Elden Ring Nightreign Director Interview: He Solo'd Every Boss and So Can You
Elden Ring launched in 2022 to great acclaim as the culmination of director Hidetaka Miyazaki's successes with the Dark Souls and Bloodborne series of games. When calls went out in studio FromSoftware to explore more modest spinoff projects, Elden Ring combat director Junya Ishizaki raised his hand -- and proceeded to direct the just-released Elden Ring Nightreign, the multiplayer-only spinoff game.
Nightreign is an ambitious attempt to distill the Elden Ring experience into under-an-hour repeatable runs killing enemies and mini-bosses before taking on a unique and deadly Nightlord main boss. Faster, meaner and in some ways tougher than the game it originates from, Nightreign is FromSoftware's expedition into multiplayer. And while it inherits a lot from Elden Ring, the studio's next game was developed to scratch a very different player itch -- a co-op pressure cooker to produce the highest and lowest moments that Souls games are known for.
There are a lot of ways the games differ, but Nightreign's director summarized it by saying "I would describe the Elden Ring experience as more of a journey while Nightreign's experience is more of that on the battlefield."
In part one of my interview with Ishizaki about his directorial debut in Nightreign, we chatted about what was kept and cut from Elden Ring, how the map design changed over development and whether he himself beat every boss in the game he helmed.
(Yes, he solo'd them all.)
Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign Beginner's Guide: The Essentials for Not Getting Wrecked in the First 5 Minutes
Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET
David Lumb: With its co-op focus and fast pace, Nightreign's gameplay is different than Elden Ring. What was kept and what was cut from the latter?
Junya Ishizaki: While it's not limited to Elden Ring, with a lot of our games, we keep this sense of exploring the world and traversing the world. Building on these RPG systems and growing your character was definitely an element of Elden Ring that we wanted to keep and transfer into Nightreign.
I think in terms of, not what what we cut because boss battles are still a large part of Elden Ring, but more as a good focus point on where we had to deliver something new for Nightreign -- we wanted these large-scale boss battles to feel really epic and really unique to this game.
DL: What's it like to tweak the difficulty in a FromSoftware game, especially one built upon Elden Ring's specific challenge level from the lethality of everyday enemies to the biggest bosses?
JI: These challenging elements to our games are always under scrutiny and that we're always looking at closely. We felt like we needed to step back and review that process for difficulty balancing with Nightreign in particular … being a multiplayer-focused title, the player is constantly evolving and changing their power level on the fly during any one session. So you really need to focus on what that power curve and that difficulty curve looked like within each session quite closely.
Of course, as I say, we do look at this approach carefully from title to title. It's not just an all-in, make-it-hard approach. That said, Elden Ring, we did go too far in some areas and I feel we didn't go far enough in other areas. So we're always learning from our projects and past experiences, trying to create a game that feels fair and satisfying and gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you do overcome these challenges.
DL: Hold on -- I think everyone would like to know your opinion on which bosses in Elden Ring went too far and which didn't go far enough!
JI: This is not necessarily related to the difficulty specifically, but I think in terms of the battle system with Elden Ring -- which is something I was quite involved in the development of that game -- where the player feels too pressured or too restricted in what they can do within that framework and that setting, I feel like that created a lot of the feeling of difficulty for a lot of players.
That is somewhere that we felt we were able to release the valve a little bit with Nightreign and allow for more player freedom and to have a more liberating experience. So with Nightreign, I think really leaning into something new was at the heart of this game, even though we're using Elden Ring as a base, that really gave us a lot of room to explore these battle systems and explore how the player traverses the world. Really really lean into creating a fresh experience there that doesn't feel like it's too tied to the original game in that sense.
Screenshot by David Lumb/CNET
DL: Speaking of traversal, I can't be the only one who's wondered this: Was there ever fall damage in the game? I love dropping down from a great height.
JI: There was actually fall damage at one point, very momentarily. We did study it and try it for a bit but we felt like the game could exist without it. We felt like the game stood up on its own and didn't need it in order to feel thrilling or to feel trepidation of other areas of the game.
DL: What are other things players might be surprised to discover had been cut during development or refined into something totally different?
JI: I'd say one example of this is the terrain changes that occur in Nightreign. At one point, there was the idea to have different maps -- specific set maps for when you play each session. At one point, we had the idea to try to collapse this into a single map, and instead have these different layers and transformative changes that occur during that session.
We thought this could be a new challenge that could set it apart from previous and existing games, give us a new challenge to work with on Nightreign and provide a different gameplay experience as well to extend the breadth of each play session by having this layering feature to the terrain features.
We found this added very different gradients to the exploration and to the way each session pans out. When we tried this, we felt like there's no one right answer. There's no one correct way you can do this, it just depends on the game. And this presented a new and interesting challenge for us and a way to, again, spice up the new gameplay in Nightreign.
DL: That's interesting and sounds like a lot of development in the game experience. Was Nightreign ever considered as a full-size game like Elden Ring?
JI: In a word, no, Nightreign was always considered a smaller, lighter title in comparison to the likes of Elden Ring. But to give a little bit of context to that, during the development of Elden Ring, I myself expressed interest in wanting to direct my own title, and this was picked up by Miyazaki and the other staff at From and I was given this opportunity.
Being a new director, we wanted to take things from a smaller scale and a smaller perspective and start with a strong base with Elden Ring. Of course, having had this experience as director, I'd very much like in the future to start completely from scratch and have my own project and see where it can go scope-wise, so I'm looking forward to that opportunity as well.
Bandai Namco
DL: Now that you've finished Nightreign, what's your favorite part of it?
JI: There's a lot of nice things to choose from, a lot about the game I like. But I think one thing we've honed in on with Nightreign in particular is the feeling of being both approachable and light in terms of an RPG, but also quite involved and quite in-depth if you want it to be. I think this is an area that we've managed to hit quite well.
DL: And what have you and FromSoftware learned from making Nightreign?
JI: I think there's a lot of experience we can take forward into future projects. One thing in particular I think has been really successful and really valuable to work with is this new approach to characters and character design, both from a gameplay and narrative perspective.
I think this is a really unique aspect of Nightreign and it's something I think could be developed even further with our future titles, characters feeling unique and interesting in terms of the way they play, the way their controls translate to their unique game feel, and also how you as a player approach and explore their backstories and narratives. These are areas that make Nightreign stand apart from other titles and I think this is something we could definitely improve on and refine going forward.
DL: Great. Last question: I beat the final boss yesterday and I just want to know -- have you, in fact, beaten every boss and the final boss yourself?
Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET
JI: Yes, I can hopefully give you reassurance to know that I have beaten all of the game's bosses. I've seen everything it has to offer, both in multiplayer and as a solo player. So I want you and players to know that this is very possible and I want you to have the confidence to give it a try yourself.
And in terms of secrets and a narrative as well, I think there's a lot there for players who were invested in that side of it to uncover and I hope you look forward to experiencing everything that Nightreign has to offer.
DL: Just to clarify: you solo'd every boss in the game?
JI: Yes. And without relics.
Elden Ring Nightreign launched on May 30 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Elden Ring is not required to play this game.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
TGT Technology Global Launches Innovative Cross-Border eSIM Solution at MWC2025, Delivering Seamless Connectivity for Japanese Travelers
SHANGHAI, June 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- TGT Technology Global, a global cloud communications platform, unveiled its cross-border eSIM communication solution at MWC 2025. Designed for Japanese outbound travelers, the solution provides more convenient, economical, and stable international connectivity — eliminating costly roaming fees and complex SIM card switching. Convenient and flexible, can be customized with tens of thousands of SKUs. Users do not need to replace physical SIM cards, can switch communication services of different countries through mobile phone settings, greatly simplifying communication needs for international travel; users can select different operators and network packages as needed, enjoying more personalized communication services. 200+ countries coverage with seamless connectivity. Global network coverage supports use in 200+ countries/regions, 1000+ data package SKUs, one card travels smoothly worldwide without worries; instant activation, automatically connects to network upon landing, avoiding "disconnection anxiety". Multi-country resources, premium experience. Intelligently accesses local optimal 4G/5G networks, intelligent network algorithms ensure high-speed stable, low-latency network experience, smoothly supports key applications like navigation, video, payment; supports smart phones, tablets, smart watches and other devices, meeting business, travel, entertainment full-scenario needs. Comperitive Price. Direct connection with local operators avoids high international roaming fees, provides localized data pricing, reduces costs and increases efficiency; eSIM embedded in devices, built-in high-level encryption mechanisms guarantee user communication security and data privacy, making global smooth connection more reassuring. TGT has collaborated with Japanese travel agencies, airlines, and OTA platforms. Enhanced services will launch in Summer 2025, advancing "seamless global connectivity" for Japanese users. Future innovations will make cross-border communication smarter and more accessible. Learn more: Partnerships: sales@ About TGT Technology Global TGT is committed to building a leading global cloud communications platform. The company seizes opportunities in the AI era, adhering to the strategy of "Globalization, Platformization, and AI Empowerment", building a global cloud communication service platform through independent innovation, committed to achieving one-stop aggregation and interconnection of global networks, providing the global smart industry with "high-performance, high-efficiency, cost-effective" one-stop data connectivity, operational management, and value-added services based on communication capabilities,building a hub center for global wireless connections. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE TGT Technology Erreur lors de la récupération des données Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Metaplanet Buys 1,111 Bitcoin for $117M, Pushes Total Holdings to Over 11K BTC
Metaplanet, the Tokyo-listed hotel firm known for its bitcoin BTC acquisition strategy, has acquired 1,111 bitcoin for $117 million. The firm bought bitcoin at an average price of about $105681 per BTC. The crypto markets fell during the weekend after the U.S. bombed several nuclear sites in Iran, pushing bitcoin to lows of $98,000. Bitcoin has recovered from the weekend fall and is now trading over $101,000 at the time of writing. The latest acquisition pushes Metaplanet's total BTC stash to 11,111 bitcoin, worth over $1.1 billion, with an average buying price of $95, in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hideo Kojima has been hard at work editing the final Death Stranding 2 trailer – one he says will make people go, "What?!"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As the wait for Hideo Kojima's long-awaited sequel Death Stranding 2 continues, the iconic director has been preparing the upcoming action-adventure game's final trailer – one he says might leave fans surprised. As translated by Genki in an online post, a recent Koji10 episode on YouTube sees the lead reveal that he's been hard at work recently on the last trailer before the Death Stranding 2 launch on June 26. Not only has Kojima been finalizing what's almost sure to be a cinematic masterpiece of a video while on land, however, but also while mid-air – that's right, he's been editing during flights on the plane by selecting clips to use on his iPad. Kojima promises new information regarding Death Stranding 2 to come to light once the big trailer releases later this month, but that's not all – he also hints that a moment about halfway through the video will leave viewers in awe, asking, "What?!" While he doesn't specify what that moment is or what shocking things it might unveil, it's exciting to think that an even more thought-provoking Death Stranding 2 trailer than the last is arriving. There are more exciting creations to come from Kojima than just the Death Stranding sequel, too. His upcoming project OD, which he describes as "a bit risky" and "a game like no other," is being produced in collaboration with comedian and filmmaker Jordan Peele, and the Death Stranding movie, which Kojima states is "not just a direct translation of the game," is also underway, presenting a "universe that has never been seen before."If Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid ever crossover, Kojima knows who should be a porter, even though they "won't be able to carry things so much"
