Elden Ring Nightreign Channels the Spirit of a Forgotten God of War Game

This past weekend marked the first network tests for Elden Ring: Nightreign, the upcoming standalone multiplayer spin-off from FromSoftware’s acclaimed title. Unlike last year’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Nightreign shares only its namesake and aesthetic with its parent game, abandoning the open-world structure for a streamlined survival format. Three-player teams descend into shrinking maps, battling waves of enemies and increasingly formidable bosses. This design clearly draws inspiration from the immensely popular Fortnite—a unsurprising influence, considering Fortnite's staggering 200 million players this month alone.

However, Nightreign bears a striking resemblance to another game, one far less celebrated and often maligned: 2013’s God of War: Ascension. And that's a positive comparison.

Released between God of War 3 (2010) and the Norse-inspired 2018 reboot, Ascension served as a prequel, preceding the original Greek mythology trilogy. It followed Kratos's struggle to break his oath with Ares. Failing to match the epic finale of the original trilogy, and attempting to revitalize a well-worn formula, God of War: Ascension quickly gained a reputation as the franchise's black sheep—a decent appetizer preceding an amazing main course.

This reputation, while understandable, is somewhat unfair. While Kratos's confrontation with the Furies in Ascension didn't reach the heights of his five-stage battle with Zeus, this divisive prequel boasted truly spectacular set pieces, including the Prison of the Damned—a labyrinthine dungeon carved into the flesh and bone of a colossal, 100-armed giant. More importantly, Ascension deserves credit for pioneering something unprecedented in the franchise: multiplayer.

In Ascension’s story, while navigating the Prison of the Damned, players encounter a chained NPC who prematurely exclaims, “You saved me!” before being crushed by the level boss. Unlocking the multiplayer mode after this point reveals this NPC as the player character. Teleported to Olympus moments before their demise, players pledge allegiance to one of four gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, or Ares—each bestowing unique weapons, armor, and magic. These tools are used across five multiplayer modes, four of which are competitive PvP. The fifth mode, Trial of the Gods, is cooperative PvE—and essentially the blueprint for Elden Ring: Nightreign.

Gameplay previews of Nightreign, released before the network tests by prominent Soulsborne YouTubers like VaatiVidya and Iron Pineapple, as well as IGN's coverage, highlighted similarities between FromSoftware's latest title and live service games like Fortnite. Similar to those games, Nightreign offers a blend of randomized loot, resource management, and environmental hazards that deplete player health and restrict movement, increasing the challenge with each run. Nightreign even echoes one of Fortnite’s most iconic elements: players drop from the sky, carried by spirit birds, to their chosen landing spot.

While the “where are we dropping?” element is absent in God of War: Ascension, a deeper look reveals more common ground between Nightreign and Ascension’s Trial of the Gods mode. Both are cooperative experiences where teams face progressively tougher foes. Both unexpectedly offer the chance to battle bosses from previous games, including Hercules from God of War 3 or the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Both feature a countdown timer (though Ascension’s can be paused by defeating enemies), and both occur on small or shrinking maps. Both are multiplayer games developed by studios renowned for their single-player experiences, created without direct involvement from their respective series creators; Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki is working on an undisclosed project, while the directors of the original God of War trilogy—David Jaffe, Cory Barlog, and Stig Asmussen—had left Sony Santa Monica before Ascension’s development.

Crucially, Nightreign seems to evoke the same player response as Ascension’s Trial of the Gods. Participants in FromSoftware’s network test consistently described their runs as frantic and exhilarating races against time. Unlike the more relaxed pace of the base game, where players can approach scenarios strategically, using various weapons and abilities at their leisure, Nightreign demands instinctive reactions, accelerating the pace and limiting resources—constraints described by VaatiVidya as designed for “speed and efficiency.” To compensate for the absence of Torrent, players now channel an inner spirit horse, enabling faster running and higher jumps.

Ascension’s multiplayer adapted its single-player design for faster pacing, employing techniques mirrored in Nightreign. It increased player run speed, extended jumps, automated parkour, and provided a grapple attack for pulling objects (a mechanic also present in Nightreign’s Wylder character). These new moves are vital because, while combat isn't overly difficult—given the power fantasy aspect of the franchise—Trial of the Gods throws so many enemies at players that every second counts. Consequently, players find themselves sprinting, hacking, and slashing through hordes with unrestrained ferocity.

Nightreign’s resemblance to Ascension is surprising, not only because much of the latter is forgotten, but also because the Soulslike genre, to which Elden Ring belongs, initially stood in stark contrast to God of War. Where one empowers players as god-slaying warriors, the other casts them as nameless, cursed undead facing formidable challenges from even ordinary enemies. One rarely shows its game over screen; the other relentlessly forces players to confront it.

However, this challenging aspect, once intensely frustrating in FromSoftware's earlier games, has lessened in recent years as players improved their skills and developers provided better weapons and spells, leading to numerous game-breaking builds since Elden Ring’s release. Without access to these builds, Nightreign promises to reintroduce a significant level of challenge. Simultaneously, skilled players can experience what God of War: Ascension offered: the thrill of being a time-constrained, vengeful Spartan.