With more recent details about co-op RPG Elden Ring: Nightreign revealing that it takes quite a few design cues from games in the battle royale genre, director Junya Ishizaki has revealed that it wasn’t an idea that the team started with. In an interview with GameSpot, Ishizaki spoke about how the idea for a battle royale-styled enclosing circle (called the Ring of Reign) that limits player movements came about later.
“The battle royale-type structure was not considered to be the base of the game,” said Ishizaki. ” It wasn’t a starting point, it was something that sort of took shape, or elements of these games took shape during development of Nightreign.”
“For instance, the Ring of Reign that closes in around the field is definitely something that players will be familiar with, but it wasn’t there from the start. It’s something that we implemented in order to encourage that movement and to guide the player’s route through the map, and encourage their decision-making. That’s something that we tried and we thought it worked well, so it stuck.”
For context, the mechanic of getting groups of players to fight against each other in an ever-shrinking battlefield comes from battle royale games like PUBG: Battlegrounds, Fortnite and Apex Legends, among many others, and is a way to ensure that a match can finish with clear winners.
With Elden Ring: Nightreign, developer FromSoftware instead wants to use the mechanic to instead guide players through the big world into new and exciting arenas for epic fights. Far from the first mechanic borrowed from other genres, Nightreign will also be making use of the idea of the world constantly changing from roguelite games.
Ishizaki revealed earlier this month that, along with the various enemies in the game, players will also have to deal with the world around them changing. This can go up to larger scales, including entire zones turning into a giant volcano or even a swamp. With this, the studio wants players to think of the world as a massive dungeon.
“We wanted the map itself to be a giant dungeon, so players have the chance to traverse and explore a different way every time they play,” said Ishizaki. “You have to choose the boss you want to face at the end of the third day.”
Players will get the chance to take on a large roster of enemies, with the announcement trailer from back in December 2024 even including what looked like The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Ishizaki confirmed after the game’s announcement that it will feature bosses from a host of different FromSoftware games.
While the roster of bosses hasn’t yet been fully confirmed, fans of the studio have speculated the presence of The Duke’s Dear Freja from Dark Souls 2 thanks to a massive spider being featured in one of the game’s screenshots.
Elden Ring: Nightreign will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. FromSoftware revealed earlier this week that it will be hitting store shelves on May 30, and will be available in a host of various editions.
