Skip to main content

Play Elden Ring: Nightreign together with friends in 2025

elden ring nightreign announcement beabppwiskoqaeftbhan
FromSoftware
Key art for The Game Awards 2023.
This story is part of our coverage of The Game Awards 2024

Elden Ring: Nightreign looks like the already-wild world of The Lands Between mashed up with Monster Hunter for a bit of casual kaiju-slaying, and it looks absolutely amazing. Announced at The Game Awards 2024, Nightreign came as a surprise announcement that sent fans into a fervor as soon as everyone realized what it was: a truly multiplayer Elden Ring.

The three-minute-long cinematic trailer depicted magical combat, huge weapons, and even bigger monsters. Some of the foes are so fearsome that you won’t be able to defeat them alone; instead, band together with friends to take on waves of enemies and gargantuan beasts. But the game isn’t just fighting huge creatures.

ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN – REVEAL GAMEPLAY TRAILER

The trailer shows a variety of weapons including daggers, staves, and almost comically large bows. Vast landscapes demand you to explore to uncover their secrets, with a variety of traversal options that include flying mounts to help scale the gothic ruins littered throughout the land.
Recommended Videos

Other details are scarce. The trailer doesn’t give us too many details of what to expect, but the combat is just as frenetic and visceral as the first game — except now, there’s more people playing at one time. (That means I might be able to finish the game if someone helps me.) However, the small snippets of story the trailer revealed hints at a similar dark-fantasy tone as the original game.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Elden Ring: Neightreign is slated for release in 2025 and will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Steam. Sadly, we don’t have a more narrow release window than that — but when this game does launch, it’s going to be huge.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
As more layoffs hit the game industry, ZeniMax Online Studios votes to unionize
the elder scrolls online shadow over morrowind 2023 updates

The gaming industry has faced a tidal wave of difficulties this year, the most pressing of which involved the layoffs of thousands of workers from various positions and multiple companies. Microsoft alone made up 2,000 of the layoffs in January alone. The suffering of the workers in the industry was acknowledged during The Game Awards 2024, but while awards were being passed out, 461 members of ZeniMax Online Studios voted to unionize.

Microsoft has recognized the union, marking a major win for workers' rights, according to a press release from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Union. “By coming together and forming a union, we’re able to take a powerful step forward in ensuring a better future for ourselves and for our families, to create protections against layoffs and workplace exploitation, and to provide additional layers of support for workers beyond what [Family and Medical Leave Act] and workplace policies already provide,” said senior motion graphics artist and ZOS United-CWA member Alyssa Gobelle. “At ZeniMax, unions belong here.”

Read more
Crimson Desert mixes fantasy action with pro wrestling, and it rules
Two swordsmen clash blades in Crimson Desert.

I’m about to go hands on with Crimson Desert, an upcoming open-world action game from developer Pearl Abyss. Before I begin, I’m shown a five-minute video explaining the ins and outs of its controls. Just to make sure I understand what I’m about to walk into, I ask if it’s more of a character action game or a Soulslike.

I’m told to think of it more like Street Fighter.

Read more
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth creators love that you’re debating its ending
Aerith prays in FInal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

It’s been a big year for Final Fantasy. That’s true most years, as the long-running RPG series always has something new going on whether it's new installments or updates to the mega-popular Final Fantasy XIV. This year was a bit different, though, and it was all thanks to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Released back in February, the second installment of Square Enix’s ambitious remake trilogy adapted some of the most eclectic moments of 1997’s Final Fantasy VII with panache. It’s both unabashedly silly and a profound story about loss. It resonated enough with players to land a Game of the Year nomination at this year’s Game Awards. While it didn’t win the big one (Astro Bot got this year’s top honor), Rebirth was recognized for its standout soundtrack, and Square Enix announced a PC port during the show. It was one needed celebration for a series that’s had its ups and downs over the last decade. Now, it’s time for its creator to look back on that success and learn from it.

Read more