With its move away from the original's open-world RPG format, Elden Ring Nightreign was always going to divide opinion somewhat. Rather than a sweeping, fantasy epic, the three-player co-op game is a frantic dash for gear, leading into a challenging boss rush where you're being herded by a Fortnite-style circle of flame. It strips away the gradual, player-driven character progression of base Elden Ring in favor of fixed classes, placing the focus on quick, roguelike-style runs. Instead of its dramatic change in focus, however, so far, it's Nightreign's missing features that are actually proving the real killer reviews wise, dooming it to an initial rating of 'mixed.'
In our Elden Ring Nightreign over its bigger, bolder sibling. Despite that, the Fromsoftware name is already pulling in a lot of players, although early opinions are decidedly split.
At the time of writing, Nightreign has peaked at 313,593 players – a far cry from Elden Ring's 953,426 peak, but still a very impressive count, especially given that we're yet to reach the weekend proper. Steam reviews are decidedly mixed, however, with just 67% of players recommending it. That makes Nightreign Fromsoftware's worst-rated full game for now, with only Dark Souls 3's Ashes of Ariandel DLC at a lower score.
Notably, a lot of the most common complaints are less about the format (although there certainly are calls for a more generous time limit, or less brutally punishing final boss encounters). The most frequent bullet points among players are the lack of communication tools and the pure focus on playing in a team of three. Many s bemoan the inability to queue as a duo without adding a random third member to the group (something Fromsoftware says it's Nightreign crossplay. Yet more echo the sentiment in Nat's review that the pacing means a solo player will often feel too pressed for time without companions assisting them.
Decide to queue with other players, and there are no options for integrated voice or text chat, with nothing more than a basic ping system and the cluster of Nightreign bosses are pretty much off the table. You're left largely at the whims of your fellow players, and there's no guarantee that they'll have your same goals in mind.
"If you don't have two other friends to play with in voice chat, don't waste your time," 'Hishamm' writes. "I think no matter how good you are at the game, it doesn't matter if you're bad at teamwork, especially in an environment where communicating is close to nonexistent." Another player review, from 'Vahit Horoz,' says it's "impossible to make progress without voice chat." Despite these issues, there's a general sentiment that Nightreign is a lot of fun when everything clicks; two-thirds of respondents are still giving it the thumbs up so far, after all.
Get those conditions in place, study our builds for the Elden Ring Nightreign Remembrances work, and you'll be on the golden path to having a great time.
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