WithNightreignfinally released, players are jumping into countless runs to enjoy the rush of the fast-paced gameplay in a familiar setting that is a delight to revisit. But beyond the gameplay lies plenty of snippets relatedto the lore within the game, as well as its place in the context of the widerElder Ringuniverse.
There are many theories and speculations regarding how the game ties into the original, as in traditional FromSoftware fashion, things have been kept rather obscure and ambiguous. However, there are quite a few details that link the two worlds in more distinct ways, indicating that there is far more to be seen than there appears.
7Three Limbs, Three Fingers
Evil On Distant Sides Of The World
When players manage tomake it all the wayto the third night on the eighth expedition, they are confronted by Heolstor the Nightlord, an ominous figure with very distinctive features that stand out as particularly interesting. One of these is his third arm, wielding a second sword, which at first may appear as just a way of making him look cooler, but in the context of the lore, there is much more in play.
Back in the base game, the frenzied flame ending required players to meet with the Three Fingers, a strange NPC that marks the character with the Flame of Frenzy. After following a few more steps and completing the game, players become the Lord of the Frenzied flame, destined to bring chaos and destruction to the world, in a very similar way to how Heolstor’s desire to curse the world with the rainfall. Both he and the player began their journeys as lowly knights, so it is interesting to see a parallel drawn between their powers and levels of influence.
6Noklateo/Nokstella
Two Sides Of The Same Coin
One of the shifting earth events that can occur inNightreignis Noklateo, the shrouded city, a large structure that spawns at the edge of the map for players to explore and loot for some bountiful rewards. The name may ring a bell for players of the original, as Nokstella was a location found deep underground inElden Ring, with plenty of ties to the story and outcome of the game.
The names themselves directly contrast one another, with lateo meaning “to hide/obscure” and stella meaning “star”. They connect even more than just by name, as Astel is a boss who ties the two locations together directly. It is known that Astel attacked Nokstella and left it in a state of destruction, whereas in Noklateo, the creature is found right at the top of the city, guarding the favor of Nokstella, a reminder of the power it has over the world.
5Achievements
Subtle But Still Important
Nightreigncan be a pretty intense game that requires an enormous amount of concentration to learn and master, so many players may have missed some achievement pop-ups that are more than just rewards forgrabbing a cool weaponor killing a boss. The biggest revelation comes from the ending achievement, granted after defeating Heolstor and being aptly named “Dawn”.
On first glance, it is obvious that it refers to the night being over, but the icon itself is the Erdtree, which only shows its face in the final cutscene after the credits. The scene clearly shows that the games are connected somehow, but the achievement speaks to a much greater link related to the day and night and the cycle of life and death in the game.
4Great Runes
Power Beyond Comprehension
The Great Runes inElden Ringwere aninteresting gameplay featurethat rewarded players with a powerful buff upon defeating specific bosses, items that make up the Elden Ring itself.. But this system was missing inNightreign, with no Great Runes being awarded at all, yet there is still one hiding right at the end of the game. The Primordial Nightlord’s Rune is awarded to players for defeating Heolstor, and despite looking like and sharing a name with one, it is described as simply having the properties of a Great Rune, rather than being one itself.
Instead, the item serves as a cryptic yet revealing indicator that Heolstor was around at least as early as the events ofElden Ring, and that his presence over Limveld has been long and painful. His appearance really says it all, having the same signature rune embedded in his chest like Radagon, but the biggest detail is the line that states “They had glimpsed what they should not; the very sin of the Erdtree”,that sin being the burning that occurs in the main game, meaning that either Heolstor himself was present or that another being was there to witness it and “cheat a god” in order to create this object.
3Merchants
Just Ghosts Of Their Former Selves
The merchants inElden Ringwere a peculiar set of characters that were found scattered across the world as high as the mountains and as low as the caves belong the surface. And inNightreign,they return, only this time not as a physical entity but as a ghostly specter that shares the same inventory across the world regardless of where they are visited.
Their ghostly nature was no accident, and speaks to the connection between the two worlds. One final merchant is accessible on day three in the Spirit Shelter, a place where the realms of the living and the dead meet and the lives of those who traded in the Lands Between can pass over to Limveld. The Spirit Shelter is in many ways a direct parallel to a bunch of locations inElden Ring, like the Divine Towers and the Erdtree itself, but this connection demonstrates that entities can seamlessly pass between areas, which extends to things outside of Heolstor’s influence.
2The Map
Familiar Locations With A Slight Twist
The map inNightreignand even the game itself were always believed to be an alternative universe that was disconnected from the canon. But as it turns out, the connections to the mainland go beyond just the shared map icons and features, as was made clearin the post-credits scenethat depicts a giant walking away from the Lands Between and towards Limveld.
The shared location was seen clearly on screen, but it is also fair to say that the actual layout of the map interface bears a small connection to the original game, as the circular icon for the Lord is identical to how the Roundtable Hold was presented before. It is just a nice way of outlining the coming threat, but to reuse the same shaped icon in the same location on the map, speaks to the way that these locations are connected, as is reinforced in the final moments of the game where the Roundtable Hold appears once again right where the Lord just fell.
1Remembrances
Memories That Were Long Forgotten
An interesting addition that brought a lot of additional lore for the Nightfarers in the game was the journal entries provided with playable remembrances that integrated directly with the gameplay flow. The name itself is an interesting way of describing them, as they could have very easily been named memories, but instead, they share a name with an existing mechanic in the base game.
The original remembrances were consumable items that could be used to gain items or a large number of runes, but inNightreign, the memories can actually be played out and experienced in a way that brings the past back in a much more meaningful way. This culminates in the ending, where the Nightfarers are freed from the Hold and potentially return to the Erdtree, mirroring how the boss’s remembrances were cut into the tree upon their death.
