FromSoft’s Elden Ring remix is magical when it’s not being miserable.
Dawn has broken over Elden Ring Nightreign, by which I mean the review embargo has lifted and we can actually talk about FromSoft’s roguelike spinoff. And folks, there’s going to be a lot of deliberation in the days ahead.
In our Nightreign review, Tyler Colp wrote that it’s “both a trend-defying remix of Elden Ring and also a pile of complete bullshit that I shouldn’t have to deal with.” Having played a fair amount of Nightreign with Tyler myself, I stand by the assessment: Nightreign can be brilliant, but it can also be a despicable kind of brutal.
Conversations about Nightreign—a game bearing a title of one of the most acclaimed games in the last decade, but currently sitting at a 78% on Metacritic and OpenCritic—are bound to be divisive as players weigh its moments of roguelike triumph against its arbitrary difficulty. Here’s what other reviewers are saying.”It proves to be a relentless sprint that can be both exhilarating and excruciating.”
GamesRadar: 3.5/5
In his GamesRadar review, Will Sawyer says Nightreign is “an uncharacteristically frantic and fast-paced ride that boils down and livens up the core Elden Ring experience.” He also says that it’s, you know, extremely hard.
“Nightreign’s Expeditions can be upwards of 45 minutes of brutally relentless, heart-pounding hunting with an incredibly narrow margin for error”, Sawyer says, noting that the demands of its frantic, randomized structure can make it feel excessively punishing when you face a boss with an interminable health bar.
