A few runs into my Elden Ring Nightreign hands-on session, I finally realize what this oddball not-sequel really is. This bizarre chimera of an open-world action RPG, spliced with roguelike and battle royale genes. This is, essentially, a mod – an Elden Ring randomizer with the FromSoftware seal of quality. Here I am dropping into Limveld, a slice of alternate-universe Limgrave, via magic bird battle bus, latching onto the first meta weapon I can find in chests or on corpses, and preparing to fight randomly selected bosses while a fog wall herds me like a sheepdog. This is a mod.
In the best way possible, Elden Ring Nightreign feels like the kind of madcap experiment that players would normally have to cook up on their own because studios just wouldn't make it. If you think that is anything short of fine praise, you need to adjust your outlook on mods. Mods are the lifeblood of countless games, and it is nothing but exciting to see FromSoftware tap into that same unhinged creativity after spending most of the past decade making the same type of game. That type of game's DNA is obviously part of Elden Ring Nightreign, but this is something far stranger.
