In the most FromSoftware-like game design choice ever made, Elden Ring Nightreign lets you revive incapacitated teammates by launching attacks at their dead bodies. Junya Ishizaki, director of Elden Ring’s upcoming spin-off, admits that one of the reasons why the team went for this mechanic was because of how comical it looked.
In a new twist on FromSoftware’s multiplayer formula, Nightreign is designed for co-op play between three people, and most importantly – teammates no longer just vanish when they die. Instead, when a comrade goes down, a circular gauge appears above them. By attacking them, you can deplete the gauge little by little, and if you manage to empty it completely – your teammate will be revived (this takes more effort the more times a player dies). Anything goes for this – from ranged attacks and spells to beating your co-player’s brains out with a weapon up close.
In an interview with PlayStation.Blog Japan, Ishizaki explains how Nightreign’s unique revival system came to be. Since the basic premise of the spin-off game’s development was to reuse Elden Ring’s existing assets as much as possible in interesting ways, the devs thought of using attacks for revival, as this was one of the most fleshed-out parts of the title’s gameplay. When they actually tried to use attacking as a means of revival, they found that it offered a lot of depth in terms of range, frequency and probability, which sealed the deal. But apart from proper reasons, Ishizaki also comments, “Also, it looked funny, so that was another factor.”
Elden Ring NIGHTREIGN is scheduled to launch on May 30 for the PC (Steam) and PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S.
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