Elden Ring: Nightreign Unites the Dark Souls Legacy with a New Saga in The Lands Between

Elden Ring: Nightreign appears to merge the realms of Dark Souls and Elden Ring for the very first time, as astute admirers have identified recognizable residents of Lordan within The Lands Between.

Elden Ring: Nightreign was unveiled at The Game Awards last night – it is a standalone, three-player adventure played in 40-minute sessions, but its trailer also revealed something particularly intriguing for Dark Souls enthusiasts. Iconic figures from the Souls trilogy were spotted in the footage – the Firekeeper from Dark Souls 1 and the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3 made appearances in the video.

Clearly, the query is whether this implies that the realms of Dark Souls and Elden Ring are intertwined. While they certainly do not seem to be the same worlds, it is notable that these characters are featured in Nightreign. The answer to that question, however, is a bit complicated. In an interview with IGN, game director Junya Ishizaki mentioned that “we’d like fans to consider Nightreign as an Elden Ring spin-off,” where “the narrative is entirely distinct and parallel to the world of Elden Ring.”

If you are seeking a lore-related reasoning behind that, it can be uncovered within the Shattering. Ishizaki and his team “didn’t want to intrude” on the narrative of Elden Ring too heavily, so Nightreign will “coexist” in a “completely separate branch of the Elden Ring story,” where the Shattering plays a pivotal role, essentially dividing the realms into parallel versions of one another. Automaton also indicates that these Dark Souls entities are “representing beings that have wandered from another universe” – guest appearances, rather than the primary antagonists, it seems.

Considering the Sekiro influences that may also be evident in Nightreign, now could be a great time to familiarize yourself with the finest FromSoftware titles.