FromSoftware games have a very particular way of telling their narrative. There are usually only a handful of voiced, story-driven cutscenes in aFromSoft action-RPG, often bookending the experience. The rest of the narrative is up to the player to piece together based on mysterious NPC dialogue and item descriptions.Elden Ring Nightreignoffers a slightly more straightforward approach to storytelling.
Elden Ring Nightreignbegins with the trademark opening cinematic and accompanying dialogue that states the world is on the brink of destruction, but after that, the central story takes a backseat toNightreign’s eight playable characters. Each Nightfarer has a unique set of personal missions called ‘Remembrance Quests,’ and while they sound great on paper, they don’t always stick the landing.
Elden Ring Nightreign’s Remembrance Missions Are a Mixed Bag
On Paper, Elden Ring Nightreign’s Remembrance Missions Are Great
After playing as one ofElden Ring Nightreign’s eight Nightfarersfor an expedition or two, players will receive a notification that a memory has been unlocked. Heading to the Roundtable Hold’s journal (located in the room next to the Iron Menial) will reveal a written passage that details some of that Nightfarer’s unique backstory. Once enough of these passages have been collected, players can begin a Remembrance Quest.
These Remembrance Quests are completely distinct for each Nightfarer, but each one begins by taking players to the Realm of Remembrance, which is essentially just the Roundtable Hold with a gray filter over it. Once there, players need to speak with a specific character who will present them with a personal task. More often than not, these tasks will require players to hop into an expedition and either defeat a specific enemy or locate a certain item marked out on the map.
Completing the Remembrance Quest will grant the player a Relic or Chalice tailored to the Nightfarer’s moveset, as well as a new piece of the puzzle for their backstory. On paper, these Remembrance Quests are a great inclusion toElden Ring Nightreign, offering some genuinely engaging story content in a genre where narrative can take a bit of a backseat, especially when it comes to characters. TheRelic rewardsare also pretty great across the board, with many significantly impacting how each Nightfarer plays by offering a powerful new spin on their abilities.
In Practice, Elden Ring Nightreign’s Remembrance Missions Have Some Issues
But in practice,Elden Ring Nightreign’s Remembrance Questsare far from perfect. The most obvious issue relating to these missions is that only one Remembrance Quest can be active in a group at a time. This means that there are always going to be two players who aren’t able to complete their own Remembrance Quest. This has caused some issues withElden Ring Nightreign’s matchmaking, though, at the time of writing, a patch has just been released to address these issues.
Players are likely to run into another major issue if they’re matchmaking with random players.PlayingElden Ring Nightreignwith randomscan be a mixed experience for a plethora of reasons, and one of those is that some players will refuse to assist with a Remembrance Quest. Aside from the ping system, there’s no built-in way for players to communicate with their team that they need to complete their personal objective, and thus some groups won’t know where you’re going and often won’t follow. And even when players do understand where you’re venturing to, some won’t follow because, aside from some Runes, there’s not really anything in it for them.
Of course, FromSoftware can’t control what players do, but it’s another shortcoming of the game’s rigid three-player structure. And though players can technically complete personal objectives in solo mode, it’s far from an ideal experience.
