Elden Ring Nightreign: FromSoftware Game Director Explains Why the Spin-Off Exists, Reveals Whether George R. R. Martin Was Involved, and Why Fans Shouldn’t Call It a Live Service

It’s official: FromSoftware is making a multiplayer Elden Ring spin-off. One of the biggest announcements at The Game Awards 2024, Elden Ring Nightreign is sure to shock fans of FromSoftware’s Souls games. This three-player PvE game is unlike anything the legendary developer has made before, and it’s fair to say it’ll raise more than a few eyebrows across the internet.

Ahead of the game’s reveal, IGN’s Tristan Ogilvie got the chance to play Elden Ring Nightreign (check out our impressions here) and interview game director Junya Ishizaki to find out where this surprise departure from the hugely successful Souls formula came from, how it all fits in with Elden Ring itself, and whether it should be considered a live service game.

Read on for Ishizaki’s answers to these questions and a load more. And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN’s Elden Ring Nightreign hands-on preview for more.

IGN: This game is a huge surprise to me. I can imagine it’s going to be a huge surprise to the fans next week. So I’d really like to hear about the initial kind of concept, and how you kind of came up with the idea, for the game, in the beginning.

Junya Ishizaki: As a developer, I had many ideas for what could potentially be new games during the development of the past titles I’ve worked on, including Elden ring. This time I stepped up as a new director, I was given the opportunity to direct this idea for Nightreign.

We’ve always been seen as a company that makes these Soulslikes or this kind of traditional formula of Soulslike games and so I saw this as an opportunity to do something different. To challenge both myself and the company to build something new while still using what we’ve cultivated with our previous titles. Also personally, I enjoy these co-op multiplayer experiences and I wanted to make something that was very much focused on that with Nightreign.

IGN: On that note, are there any specific games that you have sort of inspired you in the creation of this game in terms of other co-op multiplayer games?

Junya Ishizaki: I enjoy a whole manner of games, from shooters to board games and MMOs. So basically we’re taking inspiration from a whole range of genres and titles.

IGN: It also felt like sort of because of the intense pacing of this game compared to Elden Ring, or at least the way that I played Elden Ring which was quite cautiously, it almost feels like you’re speed running, especially with wall jumping and stuff like that. I’m just wondering if the speedrunning community has also been an influence on the creation of this game as well?

Junya Ishizaki: It would be a lie to say there’s nothing like that that’s inspired Nightreign or that there is some inspiration there. I enjoy these elements of not just Souls games but other games where you have these challenging elements, or speedrun tactics. It’s not just applied to speedrunning, it’s like optimising the gameplay from the player’s perspective, how to best optimise the experience and get the most out of it and clear it in the best way possible or the quickest way possible. I enjoy those elements and I feel like this is a good opportunity to share my love for that with players. I’m glad if this sort of idea is coming through in Nightreign.

IGN: Definitely. Has Miyazaki-san had any input in the game or is he strictly hands-off on this project?

Junya Ishizaki: So initially I took the idea to Miyazaki-san, who gave it the green light. He was a little involved in that initial concept phase of the game but after that he gave full reign to me.

IGN: Full Nightreign?

Junya Ishizaki: Indeed, thank you. [laughs]

IGN: Does the the lore of Nightreign tie into the stories of Elden Ring or Shadow of the Erdtree, or even a possible Elden Ring 2? Or is it completely standalone?

Junya Ishizaki: We’d like fans to think of Nightreign as an Elden Ring spin-off, first and foremost. The story is completely separate and parallel to the world of Elden Ring’s. If you had to tie it in some way, we had the events of the shattering in the original game. After the events of the shattering, this is a completely separate branch of the Elden Ring story.

We understand that there’s a great deal of emotional attachment to the story of Elden Ring that a lot of the fans have, so we didn’t want to encroach on that too much. We wanted it to coexist with the existing story. And for players both familiar and new to enjoy both of these stories separately.

IGN: So does this mean that George R. R. Martin has no influence on Nightreign’s story or world?

Junya Ishizaki: That’s correct.

IGN: It seems that, given recent news, it’s possible that Nightreign could potentially be From Software’s last multi-platform game. Do you have any thoughts on the potential Sony acquisition of From Software?

Junya Ishizaki: To be perfectly honest, we just don’t know right now at the moment where the discussion currently is at. If it’s taking place, we’re not privy to it.

IGN: What about the possibility of Nightreign coming to Switch 2?

Junya Ishizaki: I’m afraid we know nothing about the Switch 2 at this point either. So it’s difficult to say right now. Sorry.

IGN: Sure. [Laughs] Back to the game, one thing that wasn’t clear to me yesterday. Do you have to play it online in a group of three, or can you also play it solo or in a duo?

Junya Ishizaki: The game is designed to be played as a three-person team, but you can play it as a solo player.

IGN: Oh, great. Or in a pair?

Junya Ishizaki: No, it’s either one-player or three-player.

IGN: And in one-player does the enemy health pool scale?

Junya Ishizaki: That’s correct. The reason that we went with a three-player focus was that we wanted to retain that sense of accomplishment you get from battling a boss together or from conquering a map together and that sense of enjoyment, but we wanted to recreate that in a fresh way. And we felt like focusing on a three-player co-op experience would provide a brand new sense of accomplishment with it.

IGN: Why was three the magic number?

Junya Ishizaki: This was largely a game balancing decision, rather than a game design decision. So it came as development progressed. You know, we found that while we wanted each player to have that sense of accomplishment, that sense of rewarding co-op gameplay, this was like a sweet spot with three players in order for it not to feel too overwhelming or too busy. It allowed each player to go off on their own potentially and cover a bit of the map but also to you know that final experience coming together, that was three players felt like the sweet spot eventually.

IGN: This is your first time as a game director. What have been your previous roles at From Software?

Junya Ishizaki: I’ve been involved with development on From games since the original Dark Souls where I was a level designer. And on Bloodborne, I was level designer cum battle designer, and on Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring I was combat designer.

IGN: One thing I used a lot in Elden Ring are Spirit Ashes. Those are less important in Nightreign given you have human-controlled characters to support you, but are there still Spirit Ashes to be found in the game?

Junya Ishizaki: They do exist in some capacity but it’s a little different to how they played in Elden Ring.

IGN: How so?

Junya Ishizaki: So there are going to be eight playable characters in the final game and one of those characters uses a Spirit Ash sort of spiritual buddy as a gameplay mechanic.

IGN: One of the sort of big selling points of this game mentioned in the presentation yesterday is that it’s more approachable to newcomers. But it’s still quite challenging, so are there any further assists you can toggle on, such as starting a session at a higher level or something?

Junya Ishizaki: We don’t have any such assist features or settings included. We put a lot of faith in our players regardless of their skill level. We believe that anybody can beat these games, if they just go in with an open mind, and a will to try.

We’ve also incorporated the Relic system where you get these rewards from each run as you experienced yesterday, and even from a mildly or less successful run, you can get these relics and gradually upgrade your roster and build up these characters for your next session. So we hope this gives players an incentive to keep on trying.

IGN: I’m curious about the three-day structure and how it came about?

Junya Ishizaki: Initially when we set out to make Nightreign, we wanted what we’re calling a condensed RPG experience. We wanted to take all those elements from Elden Ring that players enjoyed like the exploration, the building of the character, fighting tough bosses, the sense of discovery, and condense that into a shorter, tighter play session.

Also we wanted to include this idea of having peaks and valleys to the gameplay. So there’s got to be a flow in there, bring the players up for the highs, and then it gets a little easier and they get to enjoy this gradual flow to the gameplay. And again this was a balance decision that came through development, but eventually that settled on a three-day structure.

IGN: My squad eventually beat the final boss on the third day after numerous attempts, and then immediately afterwards we played through it again and beat it a second time and it was a lot easier. How will the finished game be structured, is there an incentive to play through it again, or will you unlock more bosses or harder versions of previous bosses?

Junya Ishizaki: So there’s going to be eight boss types of final bosses in the final game. And as you progress through, these will be gradually unlocked and become available to fight.

IGN: Right, but if you were to just redo the same one, it’s not a harder version of that boss to fight or anything like that? It’s always the same boss, each time you get back to it?

Junya Ishizaki: Something like these new game plus elements or subsequent play elements. We’re currently still considering how to field that I guess.

IGN: Do you think it’s risky at all, at this point, to launch a new multiplayer game, given other recent failures like Concord or Suicide Squad? The landscape is quite challenging in the multiplayer space.

Junya Ishizaki: We don’t tend to look at the industry and base our game design or our concerns on what’s going on in that sort of, more general sense. We feel like if we’re making something we’re passionate about and that we want to make and that we enjoy playing, we trust the users will share in that experience and hopefully enjoy it as well.

Also, we want to be clear that Nightreign is not like a live service game. Once you you buy Nightreign you get the complete package, everything is unlockable out of the gate. So we want it to be clear that this is what we wanted to make. It’s not intended as a live service game.

IGN: Great, thank goodness. So, just going back to the presentation yesterday. I believe you said that it’s just the one randomised map based off Limgrave. Is that the case for all eight bosses, there’s no map that’s a variation on Caelid or anything like that?

Junya Ishizaki: So there will not be a whole new map type depending on the boss you select, but there will be some quite drastic changes to the map that occur as you progress through the game. The reason for this, we wanted to keep this experience quite condensed and concentrated on this “another” Limgrave, so that players could learn and adjust and create that most optimised play to enjoy that sort of new sense of accomplishment and discovery with Nightreign. Learning within those confinements is what we aimed for.

IGN: So that’s where the volcanoes and meteor strikes and things will come in as the map evolves?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, that’s correct. Those elements are supposed to encourage those repeat plays and change up the session each time.

IGN: And so is there an ultimate boss to fight who is behind the night tide?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, there is a final boss, at the end of it and they do have a some sort of connection to the night tide and the encroaching night. So we hope players look forward to discovering that.

IGN: Are there any other sort of modes planned, like a PvP battle royale or anything like that?

Junya Ishizaki: Currently there are no plans. We wanted to first and foremost concentrate on this three-player co-op experience. So that’s the main focus for now.

IGN: I’m curious about Murk. I know you can spend it in between sessions at the Roundtable Hold, but that wasn’t a part of the build we played so I’m wondering what you can buy with Murk?

Junya Ishizaki: So with Murk you’ll be able to purchase new Relics. You’ll also be able to perform Relic Rites, which allow you to switch around the colour coding for each character. So, potentially give different characters new Relics. You’ll be able to purchase gestures and you’ll be able to purchase new character skins as well.

IGN: Speaking of the character classes, I found the four different ones that we played with yesterday were really quite unique compared to the base classes from Elden Ring. Was that the case from the beginning or did the game begin with, you know, Warrior and Samurai, stuff like that and then that kind of evolved from there?

Junya Ishizaki: So the reason, first of all, just some context for having these set characters was we wanted to create this multiplayer experience that you could just jump into very quickly and casually without worrying too much about character creation or character build off the bat.

So, with that, as the kind of initial staple for the design, we set about designing these different characters and their specialities. And quite quickly we landed on their unique skills and ultimate arts, and we figured that we wanted a more of an action gameplay focus rather than landing them in a sort of preset type of character like there’s the mage or there’s the warrior or there’s the tank. We wanted them to each feel quite unique in their gameplay and in their skills and abilities from the get-go.

IGN: Will each character have their own storyline? Or is it just one storyline that every character goes on?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes. Each character has their own backstory, that players can uncover and interesting quirks to their gameplay that evolve as well. So we hope players look forward to that.

IGN: In terms of the backstory, is that just experienced through the codex at the Roundtable Hold?

Junya Ishizaki: There will be other elements as well for players who enjoy that sort of side of this game to uncover the character’s backstories and things. It won’t just be limited to the codex.

IGN: There was a character in the presentation that I don’t think was one of the ones that we played that was said to be able to raise slabs of rock out of the earth and then use them as a springing off point to do attacks or something like that. Is that one of the unannounced characters?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, of course, that character will be available in the full release. He will be playable in the final version.

IGN: I’m curious about the random nature of the map. It seemed like the initial landing area was always kind of more or less the same with the same ruins to quickly get some XP, but then it seemed a bit more random beyond that. Is that by design to make sure that players get off on the right foot?

Junya Ishizaki: So the random elements in each session basically come down to anything you find dotted around the map. So the weapons, the enemies that appear, the bosses that appear, the random events that take place, and the points of interest, the key locations that pop up around the map. So these are generally randomised throughout each session.

IGN: When you say key locations, you mean like castles and camps and things like that?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, these things will be changed up from session to session, but they all stay the same from one day to the next.

IGN: I found that I only used the Spectral Hawk maybe once or twice. I’m just curious at any point during development was there the thought of letting players use it manually at any time like the glider in Breath of the Wild? Or was it always going to be a fixed point, designed to be shortcuts to very specific directions or locations?

Junya Ishizaki: We did try a more freeform approach to using the Spectral Hawk to get around initially. But we found eventually that felt surprisingly like a chore, and it also kind of inhibited the freedom of approach that the rest of the game provides. So when the players could be kind of challenging themselves to go off in this direction or choose this route because they’ve chosen this boss fight and that’s sort of what they’ve got available to them at this moment, they would instead be able to ignore a lot of the map, they’d end up taking very similar routes or they’d end up just flying around for the sake of it. And they would sort of just impede on that intended game design. So we decided to keep it a little bit more streamlined, a little bit more confined to what you experienced yesterday.

IGN: That makes a lot of sense. One that I did use, I used to reach a giant that was on a rooftop of a castle. It seemed very deliberately placed in that regard, or was that just a coincidence?

Junya Ishizaki: Yeah, it is something similar to what you describe. When we designed it, we had in mind, something like a choice between directions. When you make the decision to make a big movement in one direction of the map, it’s like, well, okay I’ll choose this Spectral Hawk, or this Spectral Hawk. This was intended to roughly guide the player in these directions.

IGN: The Fell Omen kept spawning in as a random event in a few of the sessions that we played yesterday, and we eventually just started luring it towards a site of grace so we could just keep re-upping our health and flasks while we fought it. Do you consider that cheating or is it a legitimate strategy?

Junya Ishizaki: It’s kind of cheating but seeing as though it was of your own volition and agency, I think we’ll give you that one. You’re allowed that [laughs].

IGN: Thank you. I really love Duchess’ skill, the Restage, where she repeats the most recent attack landed on a targeted enemy. It did seem a little overpowered the way we were using it, like having the Guardian do a big swooping ultimate attack and then immediately Restage it for huge damage. Is that something that’s still being balanced?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, of course. It’s still in the tuning stages.

IGN: Is the Restage skill a guaranteed hit every time, or can some enemies dodge it?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes, it will definitely hit in this current iteration.

IGN: The red corpses that are great sources of loot, who do they represent?

Junya Ishizaki: So this is Nightreign’s unique, asynchronous online element. This is actually gear left from a previous player who died in that spot. So it’s their way to leave their mark on the world and influence the session of another player even if they happen to fail.

IGN: So similar to Elden Ring, will we see players actually running around while they’re still alive, or do they only appear as dead bodies?

Junya Ishizaki: You’ll see the phantoms running around occasionally but you won’t see messages left by other players like in Elden Ring.

IGN: Presumably that’s because messages take too long to put down, and you want to keep things as streamlined as possible?

Junya Ishizaki: Yeah, there’s not a lot of time to stop and write a message, I think, as you experienced yesterday. That’s basically the intent there.

IGN: Do enemies respawn after the first day of a cycle?

Junya Ishizaki: No, there’s no respawning between days and no respawning when you visit a side of grace either.

IGN: Is there going to be cross platform support?

Junya Ishizaki: Similar to the original Elden Ring, there will be cross-generational play but not cross-platform play. So PS4 players can play with PS5 players, and Xbox One players can play with Xbox Series S and X players, but not between platforms.

IGN: The heavenly area where the third day boss fight took place was that unique to that Gladius boss or is it always the same on the third day for each boss?

Junya Ishizaki: This area is common, it’s like a common battleground or pre-battleground area to the final boss of the third day for each boss.

IGN: That boss seemed to be called Tricephelus in the menu but then Gladius when we fought it. Why is that?

Junya Ishizaki: So, the name of the boss that you select in the menu is actually a different separate name from the one that you see when you actually fight it. That’s intentional.

IGN: It seemed like every time the Fell Omen would spawn in as a random fight, we’d always get the Draconian Tree Sentinel at the end of day two, and it was only when it didn’t that we got Margit the Fell Omen as the day two boss. Is that an intentional thing? Can you only fight each boss type a maximum of once per three days?

Junya Ishizaki: For this particular build and session, this was intentional for these bosses to come together, or for that likelihood to happen. But in the full game there’ll be a lot more variation in number and types of bosses to appear together.

IGN: It seemed like the boss at the end of day one was always either the Centipede monster or the Demon pairing, but that won’t be the case in the final game?

Junya Ishizaki: Yes. In the final release it will be a lot more random, with a greater pool of potential bosses to pull from.

IGN: If it’s less predictable it sounds like it will be a lot harder. Do you intend Nightreign to just be a one-off, or are you hoping that this style of game, not necessarily under the Elden Ring banner, but that this style of game will become a staple for FromSoft in the future?

Junya Ishizaki: We don’t really have a plan in terms of, oh we’re going to make more spin-offs or this is going to be a one-off time one-time thing. This was purely sort of happenstance of me wanting to direct my own game and wanting to use Elden Ring and that battle design that I took part in as a base to this game, and my interest in online co-op games as well.

So this just all came together nicely to build on what we’d cultivated with Elden Ring. So that’s why this is a spin-off. I can’t really say for sure where we’ll go in the future.

IGN: Any final thoughts?

Junya Ishizaki: So I created Nightreign to be a new thrilling type of gameplay with that familiar sense of accomplishment and overcoming tough odds that players are familiar with. So I hope these two things come together and provide a fresh and fun experience. So please look forward to it.

IGN: Absolutely, I’ve definitely had a great time with it so far. Thank you very much.

Junya Ishizaki: That’s great to hear. Thank you so much.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].