{"id":1218023,"date":"2026-02-22T20:06:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=602971"},"modified":"2026-02-22T20:06:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:06:56","slug":"elden-ring-nightreign-haters-need-to-pick-up-this-10-year-old-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/elden-ring-nightreign-haters-need-to-pick-up-this-10-year-old-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"Elden Ring Nightreign haters need to pick up this 10-year-old masterpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elden Ring Nightreign<\/em> has shot out of the gates, selling 2 million copies its first day<\/a>, yet the critical and player reception hasn\u2019t reached the same highs that most of FromSoftware\u2019s games do. Matchmaking in Nightreign<\/em> is something of a challenge: you literally can\u2019t quit it<\/a>, and the game isn\u2019t balanced for solo play, despite efforts with a recent patch<\/a>. If you loved Elden Ring<\/em>, but are finding that its spinoff isn\u2019t landing for you<\/a>, here\u2019s a rec: go back in time and give Bloodborne<\/em>\u2019s Chalice Dungeons a shot.<\/p>\n

Hunters still return to Yharnam<\/a> each year in March to celebrate Bloodborne<\/em>\u2019s anniversary (10 years ago now!), and we still hold out hope for a sequel that might never come. When discussing Bloodborne<\/em>, however, one thing that doesn\u2019t get mentioned enough are its Chalice Dungeons. They are in some ways a proof of concept for FromSoftware\u2019s weird multiplayer experiments beyond summons and invasions.<\/p>\n

Chalice Dungeons offer hunters procedurally generated levels of varying difficulties. You can successfully tackle them solo or play as a pair with a buddy (unlike Elden Ring Nightreign<\/em><\/a>, which doesn\u2019t support two-player co-op\u2026 yet<\/a>). They include tough bosses, mobs of enemies, and all the bullshit ways FromSoft enjoys killing you. This weekend I died to a hiding skeletal enemy who threw flame vials at me and to a mob of enemies who were unexpectedly summoned after I stepped on a tile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similar to Nightreign<\/em>, which returns old Dark Souls bosses to the fray, hunters can find already-bested Bloodborne<\/em> bosses in the Dungeons, like Rom or the Blood-Starved Beast. For trophy hunters, you\u2019ll need to scour the depths of the game\u2019s Chalice Dungeons to find Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, and defeat her on your quest for the game\u2019s Platinum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best thing about Bloodborne<\/em>\u2019s Chalice Dungeons is that they\u2019re included as part of the base game. During or after your 50-hour journey through Yharnam, you can take a detour through some randomized dungeons at no extra cost. With Nightreign<\/em>, the feeling of \u201cThis couldn\u2019t have been a free update?\u201d is hard to shake.<\/p>\n

Both Bloodborne<\/em>\u2019s Chalice Dungeons and Elden Ring Nightreign<\/em> show FromSoftware isn\u2019t afraid to experiment within its tried-and-true Soulsborne formula, and it\u2019ll experiment further with next year\u2019s The Duskbloods<\/em><\/a>, exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. \u201cNot Bloodborne II<\/em>\u201d will feature PvPvE online multiplayer \u201cfor a broad range of game-design ideas, while also letting us leverage our experience of designing challenging enemy encounters,\u201d according to director Hidetaka Miyazaki<\/a>. The Duskbloods<\/em> will make for back-to-back experimental multiplayer releases for the studio, leaving fans wondering when its next big single-player adventure will drop.<\/p>\n

At the moment, though, FromSoftware is going all-in on multiplayer releases. So if Elden Ring Nightreign<\/em> ain\u2019t for you, Yharnam will always be there waiting, good hunter.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elden Ring Nightreign has shot out of the gates, selling 2 million copies its first day, yet the critical and player reception hasn\u2019t reached the same highs that most of FromSoftware\u2019s games do. Matchmaking in Nightreign is something of a challenge: you literally can\u2019t quit it, and the game isn\u2019t balanced for solo play, despite efforts with a recent patch. If you loved Elden Ring, but are finding that its spinoff isn\u2019t landing for you, here\u2019s a rec: go back in time and give Bloodborne\u2019s Chalice Dungeons a shot. Hunters still return to Yharnam each year in March to celebrate Bloodborne\u2019s anniversary (10 years ago now!), and we still hold out hope for a sequel that might never come. When discussing Bloodborne, however, one thing…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1218024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1218023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nElden Ring Nightreign haters need to pick up this 10-year-old masterpiece | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elden Ring Nightreign has shot out of the gates, selling 2 million copies its first day, yet the critical and player reception hasn\u2019t reached the same\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/elden-ring-nightreign-haters-need-to-pick-up-this-10-year-old-masterpiece\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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