Elden Ring: Nightreign (Game) Review.

 

For context; this was a completed playthrough of the game using the character Recluse, completing her story to a finish and finishing with defeating the final boss of the non-new game plus content so will be treating that as completion. This does not include any DLC.

 

I like souls games. I've had a history of enjoying a good few of them; finishing Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, being on the cusp of finishing Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin for a good while and ultimately, playing the tiniest bit of Dark Souls III. I have an enjoyment of a series where widely, you can make yourself a girl of your creation and then go destroy the vestiges of a corrupt old order or pantheon and find your own meaning along the path.

 

For me, there's a combination of factors I never really considered but I acknowledge I enjoy about Soul's games too;

I enjoy the feeling of co-operation and playing with others, summoning other players.

I like to take it slow and level at a pace that means I can slowly level each stat and become really strong.

These two factors are important aspects of my enjoyment of the series that kick into my personalized experience of enjoying these games. So when they crash into a moment where that can't be met mutually, what then?

Elden Ring Nightreign is a game about finishing a Souls game fast. FAST. Go fast. You are given a set character, against my desires, have to finish a map over three quite fast in-game days, against my desires and have to work with multiple other people to defeat a bunch of bosses and enemies hyper quickly to ensure you can get to the final boss of the nights, the Nightlord and see if you can win by the end of said three days. It's hard and can be so much stress. And it can, can, be really fun. It's both.

 

While it's able to be played as a single player game, this game was a gift from someone I care for and became a game of choice my wife excitedly wished to play with, which I'd play with dear ones, loved ones and strangers alike. And each time didn't guarantee victory. The game has a set amount of levels, with 15 being the cap; the game is balanced around this being the highest level with the ability to meet it or get close to it essential to making those final fights easier. The game in turn when you play with those who have played, has a very set sort of beats to it; the key points to hit and meet. You'll always end up visiting a few bosses, you will not be able to kill them all, you have to know which ones to hit and when and it can also depend on your character; Recluse for example wants to hit a set of towers if nearby which offer usually purely Magic upgrades, or side rooms where often sorcery catalysts will drop. I had the luck of playing with said loved ones who know what they're doing but I can imagine the first time doing stuff, it'd be a hard lesson to learn.

 

But when you're with those people who know what they're doing, it is a great joy to experience. Hitting up where you need to go and steaming through to the end is a journey I enjoy immensely and something I find a lot of excitement in; but when it falls or you get a rough player or a mistake happens, it can certainly feel like cascade failure. As elements get introduced, you can end up feeling highly overwhelmed, with extra environments requiring their own set order of exploration and approach. As you beat bosses, new elements are introduced into the gameplay which can be fun but also feel like another entire wrench thrown under the wheel sending you spiralling out of control. It is truly made and a little bit broken by the speed and as Recluse, a character whose system revolves around mixing spells together to create a cocktail of magic, I never once felt completely in control of where I was going.

 

There's a narrative to the story; a focus on a Night Lord, who has cast a 'Night Rain' that covers the land and works as a damage mechanic, hurting you while walking in It. Your goal is to get to the end of the Night Rain, Day 3 and try and end them; each character having a story, recollections you can explore to learn about the characters, with the Recluse having a focus on a now thought lost child. The stories sometimes involve travelling into the game and performing a quest in a Day or involve small flashback segments in the hub, a version of the Roundtable Hold from Elden Ring. It's a story that like Elden Ring, leaves some to exterior thought; it doesn't hit in some of the way the highest beats of Elden Ring or even Shadows of the Erdtree did, though there are some touching moments which gives me joy to see.  The visuals remain gorgeous to see, the music gives a strong performance though it is aided with some tracks being carried over from Elden Ring itself.

 

Ultimately, this game sold me, albeit gently as equivalent to Shadows of the Erdtree in that while it possess a number of weakness that go against the grain of what I enjoy about it; it is refreshingly fun with those I love. Indeed, it's the play with said loved ones that I found made me invest in it all the more. I find peace knowing that what this game gave me was an experience on my new computer that had me smiling. Because it was the moment I discovered I could finally share that joy with my wife's laughter and frustration as a big ol' angry madness man kept smacking us with a big stick. And for me, that joy is something that even the original Elden Ring or Soul's couldn't quite deliver in the same way.

 

Picture taken by me.