Well here's a nice surprise: Elden Ring Nightreign's official release date is May 30, a good chunk earlier in the year than I would've guessed when FromSoftware announced it in December. Coinciding with a bunch of new Nightreign hands-on impressions, Bandai Namco also shared that the co-op Elden Ring spinoff will cost $40, the same price as the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
I played three hours of Nightreign at a preview event last month and had a good time, but it's more than a little jarring to see From's sprawling open world RPG adapted into a run-based, 3-player squad game about racing around the map killing anything that moves. I had access to four Nightfarers (essentially "heroes"):
- Wylder: A jack-of-all-trades knight
- Duchess: A Bloodborne-y rogue with a dash instead of a dodge roll
- Recluse: A mage who absorbs FP from enemies
- Guardian: A birdman shield user with a powerful block
My biggest takeaway from Nightreign is how simple it is. You essentially jump in, kill stuff, and stack upgrades until the final boss. We should be thinking about it like a much smaller game than its predecessor. It's centered on a single chunk of map (for now, at least), doesn't have much progression unless FromSoftware was keeping much of the scope secret in my preview, and seems solely focused on combat and roguelike build crafting. Which is pretty cool, but probably not what everyone who loved Elden Ring is looking for.
If the current 2025 release schedule holds, Nightreign won't have to share May with many other games. Just Doom: The Dark Ages is currently set for the month, though there are dozens of 2025 games with TBA dates that could end up in the same window.
