Elden Ring Nightreign is a co-op action survival (roguelike) game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco. It was announced at The Game Awards 2024 and launched on May 30, 2025 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Steam. The director is Junya Ishizaki, who previously worked on Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
Gameplay
- Standalone: it is its own game within the Elden Ring universe, not an expansion
- Co-op: teams of up to 3 players explore Limveld, a randomized version of the Limgrave region
- Nightfarers: each character is its own class with different skills and fighting style
- Structure: each expedition lasts three in-game days and ends in a fight against the final bosses known as the Nightlords
Why would FromSoftware make a co-op game after years of single-player Souls-likes? FromSoftware is known for Souls-like games that stress a difficult, solitary and personal experience, where multiplayer is usually a side feature (summoning other players) rather than the focus of the design. Elden Ring Nightreign reverses that formula completely: the game was built from the ground up for three-player teams, with a three-day time limit per run and a roguelike structure (the map is randomized every time you play), closer to the "extraction" genre and cooperative battle royale than to traditional Dark Souls. It is the studio's boldest genre experiment since Elden Ring's runaway success.
Sales and Reception
- Sold 2 million copies in the first 24 hours
- Passed 5 million copies in July 2025
- Metacritic ranges from 77 to 84 depending on platform; OpenCritic records about 76% of critics recommending it
The Forsaken Hollows DLC
The Forsaken Hollows expansion launched on December 4, 2025 for around $15, adding two new Nightfarers, the Scholar and the Undertaker, two new expeditions and new night bosses, including the Nightlord Dreglord, along with several map variants. According to reports, the DLC sold more than 2 million copies in just the first few days.
OtaHub's Take
Sales of 5 million copies after only a few months, plus a DLC that sold 2 million copies in just a few days, are clear proof that FromSoftware's gamble on a co-op pivot succeeded beyond expectations, especially for a studio with no deep prior experience designing multiplayer games at this scale. The fairly wide Metacritic spread (77-84) also reflects the divisive nature of major formula changes: some traditional Souls-like fans may feel the fast pace and time-limited structure go against the slow exploration they love, while newer players have embraced the direction warmly.
Note: articles describing this as a new project announced in August 2026 are wrong; the game has been out since 2025.
Updated September 24, 2026: this article was rewritten from verified sources; the previous version contained outdated or inaccurate information.
Sources: Bandai Namco, Dexerto, GameSpot.
