Elden Ring Nightreign Drops and Gamers Are Split – What’s the Deal?

Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have lately made available the public release of the Elden Ring Nightreign. So really, there is just about everything to say about this release: some get hyped; some just can’t get it; some are on the opposite side, artists who are not easy to engage with. So, what’s really going on with this one? Buckle up; we have layers here.

To begin with, Nightreign is not a sequel: rather, it is a spin-off. So, no: this is not Elden Ring 2. The full-coop PvE game has its own mechanics: You are not in the Lands Between alone anymore for another adventure. People like Vic Vinegar were literally-confused-wondering if that was a sequel. And really, you can’t blame them. The whole naming scheme is a mess. RainVideojuegos tried to explain it as “an online coop pve game only with its own rules,” but many remain unconvinced.

Then the big question: is this a “real” FromSoftware game? Fireme420 said that Bandai Namco America developed it, and “anyone who buys it is not a real gamer.” It hurt. To be fair, the souls crowd can be quite brutal at times. On the other hand, Tomer Rozenberg is hyped and ready to squad dive: “Nightreign is finally here and I’m ready to team up and conquer the darkness with my squad!” So yeah: it’s mixed waters.

Now, let’s discuss the game. Nightreign is purely co-op, where Elden Ring is an intense solo grind. Some players like sam15608564 just bounced off the original because they “didn’t have a clue what [they] were doing.” You could sell to them with the more guided style of Nightreign—or maybe not, judging from moviesplusgames’s description, “difficult ass game,” so the struggle continues.

Now in matters of GamePass, Bryan (SpaceRecor) straight-up asked Xbox if Nightreign was going to be on the service, which was a very smart move to capture the players. I mean, Nightreign will be all about the group play. But then, John Drake decided to answer somebody else asking the same thing: “No you cheap bum.” The internet people, never change.

And then comes the meaning of life: crossplay. Wolvblood damned it all, being the lone voice asking, “How on earth does a 2025 multi-player game not have crossplay?” A pertinent question! If you’re gonna go all-in on co-op, why would you fence in players on one platform only? Seems like a missed opportunity, but maybe it’ll be here later on. Or maybe not. Who even knows.

And so, whether Elden Ring Nightreign is here or not, whatever you may think, the discourse is loud. Some are joining the fun, some call this a “corpo game,” and some are just standing around and wondering if they will ever understand what the genuine hell is going on here. Truly a bit of a mess as its Soulsborne brethren tend to be.

So, if you’re all about co-op and don’t mind a bit of kicking, then Nightreign might be your game. The rest? Well, there’s always the original. Or, you know, pretty much any other game. It’s up to you now.