Elden Ring Nightreign, in its network test form, doesn't yet have every feature that might be expected of a co-op experience. Although it looks like external voice chat systems will have direct , for example, I had no way to chat during the test period, and the rigid requirement to venture out with exactly three players doesn't leave much room for friend groups of different sizes. In the brief time I've spent with the game so far, however, I actually found myself appreciating the lack of options, and I expect those fond memories to linger even after the full release.

On some level, limited co-op functionality is a FromSoft tradition. The Dark Souls franchise always integrated multiplayer in an unusually subtle way, and the ghostly presence of both friendly summons and invaders helps to preserve the rich, lonely atmosphere of the games. As a title built around co-op, Nightreign inherently needs to provide a more robust experience, but there's still something special about experiencing it in a way that maintains some of that mystery.

Nightreign Has A Natural Learning Curve Without Chat

The System Falls Into Place Quickly

As much as I would have loved to spend a weekend messing around in the Elden Ring Nightreign playtest with some friends, I was only able to squeeze in some playtime at the end. Four out of the five sessions had direct conflicts for me, whether they fell during work hours or simply intersected with my sleep schedule. I did jump on the final opportunity, however, spending a minute running through the roundtable hold before queuing up with a couple of random players.

Although we couldn't verbally communicate, it wasn't hard to get the sense that my compatriots were also new to the experience. At the start, none of us were doing much more than running at the nearest enemies and hacking them down. The greater scope of Nightreign's gameplay loop and strategic opportunities emerges naturally, so it didn't take long for us to start properly navigating the shrinking nighttime circles and handling tougher foes, but the first few minutes were spent on a more poking and prodding approach to discovery.

With some friends on a voice chat, of course, a grasp of the game could come almost immediately. There's usually someone who's already played it before and revels in laying out every detail from the start, but even if an eager educator is absent, any ability to verbally communicate makes team synchronization simple. You agree on where you're heading, call out enemies attacking from behind, and strategize on the fly during boss fights to reduce the chance of anyone getting downed. Without chat, everything has to be implicit. In the case of Nightreign, I might like implicit more.

Silent Communication Makes For A Special Friendship

Giving Help Without Being Asked

I'm already someone who prefers not to have everything explained to me, but I do usually lose interest in online games quickly if friends aren't around. A team shooter is simply more likely to be frustrating when you're playing alone, for example, and having a casual conversation in a call is half of the fun. Elden Ring Nightreign, however, is the type of game where the challenge of nonverbal communication becomes meaningful. Our success didn't hinge on a wheel of callouts — it relied on our ability to have each other's backs even when a cry for help couldn't be heard.

Like summons in any FromSoft game that has them, that sense of camaraderie is special. I'm always thankful if one of my friends picks me up after being downed in a video game, but the gratitude I felt when one of my compatriots would find a safe window to get me back into action during a Nightreign boss fight is on another level. Fumbling around with the Duchess, I was probably playing the least effectively among us three, but I never felt deprioritized. We were all in it together.

This experience of silent discovery isn't what a lot of people want out of Nightreign, and it's not something that can hold the same impact on the second game, to say nothing of the hundredth. In the clamor for voice chat abilities and duo queues to avoid a random third, however, it's a shame how many players may never experience that side of the game. Like Elden Ring's Limgrave, Nightreign's Limveld feels like a place to be feared, not a playground to be romped about with constant jokes running in the background.

I'll Play Nightreign With Friends, But Not Exclusively

Every Other Online Game Can Fill That Need

In other aspects of its nature, Elden Ring Nightreign does seem content to move the needle toward the latter experience, so treating it as a background for socializing won't inherently be a bad thing. The absurd running speeds toss the methodical nature of exploration out the window, and the difficulty doesn't feel particularly punishing. Nightreign's formula change exists at some nebulous midway point between Elden Ring's austere approach and the frenetic gameplay loop of a battle royale, letting it comfortably flex to provide some of the strengths found at either end of the spectrum.

I streamed a lot of my Elden Ring playthrough for friends to watch over Discord, so I'm certainly capable of enjoying some conversation in that context. If I play Nightreign on release, though, I think I'll probably seek out some experiences similar to my time with the network test. There's no shortage of online games that I enjoy with friends, but there are far fewer that I can happily queue for alone, and getting the most out of that opportunity appeals to me more overall.

Future attempts to quietly cooperate with strangers in Elden Ring Nightreign probably won't be as easy to come by. I'm not so selfish as to avoid voice chat if my allies are trying to use it for communication, and once the game is out, the risk of players abandoning the effort partway will likely become a more notable downside of queuing with randoms. For that reason, I'm quite glad that I played the bit of Elden Ring Nightreign's network test that I did, and I'm equally thankful to FromSoft for leaving a couple of basic co-op features out of it.