3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
The Duskbloods needs to fix Elden Ring: Nightreign's biggest problem
The era of multiplayer FromSoftware games has officially begun. Elden Ring: Nightreign is out now, turning 2022's award-winning open-world game into a co-op roguelike that's already resonating with fans. That's just the beginning for the famed developer too. Next year, it will follow up that momentum with The Duskbloods, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive multiplayer game that's about as close to a Bloodborne sequel as we're likely going to get. If it's as enjoyable as Nightreign, FromSoftware could have a successful reinvention in its future.
Nightreign is just one success story, though; the key to victory is how you capitalize on that momentum. That puts The Duskbloods in an important position, as it will have to prove that the idea of a multiplayer Soulslike is more than a one-time novelty. If it's going to do that, it will need to improve on Nightreign's weaknesses rather than repeating its successes. And there's one major Achilles' heel that needs more healing than any other: Nightreign's archaic approach to online play.
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Elden Ring: Nightreign is a three player co-op game in which squads band together to defeat enemies on an island, level up, and take down eight fierce Night Lords — all as a storm closes in on them. When it's operating at its best, it's a strong multiplayer game that incentivizes strong communication between well-coordinated teammates. What initially seems impossible becomes very achievable with a team that knows exactly what it's doing.
The only problem is that actually getting to that point is an unbelievable hassle. That's largely thanks to an outdated approach to multiplayer that hangs over even the most beloved FromSoftware games. For one, Nightreign doesn't feature cross-play between any platforms. If you own it on PC, you can't play with someone on PS5. That's a restriction that most multiplayer games have done away with in the modern era, bringing disparate player bases together.
Nightreign isn't the only recent game to ditch cross-play, but it uniquely shoots itself in the foot by doing so. Something like an online shooter can usually be enjoyed solo without squading up (in fact, I usually prefer to play games like that on my own). That's not the case with Nightreign. It hinges on communication between teammates and is significantly less enjoyable when diving in with total strangers. Forcing friends to all be on the same platform creates an unnecessary roadblock that begins the moment they buy a copy.
If that was the only problem here, I could shrug it off as a quirk. Instead it's just one pain point in a mountain of them. During my testing, I had trouble getting Nightreign's in-game matchmaking tools to work consistently. Sometimes I'd try to set a room code to let players I wasn't friends with in. All they had to do, in theory, was set the same code and then start matchmaking. That process proved unreliable, as I'd often have to cancel matchmaking and try again to get it to work. Elsewhere, I ran into issues when trying to team up with players in different countries. Even when I selected an option to pair with cross-region players, I was sometimes unable to join their party or vice versa. That issue popped up even after we had friended one another on PS5 and tried to connect via direct party invites.
Those issues are only made worse by Nightreign's additional restrictions. Only have one friend you want to party up with? Sorry, there is no duos playlist at launch despite the fact that there's a solo option. Hoping to take a chance with strangers? There's no in-game voice chat, so good luck coordinating effectively using only a rudimentary ping system. Want to play with a friend who is further along than you? You won't be able to tackle any boss together until you've vanquished the first. Has your world state been impacted by a Shifting Earth event? That will limit who you can match with too. On top of all that, there are eight separate boss playlists to choose from which further split the player base. You can queue up for multiple at once, but good luck trying to pair up for a specific boss.
All of these decisions compound to make Nightreign one of the most complicated online multiplayer games I've played in recent years. It's a blast once I'm in a game with friends, but it's not something I'd ever want to play casually by teaming up with strangers. There are just too many variables and I'm not yet convinced that it will have the kind of enormous tail that keeps players logging in consistently a year from now.
After suffering through that, I'm now much more worried for The Duskbloods and am in need of reassurance. If it's going to take Nightreign's lead, we could be in for a perfect storm of bad multiplayer integration from two of the worst companies doing it today. Imagine dealing with FromSoftware matchmaking on a Nintendo platform, one that still uses long friend codes to pair pals together. It's a potential deal breaker in the making.
There's hope for The Duskbloods even if it's not going to deviate much from Nightreign. The fact that it's confined to Nintendo Switch 2 will work in its favor, as players won't have to deal with cross-play headaches (and if it's another game that requires good communication, it'll also benefit from GameChat). Still, I'm not sure how much I'll be willing to swallow the same matchmaking inconsistencies I faced in Nightreign come 2026. I'm ready to join FromSoftware in its multiplayer future, but only if it's willing to meet me there.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Duskbloods is scheduled to launch in 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2.
