Elden Ring: Nightreign Confirms Number of Playable Characters and Major Bosses

Summary

• Elden Ring: Nightreign will feature eight playable characters and eight boss types, teasing challenging, multiplayer gameplay.
• Nightreign enemies will gradually be unlocked and available to battle as players progress through the game.
• The spin-off won’t have George R.R. Martin’s involvement, but will include new game mechanics like a “spiritual buddy.”

The Game Awards 2024 yielded many surprises for gamers during the Geoff Keighley-presented event, and the Elden Ring: Nightreign reveal was one of the best. The spin-off Elden Ring title is confirmed to be a multiplayer endeavor and a recent interview with game director Junya Ishizaki confirmed there will be eight playable characters for fans to become acquainted with, opposing eight different boss types.

Elden Ring’s base game was released in 2022, followed by the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion in 2024. The FromSoftware team recently confirmed Elden Ring 2, a direct sequel, was not being developed, but spin-off titles were teased. Despite the Game of Thrones writer being heavily involved in Elden Ring’s world-building, George R.R. Martin wasn’t a part of Nightreign’s development, and he was also absent from Shadow of the Erdtree’s creation as well.

In an interview with IGN, Ishizaki touched on several details about Nightreign’s gameplay, including the narrative’s parallel existence to the base story and the playable characters involved. Elden Ring’s Tarnished protagonist shares similarities with Bloodborne’s Hunter and embarks on a similar journey to other Soulslike leads to discover their true purpose. However, Nightreign will have multiple playable characters. “So there are eight playable characters in the final game,” Ishizaki revealed, and touching on Spirit Ashes, the director also confirmed one of the characters uses a “spiritual buddy” included as a new game mechanic.

Elden Ring: Nightreign Director Confirms Eight Playable Characters and Eight Boss Types

Akin to most Soulslike games, Elden Ring contained several frustrating bosses to contest, and Nightreign will likely live up to that punishing standard. In the same interview, Ishizaki revealed there will be “eight boss types of final bosses in the final game,” and these enemies will gradually be unlocked and available to face as players progress through the game. Additionally, the director said the team was still contemplating the bosses’ difficulty when players want to redo the same fight, suggesting they were looking at new game plus elements in combat.

If Shadow of the Erdtree’s hardest bosses are anything to go by, including Promised Consort Radahn and Messmer the Impaler, Nightreign promises to be a nailbiting experience for players, even though others will be there to assist this time around in the multiplayer format. Due to Concord and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s recent failure, which were both multiplayer titles, Ishizaki was asked if it was risky taking Elden Ring down the same route. The director noted FromSoftware doesn’t base their game design around industry concerns, but instead believes in the content they’re passionate about.