Limgrave is dead. Long live Limveld.
FromSoftware is back to mess with our muscle memory, obliterate our sleep schedules, and melt our collective gamer brains. Elden Ring: Nightreign launches May 30, 2025, and it’s not a mere DLC — it’s a full standalone roguelike spinoff that reimagines the Lands Between as a collaborative, ever-shifting gauntlet of pain, glory, and glorious pain.
What Is Nightreign?
Set in Limveld — a procedurally generated nightmare echo of Elden Ring’s iconic Limgrave — Nightreign is a co-op action RPG where you and two other players become Nightfarers, cursed souls fighting back the Night’s corruption across three brutal in-game days. Each “day” is a roughly 15-minute session of exploration, enemy waves, and mini-boss encounters. If you survive to the end of the third day, you face the Nightlord, the ultimate boss of the cycle.
It’s like Hades and Dark Souls had an unholy baby, then tossed it into a blender filled with Elden Ring lore and a sprinkle of co-op chaos.
Choose Your Fighter: Eight Prebuilt Classes
Forget spending 45 minutes tweaking nose sliders. Nightreign gives you eight meticulously crafted character archetypes, each with their own abilities, gear, and progression path. Some standouts include:
- Ironeye — A tanky archer with AoE knockback and armor-piercing arrows.
- Raider — Dual axes, berserker rage mode, and a passive that boosts damage after dodging.
- Executor — Heavy armor, giant sword, earth-shaking stomps. Think slow but devastating.
- Revenant — The dark horse. Necromantic spells, soul manipulation, and terrifying synergy with death zones.
Each run starts fresh at level 1, but you accumulate “Murk” — a currency used in the Roundtable Hold hub to unlock permanent buffs, new gear sets, and class variations.
The Roguelike Loop: Adapt or Perish
Every session reshuffles the map, enemy placements, loot spawns, and weather conditions. Yes, weather matters — fog can obscure vision, rain can short out fire-based abilities, and wind might literally blow projectiles off-course.
Each day ends in a boss fight unique to the current run. These bosses evolve over time, learning from your patterns, adapting with modifiers, and occasionally merging with environmental hazards. Think poison clouds in tight arenas, or collapsing platforms mid-duel.
Die once, and it’s game over. You lose your run progress, but retain Murk and any permanent relics. It’s a hard reset with just enough progression to keep you fiending for another try.
Co-Op Focus: Three’s Company, Two’s a Dream
Nightreign is built around trios. Team composition matters — you’ll want a tank, a damage dealer, and someone who can support or control crowds. There’s no duo mode at launch, and while solo play is viable, it turns the difficulty up to 11.
Communication is key. There’s a robust ping system for those without mics, and party wipes are common if you don’t strategize. Revives are possible, but cost resources and leave you vulnerable.
Bosses: The Real Stars of the Show
Nightreign introduces a rogue’s gallery of fresh monstrosities, each tied to the corruption of the Night. Some known horrors include:
- A centaur-knight hybrid wielding twin lances and lightning-based area denial.
- A serpentine priestess who summons spectral arms from portals.
- A corrupted tree guardian whose roots burst through the map mid-fight.
- And the Nightlord, an evolving final boss that mirrors player actions and becomes more powerful with each attempt.
Expect returning Soulsborne favorites reimagined for the fast-paced, randomized format. Yes, they remembered the Revenant. And no, it hasn’t gotten any less horrifying.
Platforms & Release Timing
- Release Date: May 30, 2025
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
- Launch Time: Midnight local time on consoles; 6 p.m. EDT on PC (May 29 in North America)
Editions and Pre-Order Details
- Standard Edition (\$39.99): Base game, all core content.
- Deluxe Edition (\$59.99): Includes digital artbook, official soundtrack, and early access to two Nightfarer skins.
- Collector’s Edition (\$129.99): Comes with a 10-inch Night Herald statue, hardcover lorebook, exclusive weapon skins, and a ceremonial Nightfarer pendant.
Pre-orders come with an exclusive emote and a Murk booster that gives +10% on all runs for the first week.
Final Thoughts: The Night Beckons
FromSoftware just tossed a Molotov into the roguelike genre and lit it with a Bloodborne torch. Nightreign isn’t just more Elden Ring — it’s a redefinition of what their games can be: dynamic, collaborative, and endlessly replayable.
It rewards risk, punishes hubris, and thrives on chaos. It’s not for the faint of heart. But if you loved dying repeatedly in Stormveil Castle, wait until a randomized horror-elk launches your squad off a cliff at the end of Day 2.
So… are you going to survive the Night? Or will Limveld chew you up and spit out your rune-starved corpse?
Let us know: which class are you rolling with, and who are you dragging into the abyss with you?
