elden Ring Nightreign, especially considering how painful it is to walk away with next to nothing after so much work.

In a sense, Elden Ring Nightreign's progression is similar to when someone recommends a television series to their friend, but they encourage their friend to tolerate the unimpressive first season because it only starts getting better in the second.

In light of all this, Elden Ring Nightreign just has some walls that many players might quickly decide are not worth climbing. Essentially, Elden Ring Nightreign's best moments are locked behind first impressions, and it's currently struggling to deliver in that arena. After a few hours of realizing just how unrewarding, tedious, and unbalanced the game can be, many players are likely to quit before things really start picking up.

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