While the Soulsborne games have been known as great single-player titles with unique and somewhat confusing multiplayer functions,Elden Ring Nightreignis built with online multiplayer in mind, although players can still opt to go alone. With its rogue-lite structure and pre-made characters,Nightreignwill be venturing into uncharted territory for the studio, led by a first-time director rather than the legendary Hidetaka Miyazaki. While the game has the comfort and protection of theElden RingIP behind it, lending the title its art direction, it is vastly different, with the combat being more stylized than ever before.
Nightreignis fast, from the speed of its movement to its combat, and while players don’t have as many options when it comes to building their character, the characters themselves have many mechanics that make certain playstyles more viable. Iron Eye gives archers plenty of options, from extra movement to being able to land Ripostes by stabbing them with an arrow, while Revenant takesElden Ring’s summons and builds a playstyle around them.There’s plenty going on to make the game an addictive, multiplayer game, but a certain oversight does put a dampener on the overall experience.
Elden Ring Nightreign Didn’t Include Duos Because Of An Oversight
Queuing With A Friend And A Random Is Strange
In an interview withIGN, first-time directorJunya Ishizaki stated that the team had’overlooked and neglected the duos aspect’of the gameand that it was originally built with three players in mind. The focus on a trio was obvious from the first gameplay trailer, with there being three Nightfarers, a three-headed dog as a boss, and so on, but it was always felt that three players was a bit of an awkward number, especially for a co-op game. Still,Nightreignwas built around the number three, with three nights, three players, and three bosses a run.
Nightreigntakes place in Limveld, an area somewhat similar toElden Ring’s Limgrave.
While the game is playable alone for the brave few who have been doing challenge runs ofElden Ringfor years now,Junya Ishizaki says numerous times in the interview that the game is intended to be for three players and is balanced around a triorunning around Limveld. It’s at thecore ofNightreign, however strange that may be, and that duos aren’t something the team considered during development, although that does mean it’s something Ishizaki doesn’t regret. It seems like duos could come toNightreignin the future.
Ishizaki apologizes for not giving duos the option to playNightreignin a pair, but it is’something that we are looking at and considering for post-launch support as well',hopefully meaning thatNightreignwill receive plenty of support going forward. Because the game has been built from the ground up for trios, there might have to be a lot of reworking to get the balance of the title right for duos, and it could take some time. Still, it’s strange thatNightreignhadn’t considered this from the start, and it could be worrying for FromSoftware’s multiplayer-heavy future.
Playing In A Group Of Three Might Include A Duo And A Random
And This Makes Communication Difficult
More often than not,players will probably end up in a duo and queue with a random player, given the awkwardness of having a trio, and this makes communication a bit of a problem. Given the speed ofNightreignand how chaotic it can quickly become, communication is relatively important. A run is meant to be fast, intense, and played to the game’s speed, not the player’s, so making sure a team is coordinated is important to getting through unscathed. This gets significantly harder with one silent random running off on their own.
Although it’s anElden Ringtitle,Nightreigntakes place in an alternate version of the world, hence all the changes.
More importantly,playing and talking with friends, and friends alone, is more fun, so it is strange that duos were completely overlooked to begin with. It isn’t as though other rogue-lite haven’t done something similar with their runs.TakeRisk of Rain 2,for instance, which allows players to play alone, in a duo, a trio, or a group of four, while having preset characters, randomized runs, bosses, and so on.Nightreigncould have done something similar, with three players max, although it might be trickier given how much ofNightreignis built around three players.
Should duos be added,there is a chance that this version of the game’s runs will be more popular than the traditional trio runand could lead toNightreignhaving greater longevity, although this largely depends on how replayable the title will be and how much support FromSoftware is willing to give it. The hope is thatNightreignwill get a decent amount of support given that FromSoftware seems to be leaning into the multiplayer side of its games more than ever. AfterNightreign, the studio is working onThe Duskbloods, another multiplayer title.
FromSoftware Is Going Into More Multiplayer Projects
It Needs To Make Better Decisions With The Duskbloods
As part of the Switch 2’s reveal,a trailer forThe Duskbloodsplayed, and while everyone was screaming aboutBloodborne 2, there are already a bunch of mechanical differences between the two IPs. While they share a similar aesthetic,The Duskbloodsis a PvPvE multiplayer titleexclusive for the Switch 2, which already seems strange on paper, but there’s enough there to be intriguing. With two multiplayer-focused titles back-to-back, it seems like FromSoftware wants to build on its online community, but it has to make some keener decisions going forward.
While easily fixable with a bit of elbow grease,Nightreignnot having duos and the director admitting that it was an oversight, rather than an intentional omission, shows a concerning level of negligence that needs to be shaken off going forward.Ishizaki is a first-time director, so he and FromSoftware will likely learn from this, especially because of its consistency of quality with its games. Still, FromSoftware’s heavy departure into the multiplayer scene will require more tact in its decision-making, considering that it’s outside the studio and its players' comfort zones.
Still,Nightreignseems to have found a solid formula, takingElden Ring’s combat and experimenting with it. Experimentation and innovation should always be encouraged, not dismissed, and there are inevitably going to be some growing pains with FromSoftware’s new direction, and the volume of games it seems it’s going to pump out.Elden Ring Nightreigncould be the start of an expansion and a coming of age title for Ishizaki, as well as other directors going forward. As loved as he is, Hidetaka Miyazaki can’t be in charge of everything if FromSoftware is going to keep up its current release schedule.
