Elden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware Tradition

Elden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware Tradition

As an avid gamer with years of experience under my belt, the reveal of Elden Ring: Nightreign at The Game Awards 2024 was nothing short of electrifying! I’ve been through the ringer (pun intended) with FromSoftware games, from the hauntingly beautiful Sekiro to the heart-wrenching tales of Dark Souls. So when I saw the trailer for Nightreign, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu – not because it was familiar, but because it was like they took everything I love about their games and twisted it into something even more captivating!

2024’s The Game Awards unveiled Elden Ring: Nightreign, and let me tell you, it was an electrifying moment that left everyone in awe! Even though Shadow of the Erdtree dropped earlier this year, merely as DLC, it almost snatched Game of the Year. Frankly, nobody anticipated a complete sequel to Elden Ring to cap off our bingo cards for the night!

The captivating allure of “Elden Ring: Nightreign” is largely due to its unexpected success. As one of the most praised studios, any new work from FromSoftware garners significant interest. Yet, “Elden Ring: Nightreign” stands out even among these high expectations, in part because it ventures beyond one of FromSoftware’s familiar creative territories.

Elden Ring: Nightreign’s Unprecedented Setting Could Be its Secret Weapon

Elden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware TraditionElden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware TraditionElden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware TraditionElden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware TraditionElden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware TraditionElden Ring: Nightreign Breaks a Massive FromSoftware Tradition

Elden Ring: Nightreign Returns to its Predecessor’s Setting

The nearly 3-minute-long trailer for Elden Ring: Nightreign offered a detailed look at the game, going beyond what is usually seen in a teaser. With no additional story trailers or in-depth discussions with developers, there are still some uncertainties about the game. However, the game’s setting was given significant attention, providing a bit more clarity on that aspect.

The game titled Elden Ring: Nightreign is set in The Lands Between, a world initially unveiled to gamers by the original Elden Ring. This connection is clear from the landscapes depicted in the trailer, and was subsequently confirmed by Famitsu’s interview with Junya Ishizaki, director of Elden Ring: Nightreign. In this same conversation, Ishizaki further discussed several significant changes to the setting of Nightreign.

How Elden Ring: Nightreign Subverts The Lands Between

Speaking about Elden Ring: Nightreign and its precursor, it’s important to clarify that while they both use The Lands Between as a setting, Nightreign appears to be a separate, parallel world. During the Shattering War, this parallel version of The Lands Between was apparently split off from the original one. Consequently, gameplay trailers have revealed several differences that experienced Dark Souls players should be able to notice.

In Elden Ring: Nightreign, I can’t help but notice a striking resemblance in the terrain to other worlds I’ve traversed, yet the adversaries that roam here are completely new and challenging. Remarkably, some of these formidable bosses seem to hail from past FromSoftware games, such as the enigmatic Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. As a die-hard fan, I can’t help but feel a mix of exhilaration and trepidation at the prospect of facing him once more. The ripple effects of this inclusion are already starting to unfold, leaving fans and speculators alike eagerly waiting for the full picture to reveal itself.

FromSoftware Games Rarely Share a Setting

The world of Nightreign in Elden Ring shimmers with untapped possibility, and it’s nearly unparalleled. Although other games might bear some resemblance, FromSoftware titles seldom unfold within a realm that the creators have previously explored. In fact, FromSoftware earns much praise due to the rich variety found across its game library.

In contrast to Bloodborne, which is set in a city steeped in Gothic terror during the Victorian era, and Sekiro, which immerses you in the Sengoku period of Japan with its Buddhist folklore, the Dark Souls series features games that occur in the same universe albeit separated by hundreds, if not thousands of years. The unique aspect of Elden Ring is that it presents a fresh setting, inspired significantly by George R.R. Martin, the celebrated author known for Game of Thrones.

In contrast to most FromSoftware games which operate independently of each other, even those with strong links, Elden Ring: Nightreign stands out by revisiting The Lands Between, an unusual move for FromSoftware. While Nightreign follows Elden Ring, it’s not categorized as a traditional sequel because developers emphasize that the game is self-contained and not a continuation of the previous one.

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2024-12-13 21:56