Seeing FromSoftware fully embrace multiplayer with Elden Ring: Nightreign feels surreal. It plays more like a roguelike—dropping you and other players into the world to grow stronger before facing a final boss. Unlike past titles, this is a true multiplayer experience, marking a bold but unexpected shift for the studio. It still looks fantastic, and FromSoft’s signature feel is intact, but for longtime fans, it’s a surprising turn from a developer known for blazing its own trail.
FromSoftware has largely stuck to single-player games ever since their debut with King’s Field. They followed it up with Armored Core, and then ventured into some real oddities like Echo Night, Shadow Tower, Lost Kingdoms, Otogi, and more. But it wasn’t until Demon’s Souls dropped in 2010 that the studio really began to stand out—and from that point on, their popularity only grew with each release.
Sure, the Souls games have always included co-op, but let’s be honest, it’s been clunky at best in it’s default state. Even Elden Ring, a sprawling open-world adventure that seems tailor-made for multiplayer, stuck to that same awkward co-op model. Defeat a boss? Your helper gets sent back to their world. It’s functional, but exhausting if you’re really trying to play the game alongside a friend. I get that loneliness and isolation are part of the intended experience, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to run around with friends, enjoying just how incredible these games feel.
In fact, the first real change to that formula didn’t come from FromSoftware at all, but from Yui’s Seamless Co-op Mod for Elden Ring. With it, you’re no longer tethered to a single boss or area. Instead, the whole game opens up. You and up to three friends can roam freely, sharing every victory and defeat together, and it’s every bit as magical as you’d hope. Honestly, it made the game feel the way I always imagined it should.
While Nightreign emphasizes multiplayer, its biggest surprise is the return of Dark Souls bosses—despite no direct connection to that universe. This breaks from FromSoftware’s usual lore consistency, making Nightreign feel more like a fun, standalone spin-off than a seamless extension of Elden Ring. It’s still exciting and enjoyable, but it marks a clear shift from the studio’s traditionally cohesive, lore-rich worlds.
Call me a hypocrite when I inevitably rack up hundreds of hours in Nightreign, but part of me still wishes it were either another proper addition to Elden Ring’s world, or better yet, its own thing entirely.
If you’re curious, excited, or just want to gather your friends for a new kind of journey through the Lands Between, you can grab Elden Ring: Nightreign now at Green Man Gaming, with the added bonus of supporting a trusted digital storefront. See you out there.
