So I finally got my hands on Elden Ring Nightreign, and holy moly, the multiplayer is a total game-changer! 😲 Unlike the old Souls games where you fumbled with summon signs for 30 minutes just to connect with one buddy, Nightreign flips the script entirely. FromSoft's first multiplayer-first title means co-op is smoother than ever... but only if you know where to tweak those settings. After getting lost in the menus for an hour (and accidentally invading a Japanese player's wedding event 🤣), here's everything I wish I knew before jumping in.

First things first – ditch the offline mode! I made this rookie mistake and spent 20 minutes yelling at my screen wondering why the "Commence Expedition" button was grayed out. Head straight to Networking Settings and flip that switch to Online. Pro tip: Restart the game afterward or it might glitch and show phantom player shadows (creepy, but kinda cool?). Once you're online, bolt to Roundtable Hold and interact with the main table. That's your golden ticket to the Expedition menu where the real magic happens:

• Queue for specific challenges ⚔️

• See real-time player counts per activity

• Adjust difficulty scaling for groups

But here's where Nightreign gets spicy compared to old Souls co-op. The new Multiplayer Settings tab is LOWKEY overwhelming. I almost missed these critical options hidden behind a tiny arrow icon:

Feature	What It Does	Pro Tip 💡
Team Session	Direct invites via platform friends list	Works 99% of the time when passwords fail
Password	Lock sessions with custom codes	Use emojis! 🍕🐉 prevents randoms guessing
Group Password	Soft-match with communities	Great for guilds but doesn't block randoms
Expedition Type	Toggle solo/co-op modes	Switch mid-quest if you get lonely 👀

Want a private sesh with friends? Password play is your best friend... mostly. Just agree on something ridiculous like "PotBoySupremacy42" and everyone enters it in settings. But heads up – the game gets weirdly finicky if someone has active world events:

• Shifting Earth meteor showers 🌠

• Remembrance personal quests

• Those annoying faction invasions

When my squad couldn't connect, we discovered this cursed workaround:

1. Player with active event clears it OR postpones objective

2. Queue in reverse alphabetical order (???)

3. Sacrifice a goat to the netcode gods (optional)

After three failed password attempts, just DIRECT INVITE. Seriously, it saved our raid night when we were fighting that lava dragon boss. The matchmaking prioritization feels... experimental. Sometimes you'll instantly connect with friends across continents; other times you'll stare at a "1/3 players" counter for 10 minutes while hearing distant boss music. FromSoft's still FromSoft after all 🤷‍♂️

Random discoveries from 50+ hours of co-op:

• Group Passwords give hidden loot buffs when playing with same-tag players

• Dying in someone else's Shifting Earth event crashes YOUR game too (pain)

• You can still invade password-protected sessions if they left one slot open

Honestly? Nightreign's multiplayer feels like a beta test for something revolutionary. The framework's there for epic persistent co-op worlds... but we're not quite there yet. What happens when 20 players queue for the same Expedition? Can we get guild bases? Why does the matchmaking love pairing me with naked torch wielders? 🔥 So many unanswered questions... but damn if it isn't fun figuring it out while getting stomped by laser-giraffes with your besties.