Elden Ring Nightreign

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S/, Windows PCs
Current goal: Defeat the Darkdrift Knight: Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow.

I can’t stop playing Elden Ring: Nightreign. I can’t remember the last time I was this hooked by a multiplayer game. Maybe Destiny 2’s Season of the Splicer? That was four years ago. I’m only 60 hours into Nightreign and it just keeps getting better. The more I learn about the world and its quirks, the better I get, the more I’m able to learn, the further I get in each Nightlord boss fight, and the even better I get, the more Nightlords I take down. Never has spending 45 minutes just to botch a run in the home stretch, either because I got greedy and died at the castle or we got overconfident and put in our place by a night two boss, been so exhilarating.

Instead of feeling defeated at 1:00 a.m., I rush to dive back in, knowing I’ll regret it in the morning but eager to break through the next milestone. Despite all of its modern influences, from MOBAs to Fortnite, it’s this aspect of Nightreign that makes it feel like a classic arcade experience with friends. If I sound breathlessly hyped about this game it’s probably because we finally beat the Equilibrious Beast last night, otherwise known as Libra Creature of Night. I have a million other things to play, including more Mario Kart World on my Switch 2, but three weeks after launch Nightreign still has me obsessed. — Ethan Gach