I’ll be honest: when the review embargo lifted for Elden Ring Nightreign, I opened OpenCritic expecting the usual FromSoftware celebration. You know, another “Mighty” badge, another round of near-perfect scores, and another Game of the Year conversation. What I found instead was an 80 overall rating. That’s still a good score, obviously, but for a studio that has spent more than a decade turning action games into masterpieces, it felt like a shock. Not a disaster. Just… different.

Let me start with the positive side, because there is plenty of it. The critical consensus says Nightreign delivers more of FromSoftware’s signature intense action. The combat still has that careful rhythm. Enemy attacks still punish sloppy rolling. Boss fights are still tense, cinematic, and occasionally unfair in the way long-time souls players secretly love. And when you jump into a 3-player co-op squad, the game apparently becomes a blast. That part wins most praise. Coordinating builds, reviving teammates, and racing across a collapsing map brings a distinct energy that Elden Ring’s more methodical single-player simply didn't have. I can completely understand why reviewers called the co-op loop joyful.

But criticism is also clear. First, Nightreign recycles a lot of content. Locations, enemies, animations, and boss concepts have been pulled from previous FromSoftware games. For a developer famous for obsessively crafting original worlds, this reuse feels a little cheap. It works mechanically, but it robs the game of that eerie sense of discovery. Second, solo play suffers. If you go in alone, the balancing and pacing don't feel nearly as fun as 3-player co-op. For some players, including me, that is a significant drawback, because I enjoy FromSoftware worlds at my own pace.

Here is the critical split as I read it:

• ✅ Intense signature combat that still feels great

• ✅ 3-player co-op is a chaotic blast

• ✅ Budget price makes it easier to recommend

• ❌ Recycled content from previous FromSoftware games

• ❌ Solo mode is not nearly as fun as co-op

• ❌ Missing that classic feeling of discovery

The numbers tell the story. According to OpenCritic, Elden Ring Nightreign sits at an 80 overall rating, with 79% of critics recommending it. That's respectable. But nearly every FromSoftware game since Dark Souls 2 in 2014 has earned a “Mighty” rating, meaning an average of 84 or above. The only recent exception was Deracine, the VR title, which landed at 70. Here’s how the mainline and major FromSoftware titles compare on OpenCritic:

Game	OpenCritic Average
Demon's Souls	89
Dark Souls	89
Dark Souls 2	88
Bloodborne	91
Dark Souls 3	90
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice	90
Elden Ring	95
Elden Ring Nightreign	80

Look at that Elden Ring number: 95. Then look at Nightreign: 80. A 15-point gap between a base game and its multiplayer roguelike spin-off is significant. I think part of this comes down to expectations. After Elden Ring’s massive open world and Shadow of the Erdtree’s controversial but successful Game of the Year nomination, fans like me assumed Nightreign would at least enter the same conversation. It hasn't.

Will this stop the game from being nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards? Almost certainly. Even Shadow of the Erdtree, a DLC, managed to spark a debate and earn a nomination. Nightreign likely won't follow that path. The current frontrunners include Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Split Fiction. I would also love to see critically acclaimed indies such as Blue Prince or Monster Train 2 get recognition. In that field, an 80-rated co-op spin-off just doesn't create the same momentum.

Still, I have to be fair. An 80 is not a bad score. There are plenty of games that would kill for an 80 average. And Nightreign launched at a budget price, which changes the value calculation. If you already have friends who love Elden Ring, grabbing this for a few chaotic evenings may be completely worth it. The combat is solid, the co-op is explosive, and the price makes the recycled content easier to forgive. But as someone who has followed FromSoftware since the first Dark Souls, I can't pretend this isn't one of the studio's lowest-rated games in the past decade. For the first time in a long while, FromSoftware feels mortal. That's not a crime. It's just not what I expected.