From Software always finds a way to sneak in at the end-of-year awards ceremonies. After the Elden Ring DLC, now we have the co-op spin-off Elden Ring Nightreign, which fully embraces the survival genre. For those who prefer to play solo (although this will still be possible) without multiplayer, this will be a little confusing, even if the studio doesn’t want the public to see this as a live service game.
A Complete Game Right from the Start
If there’s one thing we want From Software to do, it’s to avoid falling into the usual traps of live service games. Rest assured, Elden Ring Nightreign won’t really be one, at least not according to the studio’s standards. Junya Ishizaki made this clear to PC Gamer, in an interview in which he indicates that this standalone will be complete from the outset, with all content to be unlocked directly in the game:
“With Nightreign, we wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box on the day of purchase, so everything is unlockable, everything is contained with that purchase. It’s not what we’d consider a ‘live service’ game.”
There is no suggestion yet that there will be no post-launch content, although for the moment that’s not the priority:
“Of course we’re concentrating on the release of Nightreign, first and foremost,” he said. “But we will make considerations after the game’s release. Especially in the form of post-release updates—balance updates, things like this that we’ve done with previous games—this will definitely be a priority going forward. For anything else, we’re still in the process of thinking about the possibilities.”
And before we talk about everything that will happen post-release, we still need to make sure that the game launches in a proper state. With this in mind, a first beta test phase will be available in February 2025. Registration opens on January 10.
Elden Ring Nightreign will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series.