Elden Ring Nightreign Has One Simple Feature Every FromSoftware Game Needs

Elden Ring Nightreignisn’t your run-of-the-mill FromSoftware game, but it does make one small change to the studio’s usual tendencies that should be kept for games moving forward. The three-player action survival roguelite is an unexpected departure from FromSoftware’s oeuvre, which has risen to prominence thanks to difficult RPGs with deep and varied combat mechanics. This includesNightreign’s namesake,Elden Ring, but even though it can be counted among thebest games of all time, its quest design is lacking in key, easily fixed areas.

For many die-hard FromSoftware fans, the obtuseness of the studio’s games is part of the appeal. Even the main narrative is largely conveyed through a few vague lines of dialog and a hefty dose of environmental storytelling. This seeps into each game’s individual side quests as well, a tendency even the studio’s most dedicated fans are growing tired of.It’s often very difficult to advance a questline because there aren’t any indications of where to go, somethingNightreignactually rectifiesdespite its keen focus on cooperative multplayer gameplay.

The player looking at the Erdtree in the distance in Elden Ring.

FromSoftware Should Make Nightreign’s Quest Markers A Permanent Feature

Remembrance Quests Are A Big Step Forward

After years of players hoping FromSoftware would shore up its quest systems, advancement finally came inElden Ring Nightreign.Proper quest markers are placed on your mapas part ofRemembrance Quests. These are a series of questlines associated with each playable character,Nightreign’s eight Nightfarers, and are largely how the game tells its story. As you play through expeditions with each character, new Remembrances become available, which manifest as playable flashbacks.

Within the flashback you’ll typically have to walk around the Roundtable Hold and talk with the other Nightfarers or the Iron Menial, the Roundtable’s caretaker. While it’s usually clear who you’re supposed to talk to, everyone’s location in the Roundtable Hold is constantly changing, and to save you some time wandering aimlessly,Nightreignactually puts a bright yellow exclamation point next to the required NPC’s icon on your map.

Most Remembrances result in that character getting a Personal Objective, which is a special event that must be completed in Limveld during an expedition. Unless the objective is rather clear-cut, like defeating a certain Nightlord,Nightreigngoes even further with the convenience by putting a red marker on your map as soon as you begin a match with a Personal Objective active, indicating where exactly you need to go to complete it.

This is, admittedly, not necessarily possible in many FromSoftware games that could benefit from quest markers, since its RPGs (andSekiro) sinceDemon’s Soulshaven’t featured maps likeElden RingandNightreign. It does, however, feel long overdue that a FromSoftware game has finally come around and makes questing more straightforward. Getting lost in FromSoftware’s intricate game world design is intentional, andquests were passable in the more linear games likeDark Souls, but became a clear issue for players inElden Ring’s wide-open world.

Nightreign Solved A Problem Elden Ring Still Struggles With

NPC Icons Help A Little

ConsideringNightreignis a spin-off – and a pretty odd one at that – it’s a bit surprising to see it make FromSoftware’s long-needed jump to adopting quest markers. While I can understand arguments that they simply wouldn’t work inDark SoulsorBloodborne, on the account of the player not having access to a map,Elden Ringshould have been the game to introduce quest markers. The Lands Between aren’t astoundingly large, but they’re very dense, and it’s tough to know how and when a questline can advance.

Elden Ringquests frequently progress by speaking with NPCs, who move to a new location after each conversation.When the game first launched, there was virtually no way to know where they could be found; you had to stumble across them, which is incredibly difficult in a playthrough where you go in blind, as many FromSoftware fans like to do. Without a quest log, it’s also hard to keep track of so many characters after tens of hours pass.

FromSoftware took a half-step in addressing theElden Ringquest design criticisms, adding an icon to the map for each NPC in a post-launch update. Now you’re able to find each character rather easily, butit can still be difficult to know what is required of you to advance a questline, especially for those that have steps other than simply finding their associated NPC. FromSoftware’s idiosyncratic quest design is, at this point, a staple of the studio’s modern RPGs, but followingNightreign, it’s perhaps one that would best be put to bed.

Nightreign’s Story Is Surprisingly Good & Easy To Experience

Unexpected From The Roguelite

Nightreign’s roguelite structure seems like it would be at odds with FromSoftware’s usual storytelling, but it’s surprisingly engaging, and actually uses the game’s mechanics to great effect. FromSoftware is notorious for sequestering important tidbits of lore in item descriptions, but the pace at whichNightreignis played doesn’t give you the luxury of stopping to read – not to mention the pool of items is scaled back fromElden Ring’s. Instead,the game encourages you to try out all eight characters so you can see every angle of their intertwined story.

Nightreignactually reminds me a bit ofSekiroin its storytelling. Each Remembrance is a flashback, not dissimilar but more disjointed than the Hirata Estate storyline. It plays with the game’s premise in an interesting way, marrying the roguelite structure to each of the Nightfarer’s stories. The never-ending battle against the Nightlords has affected the characters' memories, soyou simultaneously uncover their past to learn the history of this Roundtable Hold while moving the current narrative forward in regular expeditions.

It makes you more directly involved withNightreign’s ensemble cast than you typically get in a FromSoftware game. The developer’s iconic characters make lasting impressions, but they’re usually a fleeting presence in a story that takes a backseat to gameplay.Nightreign’s gameplay is still at the forefront, butall eight Nightfarers are united in a common goal, and their constant presence in the Roundtable makes you feel very involved in their story.

Each character is interesting in their own right, and they collectively paint a very broad but still mysterious picture of this version of the Lands Between. There are some very emotional moments, and the weight of their stuggle can be felt as you repeatedly enter Limveld and get rebuffed by the Nightlords.Elden Ring Nightreignseems rather straightforward at first, but some compelling character development (helped along by the introduction of quest markers) helps the roguelite tell an unexpectedly deep narrative.