Launched in 2022, Elden Ring has climaxed its success in the Dark Souls and Bloodspreading series with Hidetaka Miyazaki. When calling from FromSoftware's studio to explore a more modest spin-off project, Elden Ring Combat director Junya Ishizaki raised his hand – and continued to direct the just-released Elden Ring Nightreign, a multiplayer spin-off game.
Nightreign is an ambitious attempt to distil Elden Ring Experience into a lack of repetition run to kill enemies and mini bosses before serving as a unique and deadly nightclub master boss. Faster, meaner than the game it originated, and harder in some ways, NightReign is an adventure from Software. Although it inherits a lot from Elden Ring, the studio's next game is to scratch a very different player itch – a collaborative pressure cooker that produces the highest and lowest moments that Souls Games is famous for.
There are many different ways to play, but Nightreign's director concluded: “I describe the experience of Elden Ring as more of a journey, and Nightreign's experience is more on the battlefield.”
In my interview with Ishizaki about his directorial debut at Nightreign, we talked about Elden Ring’s retention and cutting, the development changes in map design and whether he himself beats every boss he’s in charge.
(Yes, he played solo.)
Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign beginner's guide: Necessities that are not destroyed in the first 5 minutes
David Lumb: Nightreign's gameplay is different from Elden Ring with its focus on collaboration and its fast pace. What has been retained and what has been cut by the latter?
Junya Ishizaki: While it's not limited to Elden rings, in many of our games we still maintain this feeling of exploring the world and traveling through the world. Building on these RPG systems and developing your role, it is definitely the element we want to retain and transfer to Nightreign's Elden Ring.
I think it's not because boss fights are still a big part of Elden's ring, but something we cut, but a good point of where to provide something new to the night world – we hope these massive boss fights can make people feel very epic and epic battles.
DL: What does it feel like to adjust the difficulty from Software games, especially based on the specific level of challenge based on Elden Ring, from the lethality of everyday enemies to the biggest boss?
JI: These challenging elements in our game are always under scrutiny and we keep watching. We feel we need to take a step back, especially the difficulty of balancing with Nightcrawler…As a multiplayer-centric title, players are constantly evolving and changing their power levels during any meeting. So you really need to focus on what that power curve looks like and how the difficulty curve looks in each session.
Of course, as I said, we did look closely at the approach from title to title. It's not just a comprehensive, fixed approach. That said, Eldon Ring, we did go too far in some areas, and I don't think we're far enough in others. So we have been learning from our projects and past experiences to try to create a game that feels fair and satisfying and bring you a sense of accomplishment when overcoming these challenges.
DL: Keep going – I think everyone wants to know which bosses you have gone too far and which aren't far enough in the Eldon Ring!
JI: It's not necessarily about the difficulty, but I think that, in terms of the battle system of Elden Ring, it's me very involved in the development of the game – what players can do in that framework and that environment is too stressful or too restrictive, and I think it will cause a lot of difficulties for a lot of players.
That's where we feel we can release the valve with Nightcrawler and allow more players to be free and have a more free experience. So for Nightreign, I think that even if we use Elden Ring as a base, I really lean towards the core of new things, which really gives us a lot of room to explore these combat systems and explore how players can travel through the world. It's really a tendency to create a fresh experience there that doesn't feel related to the original game.
DL: Speaking of Traversal, I can't be the only one who wants to know this: Is there any damage in the game? I like falling from height.
JI: In fact, I was hurt by the fall in a moment. We did study it and tried it, but without it, we felt the game might exist. We feel like the game stands up on its own and can feel excited or fearful of other areas of the game without it.
DL: Could players be surprised to find that they are cut or refined into something completely different during development?
JI: I would say an example of the terrain changes that occur in the nightreign. Once, there was an idea to have a different map – a map that was set for a specific setting when played in each session. At some point, we had an idea to pour it into a map, but instead these different layers and transformative changes took place during that session.
We think this could be a new challenge that can differentiate it from previous and existing games, which presents us with a new challenge to work on NightReign and provide a different gaming experience, and also to expand the breadth of each game by bringing these layered features into the terrain capabilities.
We found that this adds a very different gradient to the way of exploring and each session. When we try to use it, we don't feel like a correct answer. There is no right way to do this, it only depends on the game. This brings us a new and interesting challenge and once again adds new gameplay to NightReign.
DL: It's fun and it sounds like a lot of developments in the gaming experience. Was Nightreign ever considered a full-size game like Elden Ring?
JI: Anyway, Nightreign is always considered a smaller, lighter title than people like Elden Ring. But for this, during the development of Elden Ring, I myself expressed my interest in guiding my title, and Miyazaki and other employees brought it up and I got the opportunity.
As new directors, we want to see things from a smaller scale and a smaller perspective and start with the strong foundation of Elden Ring. Of course, after my experience as a director, I really like to start completely from scratch and have my own project in the future to see where it can be ranged, so I am looking forward to this opportunity as well.
DL: Now that you've finished Nightreign, what's your favorite part?
JI: There are many good choices about the games I like. But one thing I think, especially the one we honed with Nightreign is that it is easy and lightweight when it comes to RPG, but also in-depth if you want. I think this is the area we managed to play well.
DL: What did you learn from making Night Walker?
JI: I think there is a lot of experience we can enter into future projects. I think from a gameplay and narrative perspective, I think it is really a success, and what is really valuable is the new approach to character and character design.
I think this is a very unique aspect of Nightreign, and I think it can be further developed through our future titles, the characters feel unique and interesting in how they play, the way their controls translate into their unique gameplay, and the way you are as a player and the way they explore their backstory and narrative. These areas set Nightreign apart from other titles, and I think that's an aspect that we can definitely improve and perfect the future.
DL: Great. Last question: I beat the last boss yesterday, I just want to know – actually, did you beat each boss and the last boss yourself?
JI: Yes, I hope you can reassure you that I beat all the bosses of the game. Whether in multiplayer or solo player, I see everything it has to offer. So I hope you and the players know that this is very likely and I hope you have the confidence to try it out on your own.
As far as secrets and narratives are concerned, I think there is a lot to reveal for players investing on that side, and I hope you look forward to experiencing everything a nightclub has to offer.
DL: Just to clarify: Are you every boss in your solo game?
JI: Yes. No cultural relics.
Elden Ring Nightreign launched PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles on May 30 for $40. There is no need to play this game with the original Elden ring.
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