Elden Ring and its DLC Shadow of the Erdtree were a phenomenal success for FromSoftware, allowing the studio to explode into the mainstream beyond its dedicated but niche follow. Its spinoff, Eldenling Night League, takes a different approach with cooperative multiplayer focus and repeatable run-based gameplay.
Nightreign was a bold direction for the studio, and was successful in Dark Fantasy single-player adventures like the Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series games. Most of that hits were directed by Miyazaki Hidetaka, creator of the tough third-person fighting game Souls Formula. The new multiplayer game, Nightreign is built on Eldenling’s success by remixing its elements into a new gameplay format of fast-paced action.
In line with this new direction, Nightreign is Junya Ishizaki’s directorial debut. Through video chat, CNET spoke about Ishizaki and his thoughts on Nightreign and many other topics. Part 1 of the interview explained how things changed during the game’s development, from dropping autumn damage to collapse of multiple maps to the last map of today. And yes, how did he solo all the bosses in the game?
In Part 2 below, you will play your favorite night farrer class of your living together, chatting with your most favourite bosses, about DLC info and what you’ve learned from Software to bring to future games (potentially, like Nintendo Switch 2 eliminating DuskBloods next year).
Of course, we also had to ask the poison swamp question.
Caught in scar-colored rot, Woods is the closest to the poisonous swamp of Night Twing.
David Lamb: I feel like I need to ask about the lack of another element that is present in many other software games.
junya shizaki: The main reason is that this is not Miyazaki’s title, so I think it could be one explanation. Jokes aside, it’s just a coincidence factor in game development, and I wonder what happens in the idea process and what comes up. So who knows what will happen in the future with Nightreign?
DL: Given that Elden Ring, Bloodborne and two of the three Dark Souls titles are Miyazaki games, what is the reason why Nightreign is an Ishizaki game?
JI: I don’t necessarily distinguish me from Miyazaki, but I think one aspect I like to think of as a specialty is that I want to prioritize the “game feel” over a lot of things. How should this feel? And how does this lead to good inspiring gameplay and player comfort?
So, as you know, Nightreign doesn’t feature autumn damage, but there are ways to act when a character hits the floor from various heights, and what he can do to counter it. So these are the areas I want to see – the relationship between players and control, and how it translates into a sense of the game.
Miyazaki, director of Elden Ring and others Hidetaka Miyazaki, in a 2024 interview with CNET along with the release of Shadow for Erdtree DLC.
DL: This is the question I asked Miyazaki-San last year when the Elden Ring DLC from Erdtree’s Shadow came out.
JI: That’s a difficult question. Of course, I’ve been working on Dark Souls 1, 3, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. I think the project I have the most memories of is the original Dark Souls. This was my first project I’ve been involved with from AT AT AT, and was my first foray into the company, learning all aspects of the company’s gaming system and architecture, learning what will be participating in these games with this company, and what I want to convey to the users through gameplay.
Learning all of this was extremely valuable to me. Of course, I was new at the time and was very enthusiastic about helping to make it a success.
DL: During my run at Nightreign I came across a memorable Dark Souls boss like Gaping Dragon. How did you choose which of the Dark Souls series to include many bosses?
JI: From a gameplay perspective, and first of all, from our senses, they would be suitable for the structure of the world and the night grain. This is the same for bosses who appear in the world of Eldenling. Whether used to suit Eldenling’s base boss battle format or not, we made sure they also adapted to Nightrign’s framework and gameplay, and wanted to add that to make the experience fresher.
Gladius (as mentioned above) and eight other night roads were created for Nightreign. The other bosses found on the field and appearing at the end of the first two days are from the Eldenling and Dark Souls game.
DL: From a crossover perspective, it’s great to see the boss of Dark Souls in Night Grain and some of the character costume skins that look straight from Bloodborne. When do you see an armored core crossover?
JI: We have a very high level of respect for the games created by other directors and other creators in the company, and never wanted this to feel like a random grab bag-like approach. I had very fond memories of each of these titles, and very careful selection was made to choose the right fit. We didn’t want this to feel like an overly easy effort.
About the crossover issue with armored cores or mechas… who knows? Now it’s very difficult to say what the future will happen for the company. If someone is tilted so much, I think they can approach the world’s crossover in that way. But for now, there really is no hint of that.
DL: Now I need to know more about how you played your own game. What is your favorite night farrer class? And what is your favorite boss?
JI: From a character’s perspective, I have to say that my favorite Night Farrer is probably the Guardian. I like to feel like I’m protecting my team, I’m a strong anchor and I’m extremely indomitable in my approach to every enemy I have come up with. But he has some cool aspects to him too. He doesn’t feel like a full-fledged tank, he’s a little more flexible than that.
The Duchess is a powerful, fragile but agile fighter who pours damage in battle.
When it comes to pure gameplay, I like the Duchess. She’s really fast, fun to interact with, and uses her teammates’ attacks effectively. She thinks I’m very intuitive to play. She’s like the character I choose in another game. I can really get immersed in the gameplay without worrying about what’s going on.
Regarding my least favorite boss fights, obviously I love all boss fights equally [laughs]. My biggest struggle is Full Gore. It’s like a centaur-type character with one arm missing. It really requires me to keep my toes and stay focused. That’s difficult for me.
DL: Interestingly, he definitely wiped the floor with me when I opposed him – and I was grateful for how harsh he was without looking unfair. Broadly speaking, did you have the players respond to the game as you expected, or have you ever been surprised?
JI: The overall response to network testing and gaming cycles is very strong. I’m so glad to see all the feedback we’re getting. There are many great things to learn and explore in terms of balancing the difficulty of the game, lifting highs, and tweaking the drop to release.
Personally, I love playing multiplayer games and being part of that community discussion, so I watched this and took off on Nightreign and saw what the players thought [overpowered] Or what is a meta, or what is the new meta when a new character is released? This was really fun. This was really pleased to see these kinds of divisive opinions and discussions. I can’t wait to see everyone play it when it’s released.
DL: Great Segueg – What is the future of Night Twing? Does it include more content than the published DLC?
JI: For future content, there are already announced DLCs. This is currently under development. The content for that will focus primarily on meeting new playable characters and new bosses, so I look forward to it.
And of course, beyond that, we can’t say for sure now, but we will continue to support the game with patches and updates, depending on what we see from player data and player trends. They stick firmly to the game and, as they did with previous titles, monitor the balance changes that generally need to support the game.
Elden Ring Nightrign was released on May 30th on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Eldenling doesn’t require you to play this game.
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