Latest news with #DarkSouls
CNET
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Elden Ring Nightreign: How to Find More Healing Flasks Fast
Elden Ring Nightreign is not a walk in the park by yourself or with a team. It takes quick reflexes and fast strategizing to survive each night in order to defeat the Nightlord. What can hamper any run in Nightreign is the lack of flasks for healing, which are -- thankfully -- so easy to acquire in the game. In Elden Ring Nightreign, each player starts with three healing flask charges. The only way to get more is to find them, and if you're new to the game, this should be the first thing you do in a run. Where do I find healing flasks in Elden Ring Nightreign? Healing flask charges are found in broken-down churches where a Statue of Marika is located. They can be found on the map with these orange icons. The bright orange icons mark the Statue of Marika locations. Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET There are multiple churches scattered on the map, but they tend to be far away from each other unless you get lucky. Still, these churches should be among the first stops when starting a run in Elden Ring Nightreign. On a pedestal in front of the Statue of Marika is a healing flask. Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET While these are the easiest healing flasks to find, there is another way to get more charges: defeat a night boss. Elden Ring Nightreign runs consist of three in-game days, with each day lasting about 14 minutes. Throughout the day, a storm circle will close in on a location where players fight the night boss. Some of these bosses may look familiar to fans of the Dark Souls games, while others come from Elden Ring and a few are brand new to the game. When the night boss is defeated, players will receive a large amount of runes to help level them up, a powerful weapon or buff and an extra healing flask charge. One of many bosses waiting for players at the end of a day cycle. Bandai Namco Is there a way to make flasks heal more in Elden Ring Nightreign? Yes. In a run, players will come across a lot of weapons that have various passive traits, from making attacks stronger to recovering a bit of health when defeating enemies. There is some equipment that comes with the trait of enabling a flask do more healing, but these will be completely random. Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign Beginner's Guide: How to Not Get Wrecked in the First 5 Minutes What are other ways to heal myself in Elden Ring Nightreign? As previously mentioned, certain weapons will heal you either by defeating enemies or just doing damage with the weapon. There are seals used for incantations, and they can come equipped with a healing spell. There are also healing items you can buy or find during a run. The warming stone is an orange rock that players can drop on the ground, and anyone near it can be healed slowly. Flasks of Wondrous Physick are single-use items that have a variety of effects, such as increasing stamina, boosting damage effects and healing yourself. Sites of Grace will also heal players as well as refill their healing flasks, even if you crawl to it after being knocked down when your health reaches zero. Also scattered on the map is a unique bed of red flowers that can provide some healing when approached. Elden Ring Nightreign is available now for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Series S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Elden Ring is not required to play this game. Read more: How to Unlock the Secret Nightfarer Characters in Elden Ring Nightreign
Stuff.tv
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Stuff.tv
I (just about) survived Elden Ring Nightreign's unforgiving co-op chaos
Stuff Verdict Adapt to its initial frustrations and Elden Ring Nightreign is one of the most challenging but rewarding co-op action fantasy games around. Pros The best of Elden Ring in digestible sessions Cool variety of character classes and skills Rewarding boss fights include a best-of from past FromSoft games Cons Faster structure sometimes at odds with traditional FromSoft mechanics Some bosses feel spongy and unbalanced A miserable time for solo expeditioners Introduction More than three years since its release, Elden Ring has sold over 30 million copies. Not bad for a fantasy RPG that seems to hate you as much as co-creator and Game of Thrones author George RR Martin seems to hate his characters. But you can see why there's demand to keep the cycle spinning, with a movie adaptation in the works (28 Days Later's Alex Garland is attached to direct), and now this new online co-op spin-off, Elden Ring Nightreign. It doesn't sound like an idea that should work on paper, even if one of the magical parts of Elden Ring (and the Dark Souls series that preceded it) was the jolly cooperation between strangers. Given how influential FromSoftware's games have been in the last decade, it's also peculiar that the developer would be chasing other genre trends. And yet after taking a while to adjust your expectations, there is something special here for players up for working together to overcome some fiendish challenges. The night is young Nightreign is essentially Elden Ring condensed into a run-based roguelite, with random loot and persistent upgrades – but also the gradually shrinking open world map of a battle royale. Once you match up in a team of three fellow Nightfarers, or by yourself (there's sadly no way to play this as just a pair), you drop into Limveld; over the course of three game days, the goal is to defeat the Nightlord on the final day, by ensuring you've gotten strong enough with the necessary resources from the previous days. It's just the first of many nightlords, just to keep these runs on your toes. After defeating the first one, more become available and you're free to tackle them in any order. That's just as well, because the second one is an absolute nightmare – you'd do well to not continue successive runs bashing your head against the wall on them. The map is also constantly changing for each run in terms of what structures and enemies you might encounter. One version of Limveld might contain snowy mountains, while another has lava-filled volcanoes, though it's also sometimes prone to duplicating the same ruins and soldier camps. How you explore the map is also dictated by the Night Rain, an encroaching storm that drains your health if you're caught in it. This happens each day, leaving a large-ish circle on the map, while by night you're forced into a smaller arena to face a mini-boss. It then means you have to prioritise your objectives: do you hit up the churches first to upgrade the number of times you can heal from your flask, do you seek out rare resources for upgrading your weapons in the caves, or do you focus on defeating other formidable enemies on the map to gain more gear or abilities they drop as well as more runes for levelling up? Do you risk continuing these tasks even when the rains close in or try to save them for the second day when the cycle restarts? Souls stars This more streamlined, turbo-charged approach may be appealing for players already into the likes of Apex Legends rather than the commitment of a 80+ hour RPG, but it does mean some elements of what has defined FromSoftware's hardcore RPGs are lost. When you have to be so quick on your feet, the careful, methodical approach of both Elden Ring and Dark Souls doesn't really gel. It's why you won't be examining items for lore, can't leave messages for other players, and why your nightfarers are pre-set characters rather than ones you can customise yourself. The archetypes you're presented with are nonetheless an interesting bunch that play quite distinctly. Wylder is your typical jack-of-all-trades knight, Raiders hit hard and can also take quite a few hits without being interrupted, while Duchess (who's unlocked later) moves and attacks swiftly though also more fragile. Perhaps best of all is IronEye, who actually makes bow combat very viable – you can actually get in decent attack damage while maintaining a safe distance. In that hero shooter-inspired vein, each nightfarer also has their own unique passive and active skills, the latter relying on cooldowns before they can be used. IronEye can slide into enemies to mark them, doubling the damage they receive, while Revenant can summon phantoms as temporary allies. Naturally, each also has ultimates, like how duchess can cloak everyone with invisibility to give you a quick respite from hostile enemies, while Executor transforms into a primordial beast with unique and powerful attacks for a brief time. To match the faster pace, everyone can sprint and clamber up walls quickly, while using spiritstreams and spectrals hawks can also help you traverse the map at greater speed. It's not always well implemented though; it can take just a rock or branch on the ground to stop you in your tracks. You're also still reliant on classic Soulsy combat mechanics such as stamina management and the loss of your runes if you die (though your teammate can revive you, assuming you're sticking together). You can even shield parry, but why would you stand still to attempt it when there are better options? Three to play You've not just got nightlords to deal with; a plethora of bosses encountered both on the field and at the end of each night have cheekily been pulled from both Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series. A shrewd case of recycling content, though it does add to the feeling that this is the work of modders rather than an official FromSoft joint. The one striking change from how these bosses were before is they're super spongey now, compounded by having mobs spawning in to distract you. This makes it clear how vital it is to level up at checkpoints regularly. If you reach the end of the second day and your level's still a single digit, you're unlikely to survive the boss at the end of that day, let alone the nightlord on the final one. In some team-based games you might count on a strong player to carry the team, but Nightreign demands that you be in synergy with one another to stand a chance. The game doesn't scale down in difficulty either, meaning the solo expedition option is really just for the most hardcore of masochists. For the rest of us, it means hoping you match up in a competent trio – in other words, nightfarers who don't run off randomly, or try tackling a big dragon when they haven't levelled up sufficiently – though it's definitely recommended organising a party of likeminded pals on voice chat. Summoning a stranger to help you with a boss in Elden Ring is one thing, but trusting two others for three in-game days that can take between 30-45 minutes can feel like a risky commitment. There are many crushing lows that make you question the time you've spent and your poor decisions. Yet when the team is in sync, you feel fully prepared by the final day, and someone's able to revive you without you having to yell into a headset, it turns out that Nightreign still, against all odds, keeps the spark of what makes Elden Ring special in the first place. You know what they say about how the night is always darkest before the dawn. Elden Ring Nightreign verdict In its streamlined online co-op structure, Elden Ring Nightreign often rubs up against the foundations of the FromSoftware action RPG formula in ways that frustrate, and in many ways it really shouldn't work. This isn't necessarily going to be one for every Elden Ring devotee who enjoys spending many hours in the Lands Between. Yet with a compelling roster of nightfarers, each who also have their own optional arcs, a mash-up of past and present FromSoft bosses, and the right team synergy, triumphing over the nightlords brings a new challenge and reward that redefines our expectations of jolly cooperation. For those who felt that this year's Monster Hunter Wilds had made its core loop a little too frictionless to widen its appeal, here's a co-op game that keeps its uncompromising teeth intact. Stuff Says… Score: 4/5 Adapt to its initial frustrations and you have one of the most challenging but rewarding co-op action fantasy games around Pros The best of Elden Ring in digestible sessions Cool variety of character classes and skills Rewarding boss fights include a best-of from past FromSoft games Cons Faster structure sometimes at odds with traditional FromSoft mechanics Some bosses feel spongy and unbalanced A miserable time for solo expeditioners
Engadget
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
An Elden Ring movie, directed by Alex Garland, is in the works
Bandai Namco has confirmed the rumors going around that Elden Ring will be adapted into a live-action movie. The project will be produced by Bandai Namco and American film company A24, and it will be helmed by filmmaker Alex Garland, who directed Ex Machina, Annihilation, Civil War and Warfare . He was also the novelist behind The Beach and had written the movies 28 Days Later, Dredd and 28 Years Later . The film will be produced by Peter Rice, along with Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich from DNA, as well as with George R. R. Martin and Vince Gerardis. Elden Ring is a dark fantasy action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware, which was also the studio behind Dark Souls . Like other "Souls games," it has a reputation for being notoriously difficult, and a movie would allow people too intimidated to even touch it to experience its story and its universe. Martin, who's of course most known for the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, provided the game's backstory and world building. FromSoftware's president Hidetaka Miyazaki directed the game. Miyazaki was also the director behind the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne and Sekiro . Not much is known about the movie adaptation at the moment other than what Bandai Namco has announced. There are no stars attached to it yet, or a target release date. Fans do have Elden Ring Nightreign to look forward to, however: The co-op survival spinoff will be available on the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S starting on May 30. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Blades of Fire review – forging a new style of hack-and-slash combat
MercurySteam have created a deep and intriguing fantasy world where creative melee combat is unequivocally the main attraction. Providing you don't mind getting turned around every so often, Blades of Fire delivers a worthy twist on the Soulslike template thanks to its unique combat and weapon-crafting system. Don't be fooled by the protagonist's broad shoulders and burly beard. There's far more thought given to Blades of Fire than what its Xbox 360 era aesthetic and character designs may initially suggest. It's a third-person action-adventure about going on a quest to protect a fantasy kingdom from the forces of evil, yes, but beneath this relatively ho-hum premise is a new kind of combat system that quite literally puts out the more you put in – thanks to the ability to create and modify your own weapons. As such, taking on enemies is always stuffed with a lot more meaning and risk than you'd find in other typical hack-and-slash fare. And while the systems outside this core hook aren't quite as exciting, it's hard to deny the thrill that comes from repairing, recycling, and creating your own spin on the game's namesake whenever heading back to the forge. At the centre of this fiery tale is Aran De Lira, part-time reluctant hero and full-time master forger, who finds himself in the rather unique position of being one of very few still able to craft steel following Queen Nerea's spell that has since turned everyone else's weapons into stone. His determination to do something about this properly begins after being gifted with a magical hammer by a young squire, Adso, that inspires the pair to fight their way to the queen's royal palace. It results in a road trip of sorts that challenges Aran to fight and forge through all kinds of interlocking dungeons and areas. From here Blades of Fire falls into a structure that is very Dark Souls in style, although in a way that reshapes your expectation due to the nature of weapons that will over time become blunt and degrade. Knowing that the weapons you've hammered into shape and spent time gathering better materials to make will eventually wear might sound disheartening. And yet, it's a core part of the Blades of Fire experience, one that forced me to think better about my actions both in and outside of combat. See, specific weapons are more and less susceptible to different enemy types, to the extent that, say, a polearm won't do as much damage to someone in full body armour. From here you can either switch weapons from the four Aran can carry at any one time, or you have two other options: change the stance with your equipped weapon or try to target a part of the enemy's body that is vulnerable to a certain directional swipe. As you can probably already tell, developer MercurySteam has placed a lot of depth into the way you not only can – but should – approach combat scenarios; a fact that quickly prevents you from being able to just continually button mash your way through crowded areas. The god of war Aran De Lira is not, and therefore it always pays to seek out the green outline on enemy limbs, being the best way of quickly telling whether your crafted weapon will deal out the most damage it's capable of. From Twin Axes to Greatswords to Spears, there are seven different weapon types you craft at the forge in total. The better you hammer the metal into each one's shape at the forge, the more damage they'll do when swung – not to mention the more times you'll be able to quickly repair it so as to avoid the need to start forging entirely from scratch. Forged in fire Once you get past how to swap weapons in and out on the fly and how to switch stances to slash, thrust, or otherwise, facing down goblins, spirit creatures, and bosses becomes a delicate dance of knowing not just when to attack, but how. The result is a genuinely unique and refreshing mode of third-person hack-and-slashing that is more meaningful than it is mindless, and something totally different to the usual combat language of 'attack, parry, block' that most modern action games can sometimes use as a crutch these days. Outside of combat is where the light that usually burns bright within Blades of Fire tends to dim somewhat, since story-wise there's not a whole lot going on here surprisingly. I spent a good ten hours, for example, barrelling my way through zones before I was reminded about Aran and Adso's mission, and it's still a while longer before Queen Nerea makes a full appearance. Sure, this makes the extent of her evil and power all-encompassing. But in terms of actually having a tangible adversary present in the narrative? Meh, I personally would have enjoyed learning more about her whole deal much earlier on. Thankfully, there's a small but impactful cast of quirky characters that the central pair bump into, such as the magical witch Glinda and Melcart the old and forgetful spirit. As opposed to the villain, these personalities help coat Blades of Fire's world with some much-needed texture. Speaking of which, the locations you visit throughout Blades of Fire could have absolutely been the stars of the show, were they not a tad irksome to navigate. The huge map being interconnected is one of the most effective ways MercurySteam sold me on Aran and Adso's adventure being a colossal road trip. However, it's when exploring each individual zone, fort, or dungeon that navigation can often be a real pain, where more than a few times me working out where to go next simply boiled down to guesswork. There's a compass on screen at all times that points to the closest forge or previously dropped weapon, but they weren't enough to keep me set on the correct path. Thankfully, some areas like The Doyen Graves are better laid out than others. So often, however, did I find myself turned around due to some inconsistencies in layouts more than I'd like, which led to me being occasionally frustrated with traversal and exploration. Shallow narrative hooks in the early game and the odd annoying biome aside, Blades of Fire excels in presenting an alluring and brand-new fantasy world I couldn't wait to dive into and chip away at further. Even in instances where I was bashing my head at a wall unable to find the next best route forward, I knew that persevering would be worth it since it meant getting to test out my newly forged, more powerful weapon at the next gaggle of enemy soldiers who lined up for slaughter. I can't say I ever truly invested in Aran's personal plight, but I very much enjoyed the way he goes about resolving it, all thanks to one of the most unique and thoughtful melee combat systems I've experienced in the past few years. Blades of Fire borrows from the past, but when it comes to combat and creativity it also forges its own way forward.
Metro
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Elden Ring movie with Alex Garland is happening after all says insider
FromSoftware's Elden Ring might be hitting the big screen after all, as a notable insider claims director Alex Garland is in negotiations. Film and TV adaptations of video games have become big business over the past decade, as seen with the likes of The Last Of Us and A Minecraft Movie, but Hollywood has yet to tap into one of the most acclaimed developers in the world. FromSoftware has achieved critical and commercial success in the gaming sphere, with Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and its recent sales juggernaut Elden Ring, but beyond a few comic book series the studio has never tried adapting its work to other mediums. That might be about to change though, with a notable Hollywood insider claiming talks are underway for a film adaptation of Elden Ring. The origins of this rumour are murky. Earlier this week, a report on Nexus Point News claimed Alex Garland was set to direct an Elden Ring film for A24, with shooting expected to start in 2026. However, the report was suddenly taken down, with no explanation as to why. GameCentral reached out to A24 who declined to comment. While this led many to dismiss the rumour, insider Jeff Sneider, who has a good track record for Hollywood scoops, has since corroborated the information. 'Alex Garland IS in negotiations to direct Elden Ring for A24,' he wrote on X. The opaque storytelling of Elden Ring might make it seem unfilmable, but it's something the game's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, has previously expressed interest in. 'I don't see any reason to deny another interpretation or adaptation of Elden Ring, a movie for example,' Miyazaki told The Guardian last year. 'But I don't think myself, or FromSoftware, have the knowledge or ability to produce something in a different medium. 'So that's where a very strong partner would come into play. We'd have to build a lot of trust and agreement on whatever it is we're trying to achieve, but there's interest, for sure.' George R.R. Martin, who collaborated with Miyazaki on Elden Ring's lore, also strongly hinted at a potential film or TV adaptation in July last year. As for Alex Garland's rumoured involvement, the writer-director said he was 'going to take a break from directing for the foreseeable future' last year following the release of Civil War, but it was unclear how long for. This was also after the original announcement of Warfare, a film he co-directed and which was released in cinemas last month. More Trending Garland still has projects in the pipeline, serving as a writer on the upcoming 28 Years Later, so it's possible he could be tempted back into directing for Elden Ring. If so, it would certainly be an exciting choice, given his track record on Ex Machina, Dredd, Devs, Annihilation. The latter in particular has a lot of special effects and is an adaptation of a very complex novel that many also thought was unfilmable. Garland has never done anything fantasy related before, and he changed Annihilation a lot in adapting it, but he does seem an intriguing choice. FromSoftware is clearly interested in expanding Elden Ring's world in other ways too. A roguelike multiplayer spin-off Elden Ring: Nightreign is set to launch on May 30, 2025 across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Xbox handheld pic leaks in new photos of collaboration with Asus MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 is less than a month away – here's where you can pre-order MORE: 8 hidden details from GTA 6 Trailer 2 that show how the game will play
