Over the past months, FromSoftware’s president Hidetaka Miyazaki has repeatedly told Elden Ring fans no sequel was being developed despite the game’s critical and commercial success. To everyone’s surprise, 2024’s The Game Awards ceremony featured a juicy trailer for Elden Ring Nightreign, a standalone spin-off game developed to offer shorter adventures in The Lands Between for up to three players. At first glance, it might seem that Nightreign is just an excuse for FromSoftware to reuse assets and get some low-effort money. However, by using the roguelite structure, Nightreign can offer fans something Elden Ring cannot.
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From the reveal trailer and the information available on publisher Bandai Namco’s website, it’s clear Nightreign is designed as a roguelite. This is a run-based game in which players must survive three days and three nights to fight mighty bosses. It’s not enough to wait for time to pass, though, as players must explore the map to gather resources and upgrades that might help them survive the boss fight. After each run, players will also receive items that can offer permanent upgrades, making them stronger before their next attempt. Of course, victory will lead to more significant rewards. This is the tried-and-true formula that gave us classics such as Hades, Dead Cells, and Enter the Gungeon. Further information shared about Elden Ring Nightreign after it was revealed referenced “lasting stat bonuses” earned during runs, so in the roguelite vs. roguelike debate, Nightreign seems to be the former, for now.
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Nevertheless, the roguelite philosophy couldn’t be more different than Elden Ring’s. The idea behind a roguelite is to offer a short and linear gameplay loop that is highly replayable due to the randomization of its core elements — things like enemy placement, rewards, and level configuration. In its turn, Elden Ring drops the player on an expansive map that can be explored to their heart’s content, where every challenge and reward has a set place in the world. That’s precisely why Nightreign is such a brilliant idea, as turning Elden Ring into a roguelite solves the base game’s main issues with replayability.
Elden Ring Nightreign Roguelite Structure Can Help Keep the Franchise Alive
Even though Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s magnum opus, the game still has some flaws. For starters, the massive size of its map means any player will spend a couple hundred hours exploring every nook and cranny of The Lands Between. The consequence of this creative choice is that New Game+ cycles or even new saves demand an unprecedented level of commitment from players, unlike the Dark Souls trilogy. That’s worsened by the fact that once you finish the game and know where to find everything, exploration is no longer as rewarding. Few games have made exploration as satisfying as Elden Ring, but that feeling is mostly lost once the game has nothing new to show.
Right off the bat, Elden Ring Nightreign tackles both of these issues thanks to its roguelite structure. By offering short runs, the spinoff game ensures players never feel burned out by the size of the map. Plus, since the levels are at least partially random in Nightreign, players can always enjoy exploring a new place, hoping to find an item to help them overcome challenges. FromSoftware still needs to explain how much randomization will be involved in Nightreign, but the potential for unlimited unique runs is already part of its concept.
Furthermore, since online co-op is tied to geographic positions in Elden Ring, you must have unlocked the same Sites of Grace as your friends if you want to be summoned or to summon for a specific boss fight or tricky section. In addition, any progress only counts towards the host player, so collaborators must retrace their steps in their own save file to collect items or beat bosses. It’s no wonder one of Elden Ring’s most popular mods is Yui’s Seamless Co-op, which improves the online functionalities. Nightreign won’t face the same issue, as the spinoff was designed with co-op in mind. This is likely why FromSoftware is underlining how the game has been balanced for three players, even though you can theoretically face the Nightlord’s forces alone.
While Nightreign represents a significant departure from traditional FromSoftware design, it’s essential to recognize that the studio has carefully preserved the core elements that made Elden Ring special. The game maintains precise combat mechanics and challenging boss encounters while condensing character customization and exploration for runs that last less than one hour. By combining these familiar elements with roguelite mechanics and enhanced cooperative play, Nightreign has the potential to extend the longevity of the Elden Ring universe in ways the original game never could.
Elden Ring Nightreign will be released for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in 2025.
