4.5/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN.

For a mostly asset flip rogue lite, Nightreign is so much more fun than it has any right to be. Taking the speedy movement from Sekiro, hero shooter/battle royale elements from Apex Legends, & slightly reworked Elden Ring combat to make a winning combination was unthinkable on paper. I own the game on Steam & have around 45 hours of playtime. I’ve beaten every nightlord & earned almost every Steam achievement. I have been fortunate enough to exclusively play the game with friends to fill out a full party. In game communication is very rudimentary and playing with randoms in the beta was a mixed bag, I do sympathize with people who don’t have a full team or were hoping for a duos mode. Solo is in a tough state as well since some characters are built to work in a support capacity, and only enemy health scales down so you’re still facing the same amount of enemies as a 3 person team would. The gameplay, in typical Fromsoft fashion, is excellent. Going back to even Elden Ring after playing this game will feel like moving in a vat of molasses. No carry weight, no fall damage, no stat requirements, just a breakneck paced playground. And I cannot emphasize enough the term breakneck. There is almost zero down time in runs if you’re trying to get as much loot as possible to stand a chance against the night lord of the run. The Night Lords themselves are the main selling point of this game. Each one is a massive spectacle that offers different challenges the party will need to prepare for. You’re told the weakness of each before you start so you know which items to prioritize in the run. Some of them can be slogs depending on you playing as ranged or melee, but they’re mostly possible with any party composition with experienced players. For story & characters, it boils down to an alternate timeline of Elden Ring where a Lord of Eternal Night reigns supreme. Each playable character is given a series of quests that tell their origins & goals for the greater story. The end credits scene also gives a possibly interesting tie in to Elden Ring, but that’s just speculation at the moment. Performance has been mostly good on my PC, which is no modern workhorse by any means. I experienced one hard crash, and encounter some blurry textures or frame drops during hectic scenes but nothing else game breaking. Lastly I must mention the music. Hearing themes from the dark souls trilogy during their specific boss fights makes me so happy, but the cream of the crop are the night lord themes themselves. Each one a sweeping 6-8 minute epic signaling each phase of the fight. Sentient Pest may take the crown though as that second phase kick in is spectacular. TLDR; Elden Ring Nightreign is fantastic. In a new world with $80 AAA games, here is the hottest company in modern gaming releasing a $40 experiment that is still leagues above its competitors. I’m seeing some mixed reactions online, but this game was very upfront with its intentions upon its reveal so getting upset over things that were never promised is a little silly.