Elden Ring Nightreign only reaches its full potential if you play it right

Elden Ring Nightreign is an absolute blast to play whether you succeed in your goal to slay a Nightlord or otherwise. Though if you’re a player who craves the sweet taste of victory, there’s only one real way to play.

Elden Ring Nightreign just gave select players a taste of what’s to come with a pre-release Network Test, and FromSoftware is onto a winner with this one. We smashed as many sessions as we could during the limited timeframe we had with this pared-down version of the game and there’s a tonne of fun to be had.

A few server issues aside, the game has done an excellent job of adjusting the single-player Elden Ring experience into a frantic co-op offshoot. It’s a brutal test of swift decision-making and build optimization that culminates in the opportunity to take on new combinations of bosses and returning FromSoftware favorites.

If our brief time with Elden Ring Nightreign has taught us anything, it’s that the best way to ensure success is by getting a proper squad of three together. Playing with randomly assigned teammates can be a massive nerf.

Don’t make the same mistake we did with Elden RIng Nightreign

Nothing prepared us for just how swiftly Elden Ring Nightreign’s playable area would shrink in size. The encroaching Ring of Fire recedes at an alarming rate meaning each in-game day only affords you about 15 minutes to acquire gear, level your character, and stock up on helpful items.

There’s an in-built chaos to the game that comes as a consequence of this rapidly ticking clock, and the randomized nature of the game’s maps and drops. That chaos is the true enemy of Elden Ring Nightreign and letting it overwhelm you is a guaranteed way to ensure you won’t live to take on a Nightlord, let alone beat one.

With the pandemonium of the game working against you so effectively, it’s in your best interest to mitigate whatever small facet of it that you can. This starts with the only real form of control you have: who you play with.

We spent our entire time with Elden Ring Nightreign playing with randomly assigned teammates and it made for some pretty tough sledding. Allow us to explain.

Communication is key

Of the 13 sessions we were able to participate in, we managed to make it to the third day and face off against the Nightlord Gladius just once. Unfortunately, the team I was with at the time was unable to take it down.

In our time with the game, we noticed that more often than not, failing a run was less an issue of skill in combat, and more a problem with preparation and cohesion. The game does have some in-built tools for players in randomized squads such as the ability to ping points of interest on the map. Unfortunately, without the option to speak over a mic, you run the risk of squad members ignoring or misunderstanding these.

Not to mention that grappling with an overlaid map while you’re tearing through Limveld can waste precious seconds of that perilous ticking clock we mentioned above. The inability to speak with your teammates can also cause issues of synergy. In one instance, we wound up with an entire squad running fire weapons against the flame retardant Draconic Tree Sentinel.

In that same run, I managed to acquire an exceedingly rare Stonesword Key which allows you to face off against minibosses imprisoned in an Evergaol. After marking one of the fights on a map, I went there and patiently waited for my team to take the hint. After wasting around two minutes, it became clear that my compatriots either hadn’t seen my map marker or had chosen to ignore it.

Wrapped up in the perils of playing in a random squad is the difficulty of apprising teammates of your current situation. It’s very possible to get lost or stuck in the small caves and dungeons of Elden Ring Nightreign if you lose sight of your team.

In boss fights, while your teammates’ health and status are displayed on the HUD, it can be difficult enough to pay attention to your own health bar when you’re tackling one of FromSoftware’s notoriously difficult encounters. There’s also no means to set up potential combos with your Ultimate skills outside of intuition and a bit of luck.

Regardless of how skilled you and your random teammates are at the game’s animation-based combat mechanics, a combination of everything we’ve discussed so far is bound to get the better of you eventually. All of these can be mitigated with one simple thing, however.

Elden Ring Nightreign allows you to set a password so that you and some trusted friends can squad up. If you’re playing on the same console, you have the option for party-based chat and Discord affords the same to players who might be banding together across platforms or on PC.

While we don’t doubt that it’s possible to successfully complete a run with random players, we have to imagine that it is immeasurably more achievable with the ability to communicate properly. For those looking to slay a Nightlord more often than not, this is the only way to play the game.

Elden Ring Nightreign launches on May 30, 2025, and you’ll be able to experience its highs and lows for yourself. Until then, check out every returning FromSoftware boss we’ve been able to identify so far.