I played the Elden Ring Nightreign playtest and was sorely disappointed. Hopefully, the final release of the game will have a lot of the issues fixed that I address below. If not, I think we're all better off playing Monster Hunter Wilds if we want a game about taking down giant bosses.
Not only does Fortnite and Elden Ring not mix, but the game is also missing key elements in the expedition - including no instructions on how to resurrect players, no button combos on screen, and a very hard to read map.
Here is our full Elden Ring: Nightreign review and changes they need to make before the May 30th release date.
My boyfriend and I both played the Elden Ring: Nightreign playtest during the Saturday 2 PM to 5 PM EST window on the PlayStation 5.
We're both certified Soulslike junkies (I love the hated Dark Souls 2 and own Elden Ring on all 3 platforms, and he's done multiple level 1 playthroughs of the Dark Souls franchise.) We're always waiting for the next Iron Pineapple video to see if we can find a new Soulslike to play.
What we are NOT is Fortnite fans. I don't think the difference between Elden Ring and Elden Ring: Nightreign really hit me until after exploring the new Roundtable Hold area, I hit "Start Expedition" and was put into a matchmaking queue.
I kind of assumed that Nightreign would be similar to a Monster Hunter game, and I would be able to farm the bosses either alone or in a party.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is ONLY multiplayer. The only content you can do solo is sit at the Table of Lost Grace and hit the training dummy.
I personally just have a vendetta against games that are only multiplayer. Why should I pay $40 or $55 for a game that I can't even play by myself?
And even at the training dummy, you can't practice with every weapon and consumable available. There's an inventory that lets you change your weapons, but many of them are locked behind a level - 9 or 12.
After completing an expedition, you earn some permanent runes to use outside of matches, assumedly for leveling up your character permanently. Unfortunately, this mechanic wasn't available at Roundtable Hold for the Playtest.
Elden Ring: Nightreign introduces weapon combos - but for the most part, they don't work and aren't impactful.
Outside of Roundtable Hold at the training dummies, different button combos appear for each hero. We both had issues getting the button combos to even work. The playtest lagged pretty badly, so it may have been an input lag.
Each character has a passive ability, a special weapon combo, and an ultimate ability. The game doesn't explain what each of the hero's abilities do, and the game poorly explains how the button combos work.
After testing the abilities for all 4 characters, I was disappointed that the Guardian's abilities seemed lackluster compared to the rest. I think the Eagle tank character is the best design, but the passive ability Steel Guard wasn't explained at all, and the Wings of Salvation ultimate ability was disappointing. Why is the tank character also the support?
We were also disappointed that the Duchess' ultimate ability Finale is just the ability to go stealth for a short time. For Rogue characters in other games, Stealth is a built-in ability, not an ultimate move.
The Recluse looks like the most powerful character but also the hardest to play. This sorceress has essentially unlimited FP. After casting spells, you can collect the residue back as FP. It was pretty easy to have unlimited mana in the training area, but this ability is harder to use during expeditions. It feels contradictory to have a range caster that needs to be close enough to the enemies to gather mana residue.
Wylder appears to be the most well-rounded melee character, although I wish Claw Shot was more impactful. Claw Shot pull enemies towards you but doesn't stagger them at all. There isn't a guaranteed light attack after the Claw Shot.
The expeditions are missing key gameplay elements, and the chests are full of junk.
My first expedition did not go so well. We didn't even make it through the first day because no one knew how to resurrect. Every other game in existence prompts you with a button to press when you're near a fallen ally, but Elden Ring Nightreign did not have any instructions.
A purple ring appears above fallen allies but with no instructions. It wasn't until my boyfriend's first expedition when another player started pummeling a fallen player with light attacks that we realized you're supposed to fill the purple ring to resurrect allies. I think holding X would be faster.
There are plenty of chests in the Limgrave-inspired map, but they're full of consumables. The first weapon that dropped was usually the only one we had for the entire expedition. Chests only had consumables like a single firepot or a single boiled prawn.
Even on Day 2 or after leveling up, the weapons that dropped after defeating a mini boss weren't scaled higher. It was common to not find a better weapon during the entire expedition.
Also, if a mini boss was encountered on the edge of the rain (the Fortnite circle closing in), the mini boss can stand in the closed area without any consequence. There were multiple times we were fighting a mini boss as the circle was closing in, and we stayed to defeat the boss despite losing constant health.
Finally, there is an awful lot of running around on foot. Coming from Elden Ring, where we had an actual mount, it feels cheap that the developers didn't allow for ground mounts in this game. The spectral birds are only used in the beginning of the expedition to "drop in" and maybe a second or third time if you find yourself on top of a cliff.
Conclusion
Other reviews have described Elden Ring: Nightreign as a rogue-like DLC, and I agree. Elden Ring: Nightreign feels like a cash grab that's capitalizing on the hype surrounding Elden Ring and the current popularity of battle royale games.
Before Elden Ring: Nightreign releases on May 30th, 2025, we're hoping the developers will make these changes:
Add descriptions of every Nightfarer ability
Add the button combos next to the ability icons during the expedition
Add the ability to spend runes at Roundtable Hold
Add the option to test every weapon at the training dummy
Add more weapon drops during expeditions
Add better weapon scaling during expeditions
Add a prompt near a fallen ally
Make the expedition map bigger (Please, I'm old)
Increase the damage and staggering of every hero ability
The real question always is - will we buy the game? If the game only releases with one map, I won't be buying Elden Ring Nightreign. I think this game could potentially be fun with a party of friends to figure things out with, but it will quickly get boring if they release the game with only one map.
It's always frustrating when major games release saying that "DLCs will be added later on" when the DLCs just feel like game content that should've been there from the beginning. Hopefully, Elden Ring: Nightreign will release with multiple maps to explore, better explanations, and better weapon scaling.
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