Elden Ring Nightreign is a deeply flawed multiplayer game I've spent over 250 hours in this year

Elden Ring Nightreign - Wylder and Duchess fighting Gladius.

Personal Pick

(Image credit: Future)

In addition to our main Game of the Year Awards 2025, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We'll post new personal picks each day throughout the rest of the month. You can find them all here.

It's funny, but I didn't even enjoy Elden Ring Nightreign at first. Like most FromSoftware fans, I was resistant to the concept of an Elden Ring spinoff you're supposed to play almost entirely in multiplayer. I also recognised its obvious limitations. Despite being a roguelike all about team interplay, as you use your limited time to accrue as much power and pertinent passives as possible while journeying to battle the Nightlord, one thing stuck out to me: It doesn't have comms.