Elden Ring Nightreign's director says the FromSoft gang isn't chasing industry trends by bringing some roguelike elements to the Lands Between. Rather, the co-op experience took on the genre's characteristics naturally to solve design conundrums.
"The focus was condensing this experience down - the RPG elements, the exploration, the character building, and leveling," Junya Ishizaki tells PCGamer in a recent magazine. "We wanted that to feel like it was all coming together and culminating in a boss fight but in a more concentrated form.
"For this new sense of accomplishment that you wouldn't quite find with Elden Ring or our previous titles, we felt like we needed some new mechanics and some new elements to add into that mix.
- Elden Ring spinoff Nightreign is a co-op roguelike with battle royale and Monster Hunter juice, but FromSoftware says it's "not what we'd consider a live service game"
- Elden Ring Nightreign's blend of roguelikes and battle royales could leave other studios kicking themselves – assuming FromSoftware can overcome its biggest weakness
"We've never really held the stance 'let's absolutely not do anything that other companies are doing or not follow any trends.' So we didn't really see this as chasing a trend, but we saw these as interesting elements that could work well within our multiplayer-focused session-based gameplay."
How will it all shake out? Thankfully, you don't have long to wait. We've got a guide on 'how to play the Elden Ring Nightreign beta' that should tell you all you need to know, though this gist is that players have signed up to squeeze into a three-hour window to try the game. We can't say whether you'll see shades of industry-favorite roguelikes like Hades or Dead Cells, though I do imagine you and the gang will die a lot.
Sorry, Elden Ring Nightreign is saying goodbye to FromSoftware's beloved messaging system.
