Elden Ring Spin-Off ‘Nightreign’: Shocking Details Revealed! Director Breaks Down Martin’s Role & Why It’s NOT a Live Service Game

Elden Ring: Nightreign was one of the most surprising reveals at The Game Awards 2024, leaving fans of FromSoftware’s Souls games stunned. This unique three-player PvE title breaks away from the developer’s usual formula, promising to turn heads and spark plenty of online discussion.

By Sheenu Gupta On Dec 13, 2024 Share with new partner:

It’s now confirmed: FromSoftware is developing a multiplayer spin-off set in the Elden Ring universe. Announced as one of the most significant surprises at The Game Awards 2024, Elden Ring: Nightreign is set to leave a lasting impression on fans of the studio’s previous Souls games. This new title shifts gears with a three-player cooperative PvE experience, a departure from the challenging, solo-focused mechanics that the studio is known for.

The announcement has undoubtedly caught the attention of the gaming world, and it’s clear that this unexpected direction will stir up plenty of conversations and curiosity across online communities. The bold move marks a new chapter for FromSoftware, one that is bound to intrigue and intrigue both longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Before the official reveal of Elden Ring: Nightreign, IGN’s Tristan Ogilvie had the exclusive opportunity to play the game and share his detailed impressions (which you can read here). Additionally, Ogilvie sat down with the game’s director, Junya Ishizaki, to gain insight into the origins of this unexpected departure from the beloved Souls formula.

During the interview, Ishizaki discussed what inspired the shift in direction, how Nightreign connects to the larger Elden Ring universe, and clarified whether the game should be classified as a live-service title. This conversation sheds light on the creative choices behind the spin-off and provides fans with a deeper understanding of what to expect from this bold new project.

The Elden Ring: Nightreign trailer offers a lot to take in, leaving viewers with a mix of excitement and confusion. It showcases a group of distinct characters racing and climbing through a version of Limgrave that feels both familiar and yet subtly altered. As a fiery blue circle consumes the land, the footage gives off strong battle royale vibes. However, despite these similarities, the combat we witness is entirely PvE, with a trio of players working together to face off against iconic Elden Ring bosses—there’s no sign of player-versus-player action here.

While the trailer raises numerous intriguing questions, it doesn’t provide many concrete answers. To dive deeper into the game’s mechanics and concept, I traveled to Tokyo last week, where I had the chance to play an early build of Nightreign and sit down with the team at FromSoftware. During my visit, I gathered more details about this exciting new roguelike spin-off and what fans can expect from this surprising departure from the Elden Ring universe.

Modders have long enjoyed putting their own spin on FromSoftware’s RPGs, creating versions of the games that range from easier or harder to sillier or scarier. One of the most popular examples is the Seamless Co-Op mod for Elden Ring, which has been downloaded by over 2.5 million PC players, allowing for a more seamless multiplayer experience. Additionally, randomizers that shuffle the locations of items and enemies have become a staple in speedrunning communities, offering a fresh challenge for those looking to break records.

Now, it seems that FromSoftware itself is joining in on the modding fun by introducing its own twist on Elden Ring. With Elden Ring: Nightreign, the studio has taken a page from the modding community’s playbook. The game cranks up the action by increasing the speed to 150%, removes fall damage, and introduces a variety of random loot alongside other roguelike mechanics. These changes combine to create a thrilling, fast-paced experience that feels both familiar and entirely new, offering fans a fresh take on the Elden Ring universe.

At first, I wasn’t immediately hooked. However, after about four hours of intense play during an all-day test session in a conference room in Tokyo, with the blinds shut to block out the sun, I started to get it. That primal excitement of a great roguelike experience finally hit me. The rush of charging into battle, swinging a massive six-foot katana through Margit the Fell Omen, landing a bleed hit that drained 10% of his health, and then activating my character’s special ability to double the damage. It was pure, unadulterated glory.

Nightreign blends elements of Elden Ring with a fresh approach, pushing FromSoftware into uncharted territory after spending the last decade perfecting a specific style of RPG.

At first glance, this spin-off feels like a strange mix, using the familiar weapons, enemies, and starting zone of Limgrave from Elden Ring as if they were just assets to be repurposed without much regard for their original context. Things get even more bizarre when a battle royale-style wall of deadly rain begins closing in on the players, and characters move at such a fast pace it feels like they’re permanently on fast-forward, skillfully scaling cliffs and walls.

It almost feels wrong, like a betrayal, to take the meticulously crafted elements of a game like Elden Ring—which was so carefully designed—and turn them into something wildly different. It’s like imagining Da Vinci deciding to repaint the Mona Lisa with her sticking out her tongue like Gene Simmons. While he’d certainly have earned the artistic freedom to do so, it would still be a shocking, jarring change to the original.

Playing Nightreign took me back to the ’90s, when Capcom initially resisted the rising popularity of hacked, bootleg versions of Street Fighter 2 arcade machines. These mods sped up the combat and introduced wild special moves like mid-air fireballs. At first, Capcom balked at the idea, but once they tried them out, they quickly realized there was no turning back. The excitement of faster gameplay was undeniable, and that led to the creation of Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting, an official upgrade kit that was essentially a mod itself. It redefined the pace of Street Fighter for years to come.

Nightreign feels like Elden Ring Turbo—a faster, condensed three-player roguelike with a touch of Monster Hunter elements. Players choose a final boss to face at the end of each 30-minute run, but first, they must survive two “days” during which the map shrinks into a focal point somewhere in an alternate version of Limgrave. Each night ends with a tough boss battle. When I began my first session, I dropped onto the map from a spectral bird, and the whole experience felt so reminiscent of Fortnite—the battle royale setup, the fast-paced action—that I briefly wondered if FromSoftware had secretly joined the live-service trend, complete with battle passes, seasonal events, and $20 skins.

“We wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box on the day of purchase, so everything is unlockable… it’s not what we’d consider a ‘live service’ game,” says director Junya Ishizaki, who served as the battle director on Elden Ring and has been with FromSoftware since the original Dark Souls. Nightreign will get some post-release balance updates, as Elden Ring itself did, but beyond that? “We’re still in the process of thinking about the possibilities,” he says.

Nightreign is a deeply personal project for Junya Ishizaki. Through an interpreter, he shared that he had been developing game ideas when FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki encouraged him to try his hand at directing. Ishizaki presented his pitch, and it was given the green light. Reflecting on the process, Ishizaki recalled Miyazaki’s key piece of advice: “Do it as you please.” This level of creative freedom helped shape the game’s direction.

The result is a surprisingly streamlined and straightforward title for FromSoftware, which is known for its complex, often opaque designs. Nightreign intentionally lacks traditional FromSoftware elements like PvP combat, invasions, or the cryptic multiplayer covenants seen in Dark Souls games. “We wanted players to feel a sense of accomplishment with each victory and defeat, and we wanted it to feel distinct from Elden Ring and other previous titles,” Ishizaki explained.

One of the game’s innovative features is its relic system, which adds a layer of progression. Whether you win or lose a run, you’ll earn relics that can be equipped in future sessions. These relics provide various buffs, such as increasing HP, boosting magic attacks, or enhancing basic actions. During my playthrough, I found a relic that made my healing flask not only restore my own health but also heal my allies, a game-changer given that each player only had four uses of the flask before running out.

Instead of the traditional character creation system, Nightreign introduces preset “heroes,” each with their own unique attributes and abilities. For instance, the agile Duchess has a small health pool but compensates with a quick step maneuver reminiscent of Bloodborne, allowing her to dodge attacks with exceptional speed rather than using the standard roll. These characters are not only visually appealing but also bring exciting new abilities that complement Elden Ring’s combat system, which has always favored careful, deliberate actions over flashy spectacle.

Despite these innovative additions, there’s something undeniably strange about the overall mix. Nightreign pulls elements from various genres—roguelikes, battle royales, and even hero shooters—blending them into a distilled version of Elden Ring. The result is a game that feels like a hybrid, borrowing familiar ingredients to spice up the traditional formula. When I asked Ishizaki how he would respond to players who view these changes as FromSoftware simply hopping on the bandwagon of popular trends in other games, he offered his perspective on the creative direction behind the project.