I played for about 5 hours today, probably at least 8-10 runs, none fully successful (though we got to the first Nightlord once). Haven’t explored all characters yet since I wanted to get used to their skills. Here are my thoughts:
Map & movement
I like the map structure and the quicker movement, though I’d expected more randomization regarding the map layout. There’s apparently still some bigger map events I haven’t seen, but it feels like things will get fairly samey quickly.
Combat & teamplay
I’m surprised how good this felt! Haven’t really played co-op Elden Ring, but the boss fights genuinely get my adrenaline pumping & make me root for my teammates. Things feel a good bit harder than in Elden Ring (since you’re much lower level & it’s scaled for 3 players), and I hope they adjust the balancing a bit, but it’s what I wanted: more combat focus & quicker rounds.
Lore & story
Haven’t found much so far, but the Nightfarers are done well and feel like unique characters. I just unlocked the Duchess, but I’m still missing the Revenant (though I have an idea how to unlock her). Feels like there’s a bit less lore stuff than I’d hoped for, but there are already some nuggets that improve my understanding of the main game :)
Overall feelings
I’d give the game a 7 or 8 / 10 so far. Not as enthralling as Elden Ring due to the missing meta progression, but it definitely scratches that “one more round” itch. I’m looking forward to playing more over the next couple of days!
I just had a run with a team that really clicked, and we beat the first Nightlord without ever dying (only one of us died one time in the night rain). Wow, that was incredibly fun! I gotta say, for me it’s worth the money. But be warned that you actually have to be good at Souls combat (which I don’t think I am yet).
I am at this weird position where I have a halfway completed RL1 run in regular Elden Ring, so I can jump into a trance and crush very specific bosses. However, that means sometimes my teammates think I can handle everything, when in reality, I’m not so confident with over half the bosses still.
Also a few of the new special moves get me good :(
You’ll get there, don’t worry!
On the topic of meta progression, I recently found out there is a Journal tab in the roundtable hold that has character specific remembrance quests. None of the rewards I’ve gotten so far are impressive, but there are definitely some quests/lore/relics to look into.
Yeah, that seems to be the progression of lore, and it’s actually done rather nicely! There’s supposedly even some cutscenes, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Apart from that, the meta progression seems to mostly be relics from defeating night lords, and the scenes (colorful stones) you get at the end of runs. Those can actually have some pretty good upgrades, and they’re not consumed upon usage, so it’s definitely some permanent progress.
No demo makes me sad.
You can always do your own demo if you stay under two hours :)
Another update from me - I’ve now defeated all Nightlords, all with randoms, ~23hrs in total. Wow, I’m loving the game! The boss fights feel a lot more tense than they did in ER since you’re comparatively weaker & have to focus more on teamwork, but it doesn’t feel unfair. I’m having a blast and will go for all achievements next. If you enjoy the bosses in ER, I can’t recommend Nightreign enough!
Wow I hate it. I gave it a honest heartfelt shot, battle royal is not for me. I’ll probably enjoy watching other people have fun with it though.
It’s not a battle royal. That’s when you have a bunch of players and fight until only one team remains.
Excuse me. I meant a Fortnite/Puba-like 🙏
Fortnite and PUBG are battle royales lol
That’s like saying “man I just can’t get into Balatro. I’ve just always had a hard time grasping poker”
Like, I’m sorry? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But not actually. Don’t sweat it though, man. Plenty of people like Fortreign and can probably describe a battlebus to your specificity. It’s NBD if me, a rando on the internet doesn’t like 30-minute excursions to a shrinking blue circle.
When did I ever criticize your (lack of) enjoyment of Nightreign? I only had a problem with your argument.
We can reduce any game into something that’s easy to criticize, if you really want to go that route. Don’t get me wrong, I have gripes with the game, but calling it something akin to “fortnite dark souls” doesn’t really get us anywhere.
The similarities to the battle royale format are map circles and randomized tiered loot. That’s pretty much it.
pretty sure I’m allowed to be as reductive as I want
