Elden Ring: Nightreign’s release date has been officially revealed, letting players officially start getting excited for a return to the Lands Between.
FromSoftware fans got a surprising, albeit confusing, bit of news at The Game Awards. Though there were job listings related to some manner of mech shooter popping up on the studio’s Japanese website, the company revealed a spin-off of Elden Ring. This wasn’t just any spin-off though.
Instead of an actual Soulsborne game, Elden Ring: Nightreign was revealed as a strange sort of co-op battle royale. While this pivot would have sent fans of other franchises into a frenzy, FromSoftware has enough goodwill built up among followers that there’s a general excitement for this new title. But when will it come out? Fans finally have an answer.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is coming out on May 30, 2025. The news was officially revealed on X.
This keeps up FromSoftware’s longstanding ability to deliver new releases at a breakneck pace.
In this era where games can take years to be developed and studios like Naughty Dog will go years without delivering a new release, FromSoftware has effectively had one major release each year. Almost all of them have garnered strong critical acclaim.
In the 16 years since the release of Demon’s Souls, the company has released several game of the year contenders, critically acclaimed DLCs for many of them, and well-regarded titles such as Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. 2024 didn’t include a full game release, but the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was a smash hit to the point where it received numerous game of the year nominations.
Ahead of Elden Ring: Nightreign’s release was the closed network test. As with previous FromSoftware closed network tests, it gave players a small portion of the game to play with its online multiplayer components enabled.
The response was generally solid, though the limited number of players and limited amount of content in the Elden Ring: Nightreign network test makes it unclear what the final product will look like when it comes out.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is a spin-off of 2022 Game of the Year winner Elden Ring that alters its gameplay in a way similar to a battle royale.
Like Fortnite or Apex Legends, players have to contend with both enemies and a rapidly shrinking battlefield. Though it has a fantasy sheen to it, the game still has players being forced together by a “circle” that deals damage to everything outside it.
Unlike the competitive shooter battle royales, Elden Ring: Nightreign is a cooperative experience. Rather than 100 players fighting to the last man standing, Nightreign forces three players to navigate familiar, but increasingly treacherous locales. This culminates with an epic boss fight.
The game is also set to excite FromSoftware fans in a novel way. Despite being an “Elden Ring” game, Nightreign is set to fold characters and bosses from Dark Souls 3 into it. This will bring some extra appeal to the game for veteran fans.
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