The Elden Ring spin-off game Nightreign will feature enemies from Dark Souls, its director confirmed.
Souls fans certainly saw some familiar enemies in the Nightreign reveal trailer at last week's The Game Awards, notably the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3, who rides a lightning-shooting dragon.
In an interview with Famitsu, director Junya Ishizaki has confirmed that a “small number” of enemies from across the Dark Souls series will appear in Nightreign thanks to the “influence of the Night King.”
He added that this is to increase the feeling of “chaos” that the night brings. It's all part of the Nightreign parallel universe, which clearly allows FromSoftware to nod to its past.
As the Dark Souls social media account teased: “In the night, ancient enemies await: remains of a fire that once burned brightly.”
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And while Ishizaki specifically mentioned only the Dark Souls series, perhaps enemies from Bloodborne and Sekiro could appear as well.
In fact, as Agency discovered, the trailer includes player characters fighting a three-headed creature with an exposed ribcage that appears to be the centipede demon from Dark Souls. Additionally, an official screenshot released by the developer includes a giant spider that could very well be the Duke's beloved Freja from Dark Souls 2.
Additionally, fans have compared the Duchess' playable character to Bloodborne's Lady Maria thanks to her quick step ability, while Wylder's claw shot resembles Sekiro's uppercut. This is certainly more speculative, but judging by the increased mobility of playable characters in Nightreign, there appears to be some influence from previous FromSoftware games.
Ishizaki also described Nightreign to Famitsu as a dense but short game that condenses RPG fundamentals into a single mission.
Communication with others, meanwhile, will be via pins and gestures to continue the “flexible connection” with other players established in previous Souls games. However, this time there will be no PvP and there will be no invasion method.
Lastly, within the roguelite structure, if players successfully pass all three days of the game's day and night cycle, they will earn relics for various boosting effects.
A network test for Elden Ring: Nightreign will take place in February and registration will begin on January 10.
Bandai Namco also revealed a new sales total for Elden Ring, which has now sold more copies than the entire Dark Souls series before its release.