You have played Elden Ring. You know the score. This is different, that much is obvious, but Elden Ring is in the name! It can’t be that hard to adjust, and you’ve played the other Soulsborne games. You pick a character based on a build style you’re familiar with and begin.
Then you soar through the air on a spectral bird, drop into Limveld from an obscene height, and the chaos begins.
Your party members go running off, seeming to execute complex mathematics in their heads as they go. The truth is, they know the score. You’re the newbie. You’re just along for the ride. You follow, getting used to the slightly tweaked controls, the speed of the new sprint feature, maybe you take some time to fiddle with your character’s unique skills. Perhaps you chose the Wylder, with his greatsword, his grappling hook and his all-around playstyle. Or maybe you wanted to try your hand at the easy to learn, difficult to master Recluse, with her recharging FP and her powerful elemental spells that rely on careful planning and memorization. No matter which Nightfarer you chose for your first run, you will quickly realize, just from watching your allies play, that each one of them is technically complex and surprising in how unique their identities are.
Runes start pouring in and it becomes clear that you are being carried. You scoff. You’re the expert here, right? You leap into the fray. Enemies you recognize rush you in mobs and you take a couple hits but you come back swinging. “Alright,” you say to yourself. “I can do this! Just need some time to adjust.” This has happened throughout the franchise! Each entry is just different enough to feel familiar but a little disorienting. But those were all hurdles you overcame in a matter of minutes, hours at most!
Your party is gone again, already rushing to their next target while you’re stuck trying to decipher which rewards you should be choosing, struggling with incomplete context. You try your best to make value judgments knowing you might not get another chance to take the rewards you don’t pick.
The storm begins to close in. A lot faster than you expected. Man, this game is paced really fast! Kind of hard to keep up, especially when Souls games tend to be slow marches through dangerous, hand-crafted levels. This feels so much more chaotic, so much more hurried and frantic. Your party is launching spells, wielding weapons you vaguely recognize but with new abilities.
And now it’s time to face your first boss, and like the weapons, items, and other enemies in the game you recognize this one too! Alright, you take a few licks, get downed once… maybe twice. But your party members seem to have a grip on the situation and you prevail. A big boost in runes and a handy buff come your way, or perhaps a new weapon.
Then Day Two comes.
Far more dangerous enemies (which were there before but are now marked on your map) seem to draw your party’s attention and you struggle through some challenging fights. You visit a few more areas, some ruins themed around a certain damage type/status effect, Limveld’s central feature: a castle with two powerful bosses and a bunch of high level enemies. The runes come flooding in and you watch your level climb up over ten and closer to the maximum level of fifteen. You’re beginning to truly grasp the flow of the game, this deadly rhythm of efficiently hunting the enemies most likely to provide more runes and better drops. You’re assembling an arsenal of powerful weapons, many of them carrying passive buffs that benefit you in one way or another simply by being in your inventory.
Another boss encounter, this one much harder and the fight is won only through determination and a quick study of the enemy’s abilities. You drain every last flask you have, expend your consumables, get downed and get back up with a vengeance.
Then the final stage begins. You are teleported to a small chamber free of threats. You have one last opportunity to level up, maybe purchase a few items that will help you in what’s coming (if anything can help).
The door opens once your party is assembled. It’s your first, truly devastating encounter and it seems like victory is unattainable. You’ve used your items, you’ve been downed and revived twice now, and you realize that your build just simply isn’t up to par.
And if you’re anything like me, you fail. It’s back to the beginning, but not without anything gained. The game gives you Relics, which can be applied to your Nightfarers and provide passive buffs and subtle (or sometimes significant) changes to the way they play. You realize how staggeringly little you understand about this game, despite having played From Software’s RPGs going back over a decade.
In many ways, Elden Ring: Nightreign is a familiar beast. Many series staples are present, and the use of classic bosses means you have a shot at beating many of these on your first try if your memories of battles past are intact, the timing of dodges and opportunities to retaliate deeply ingrained in the deft movements of your hands.
Yet the game is also shockingly unique when compared to other entries, not only for its multiplayer focus but the way it seems to grasp on to many modern conventions of games like Apex Legends and Fortnite, and somehow put them all to shame with the way it executes them with that classic combo of design genius and From Software jank.
Not to mention, that familiar hook has already sunk deep beneath your skin and right into your brain. Ever since the first boss encounter way back in Demons’ Souls, that same psychological trap has been there, lying dormant until the next boss, and the next one, and the next one after that. In some ways, it’s an old friend.
You bet you can beat it next time.
Vulpes Valentine's Video Game Valley 