Elden Ring Nightreign Channels the Spirit of a Forgotten God of War Game

This past weekend marked the first network tests for Elden Ring: Nightreign, the upcoming standalone multiplayer game branching from FromSoftware's acclaimed title. Unlike last year's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Nightreign shares only its namesake and aesthetic with Elden Ring, abandoning the open-world structure for a streamlined survival format. Three-player teams descend into shrinking maps, battling enemies and increasingly formidable bosses. This design clearly draws inspiration from the immensely popular Fortnite—a unsurprising influence, considering Fortnite's staggering 200 million players this month alone.

However, Nightreign bears a striking resemblance to a far less celebrated, and often maligned, game: 2013's God of War: Ascension. And that's a very good thing.

Released between 2010's God of War 3 and 2018's Norse reboot, Ascension served as a prequel, preceding the original Greek mythology trilogy. It followed Kratos' struggle to break his oath with Ares. Failing to match the epic finale of the original trilogy, and attempting to shake up a well-established formula, God of War: Ascension earned a reputation as the franchise's black sheep—a decent appetizer preceding an amazing main course.

This reputation, however, is somewhat unfair. While Kratos' confrontation with the Furies in Ascension didn't reach the heights of his battle with Zeus, this divisive prequel boasted truly stunning set pieces, including the Prison of the Damned—a labyrinthine dungeon carved into a colossal, immobilized, 100-armed giant. More importantly, Ascension deserves credit for introducing something novel to the franchise: multiplayer.

Within Ascension's story, players encounter a chained NPC in the Prison of the Damned who prematurely exclaims, "You saved me!" before being crushed by the level boss. Unlocking the multiplayer mode after this point reveals this NPC as the player character. Teleported to Olympus moments before their demise, players pledge allegiance to one of four gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, or Ares—each granting unique weapons, armor, and magic. These tools are used across five multiplayer modes, four of which are competitive PvP.

The fifth mode, Trial of the Gods, is cooperative PvE. And it's remarkably similar to Elden Ring: Nightreign.

Gameplay previews of Nightreign, released before the network tests by prominent Soulsborne YouTubers like VaatiVidya and Iron Pineapple, as well as IGN's coverage, highlighted similarities between FromSoftware's latest offering and live service games like Fortnite. Like those games, Nightreign features randomized loot, resource management, and environmental hazards that inflict damage and restrict movement, increasing challenge over time. Nightreign even echoes one of Fortnite's iconic elements: players drop from the sky, carried by spirit birds to their chosen location.

While the "where are we dropping?" element is absent in God of War: Ascension, a deeper look reveals more common ground between Nightreign and Ascension's Trial of the Gods. Both are co-op experiences where teams face increasingly difficult foes. Both unexpectedly allow players to battle bosses from previous games, such as Hercules from God of War 3 or the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Both feature a countdown timer (though Ascension's can be paused by defeating enemies), and both take place on small or shrinking maps. Crucially, both are multiplayer games developed by studios known for their single-player titles, created without oversight from their respective series creators; Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of Elden Ring, is working on an unannounced project, while the original God of War trilogy directors—David Jaffe, Cory Barlog, and Stig Asmussen—had left Sony Santa Monica before Ascension's development.

Nightreign seems to evoke the same player response as Ascension's Trial of the Gods. Participants in FromSoftware's network test described their runs as frantic and exhilarating races against time. Unlike the relaxed pace of the base game, where players can approach scenarios using various weapons and abilities at their own speed, Nightreign demands instinctive reactions, emphasizing speed and limited resources—constraints described by VaatiVidya as prioritizing "speed and efficiency." For example, to compensate for the absence of Torrent, players utilize a spirit horse-like ability, allowing for faster running and higher jumps.

Ascension's multiplayer adapted its single-player design for faster pacing, employing techniques similar to Nightreign. It increased player run speed, extended jump distances, automated parkour, and introduced a grapple attack to pull objects (a mechanic also present in Nightreign's Wylder character). These new moves are crucial because, while the combat itself isn't overly difficult (given the power fantasy nature of the franchise), Trial of the Gods throws so many enemies at players that every second counts. Consequently, players find themselves sprinting, hacking, and slashing through hordes with relentless efficiency.

Nightreign's similarity to Ascension is surprising, not only due to the latter's obscurity, but also because the Soulslike genre, to which Elden Ring belongs, initially stood in stark contrast to God of War. Where one empowers players as god-slaying warriors, the other casts them as nameless, cursed undead facing constant peril. One rarely displays a game over screen; the other relentlessly employs it.

However, this once-infuriating challenge in FromSoftware's earlier games has lessened as fans improved and developers introduced better weapons and spells, resulting in numerous game-breaking builds since Elden Ring's release. Nightreign, without access to these builds, promises to reintroduce a significant level of challenge. Simultaneously, skilled players can experience what God of War: Ascension offered: the thrill of being a time-constrained, vengeful Spartan.