If there’s a single thing that most people know the Dark Souls games for, it’s their notorious difficulty. While it’s a lot more complicated than the games just being “hard,” FromSoftware has built a notorious reputation around that notion — and it’s clear the studio loves leaning into it. So, as you might expect, Elden Ring Nightreign is about to get a whole lot more difficult, with its biggest update yet. It seems tailor-made for all the sickos that love getting smashed into the ground by a host of bizarre enemies.
Nightreign’s huge upcoming update goes live today, September 11, and adds a brand new mode called Deep of Night. This mode is tailor-made for veterans of the game and will be significantly more difficult while also introducing even more random elements.
To start with, you won’t know which Nightlord you’re going up against until the battle actually starts, meaning it’ll be a lot more difficult to tailor your character build to a specific boss. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, however, as Deep of Night has an array of new features to punish hopeful players.
Generic enemies will apparently be more difficult, but there are now also “Variants” that are marked by their red sheen. These enhanced enemies will pop up randomly throughout the world, and are significantly tougher but also yield greater rewards. Taking these enemies down can give you even stronger weapons. And you’ll need them, as the main twist of the mode is a “Depth” feature that sees you delving further into more difficult versions of the world.
Every time you defeat a Nightlord, your Depth rating will go up, resulting in matches becoming even more difficult for you, with little tweaks like key parts of the map being obscured. You will, of course, be matched with players of similar Depth rankings to ensure you’re on a level playing field.
As you complete new expeditions in the mode, you’ll also unlock Depth Relics, powerful new accessories that come with massive boosts, but even more interestingly, also give you a detrimental effect. There are three new relic slots for these, making careful planning and character building even more integral to the experience.
Variant enemies create more opportunities for surprise challenges during Expeditions — and rewards.
While I’m sure many players will relish in what sounds like an absolutely hellaciously difficult experience, what’s most interesting to me about Deep of Night is how it seemingly addresses one of my core issues with the game.
Nighreign’s core gameplay is fantastic; it creates an arcade-y version of Elden Ring focused on speed and split-second decisions. The way it flips the whole approach of Elden Ring on its head is fantastic, but outside of that, there’s not enough variation between matches. As much as I love those core ideals, I couldn’t help but feel Nightreign got bogged down under each match sort of feelign the same until you reach the Nightlord. You go through the same patterns, know the best places to look for gear, etc.
In all regards, Deep of Night looks like it can shake up that formula. Variant enemies add a layer of undpredictability, and I love the idea of making navigation more difficult by obscuring parts of your map. That’s what makes this update exciting to me, not just the idea that enemies will be tougher, but that the game might directly impact the way you traverse and interact with the world.
Carefully planning your character build will become even more important in Deep of Night, due to the negative effects on equipment.
So much of the discussion around difficulty in Souls games misses that point — the “difficulty” of these games isn’t about how much health an enemy has or how hard they hit. It’s more about the emergent ways these games can challenge your perceptions, strategies, and entire approach. And I’m glad Deep of Night looks to be leaning into that.
It’s also a good step in giving Nightreign a bit of longevity — a multiplayer game that’s easy to beat, put down, and never come back to. If FromSoftware can provide even more updates that shift things to this degree, Nightreign might be something worth sticking with for months or years to come.
