A bunch of Verge staffers came back from the weekend chatting about our experiences with Elden Ring Nightreign’s network tests. We generally enjoyed the fast-paced, co-op-focused spin on Elden Ring that takes cues from roguelikes and battle royale games — and when things were good, they were really good. But we also ran into some frustrating connection issues that we worry could dampen the experience of the full game if they’re not worked out.
Read more about what we thought below. The game will be officially released on May 30th.
While playing the Elden Ring Nightreign network test, the word that kept coming to mind to describe it was “frantic.”
I played the original Elden Ring at a plodding pace. For every possible encounter, I cast spells from a distance as an astrologer to avoid the scary baddies, and I took advantage of numerous guides to find great gear and easy leveling spots.
I couldn’t do that with Nightreign; its constant, looming, battle royale-style closing ring of danger forces you to stay moving. The persistent threat of the storm meant I had to make quick decisions about which weapons to experiment with. To get runes to level up, I had to fight enemies head-on, and if I didn’t level up enough, I’d be useless against the fearsome bosses.
But despite Nightreign forcing me to play differently, I came to love the breakneck speed because of how it pushed me out of my comfort zone. And when I matched up with two other solid players, Nightreign was just awesome: I had a blast mowing through baddies and bosses with a coordinated group, especially when one team I played with easily took down a surprise Fell Omen spawn on the roof of a small keep.
I only just started to get the hang of Nightreign at the end of the network test. I can’t wait to jump into the full game and experiment with everything it has to offer, even if it means I have to keep being uncomfortable. — Jay Peters, news editor
Like Jay, Elden Ring Nightreign’s pacing pushed me to play with haste and act braver than I normally do in The Lands Between. But I don’t always want to go that fast.
I enjoyed my drops into Limveld enough to play over five hours in total. The bulk of this came during the final play session when I partied up with two friends for three nonstop hours. We communicated via Discord to overcome the game’s lack of voice chat (an odd omission, though if the goal is to avoid player toxicity, I can understand it).
I really like the idea of a co-op Elden Ring that works well in short sessions. The battle royale format forces you to rush and encourages experimentation; with some buddies, it was an absolute thrill. At the same time, this game has no chill. There’s no casually hanging with the boys.
The trappings of a battle royale in a scaled-down Elden Ring world means you won’t be methodically exploring lengthy, exquisitely designed dungeons. That’s a bummer because to play with seamless co-op in the original game requires dealing with FromSoftware’s draconian restrictions or installing a mod on PC. Nightreign is obviously designed with something else in mind. – Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reviewer
I went into the Nightreign network test with no material history of playing Elden Ring and a bitter taste from my previous attempts at playing Soulslike games. But I was intrigued by the idea of playing the game with a team so we could carry each other through the unforgivably challenging hordes of monsters and bosses.
It turns out, I was always the one who needed the carrying.
My kind of fun usually doesn’t involve timely dodges and strategic spellcasting, but I did have a blast following people I’ve matched with who seemed to know what the hell they were doing. They took me all the way to the second day, and we died together against the Fell Omen. They must have revived my sad Wylder no less than 20 times.
Image: FromSoftware
I played the final network test window Sunday night with my colleague Sean Hollister, who is a pretty decent Demon’s / Dark Souls player and beat Elden Ring. We did have fun joking about how you need to smack a player while they’re down to revive them, frantically running away from those damn Flame Chariots, and wondering what our poor third teammate thought of us since they weren’t in our Discord.
I’m not sure if I’ll come back and play Nightreign. Maybe the menu system could be revamped so that it’s better designed for the fast-paced missions the game puts you through. But really, I just need to figure out how to duck, dip, dive, and dodge. — Umar Shakir, news writer
I’ll admit: I don’t quite get it. Bite-sized co-op Elden Ring, yes, that sounds like an amazing idea. But why force it to fit inside the tired trappings of a battle royale game? The joy of Souls has always been cautious exploration, but now there’s a blue ring of creeping deadly fire keeping me from exploring it meaningfully and a “where we dropping boys?”-style intro to every mission rather than the mystical teleportation that has defined FromSoftware’s worlds. I just can’t feel that immersion when I’m inexplicably hacking at my buddy’s body to raise them when they’re downed — another trope of battle royale that just doesn’t make quite as much sense in a Souls world.
I did enjoy getting utterly trashed by the game with my colleague Umar — but if I could just as easily play co-op Shadow of the Erdtree, I’d be happier. — Sean Hollister, senior editor
I’m really concerned about potential network stability and the overall communication issues in Nightreign. Though I didn’t get to play the network tests, during my playtests ahead of that, connectivity issues were frequent and terrible. Based on what I’ve seen from players and FromSoftware itself, it seems like some of those issues have persisted.
Because we could never maintain a stable enough connection for all three members of the party, my team never managed to make it to the boss on the third day. It got so bad that, at one point, after I lost connection for the umpteenth time, I simply quit playing, contenting myself with walking around the testing area to watch others try to do what we couldn’t (and suffering connection issues as well).
On top of that, there’s no party chat in the game itself. I got around it because I could just talk to the two other players at my table. However, I wondered how randos would get over the lack of communication tools beyond emoting. You really don’t have time to pull up the emote wheel and select “Help me!” when the Fell Omen is chewing on your ass. — Ash Parrish, games reporter
