Summary
In many ways,Elden Ring Nightreignis a bit of an homage to FromSoftware’s past, reviving and recontextualizing some features that have been missing from its games for some time. Its daring combination of Roguelike and Soulslike genres is a pretty rare experiment, but one that has paid off, making for an incredibly memorable game that doesn’t sit inElden Ring’s shadow, but compliments it.
These reintroduced features were central toElden Ring Nightreign’s marketing too, with certain Nightfarer’s shown to be taking inspiration or wholly reusing animations from prior titles, such as Executor’s deflection. But one of the most hyped, headline-grabbing features was the direct porting ofDark Soulscontent to the game, a first for FromSoftware, as the company has sought to keep its IPs separate from one another. Unfortunately, while the skins may be a welcome sight, the same can’t be said for all the bosses, and as the hype dies down, it’s clear to see that something isn’t working.
Nightreign’s Returning Dark Souls Bosses Are Its Weakest Feature
It’s really disappointing to say this, butNightreign’s returningDark Soulsbossesjust aren’t great. When the Nameless King swooped down in the first gameplay trailer, it got almost everyone excited, and for the most part, rightly so. FromSoftware rarely takes an opportunity to look backwards, often setting up its future projects with small hints in its current releases. So to see not just aDark Soulsreference, but an explicitly included enemy, felt like being acknowledged as a long-standing fan.
Dark Souls 3’s Returning Bosses Are, Unsurprisingly, the Best
And in the case of theNameless King inNightreign, it worked. His fight transfers pretty seamlessly toNightreign, as does the Dancer of the Boreal Valley. While they are a little bit slow byElden Ringstandards, their mechanics and movesets work well enough; they are able to react dynamically to the Nightfarers attacking them from any angle, and the extra attention given to making some of their moves hit more players is an excellent touch. While they aren’t on the same level as other bosses in complexity terms, perhaps that’s a good thing, andDark Souls 3’s returning bosses are a fun, nostalgic inclusion.
The Older Souls Bosses Just Don’t Work
The same, however, cannot be said for the rest. Even the Smelter Demon, whose fight aligns better withElden Ringthan Freja, for example, is far too simple. The new moves they received are welcome, but not enough to fix what doesn’t work at its core. The problem is that these are bosses built for a different time, with different design philosophies underpinning them. They’re too slow, and seemingly unreactive.Gaping Dragon is more of a walking obstacle than a boss, its lumbering charges and strange leaps into the air characteristic of a time whenSoulsgames were slow, uncertain things, completely unfit forElden Ring’s pacing. Centipede Demon has the same problem, too often just standing still or leaping high, to the point where it seems to exist as a damage sponge and not much else.
The choice of which bosses made a return was very peculiar, too. Instead of fan-favorites likeOrnstein and Smough, FromSoftware brought arguably some of the worst, least suitable foes back fromDark Souls 1, andDark Souls 2didn’t fare much better. Seeing them the first time around is pretty cool, but the fight falls apart the moment it starts, and getting aDark Soulsboss can, four out of six times, make for a worse experience than just anotherElden Ringboss. It’s still a nice touch, and being able to cut off the tail of the Gaping Dragon for rewards is a fun reference, but most of the game’sDark Soulsbosses were better behind the glass than they are in the hand.
