Is Elden Ring Nightreign Starting a FromSoft Multiverse?

For the first couple of minutes, the trailer for Elden Ring Nightreign is… not exactly predictable, but certainly understandable. It’s Elden Ring like we’ve never seen it before, remixed and reassembled, but still unmistakably a return to The Lands Between. And then… is that The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3?

And then you rewind and pay closer attention. Yes, that is The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3, and he’s not the only boss from FromSoftware’s back catalogue making a comeback. Another rewind and another closer inspection reveals that friendly NPCs from Dark Souls have also arrived in the world of Elden Ring. Not only that, but even gameplay mechanics from across the developer’s portfolio of work have found their way into this upcoming co-op roguelite. And so there’s one question that burns brighter than any other:

Is Elden Ring Nightreign introducing a FromSoftware multiverse?

The Nameless King is one of the most ruthless opponents in Dark Souls 3. He’s a significant figure in the series’ lore, having first been detailed in the original Dark Souls and its sequel before finally appearing in the flesh as an optional boss in the final part of the trilogy. He’s known for his imposing dragon mount and ability to channel lightning, both of which are seen in the final minute of Nightreign’s trailer. There’s no mistaking him: this isn’t a tribute, homage, or lookalike: The Nameless King is a foe in the next Elden Ring game.

If seeing wasn’t believing, the official Dark Souls social media channels have confirmed that elements of the series will appear in Nightreign, albeit in a characteristically cryptic manner. “In the Night, ancestral foes await – remnants of a fire that once burned bright,” reads the post on X, which accompanies a repost of the Nightreign trailer.

In the Night, ancestral foes await – remnants of a fire that once burned bright.#ELDENRING #NIGHTREIGN launches on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC Digital in 2025. https://t.co/TyPLQabumO

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) December 13, 2024

The two series are definitely being linked, then. And so other familiar creatures begin to make a lot of sense. Two further Dark Souls enemies can be spotted among Bandai Namco’s marketing materials. One minute and 22 seconds into the trailer, we see a team of warriors battling with a grotesque, multi-limbed beast, its exposed ribcage set aflame by a player’s explosive bolt. Longterm fans will instantly recognise this foe as the Centipede Demon from the original Dark Souls, albeit with a significant graphical facelift.

Just a few seconds earlier there’s a shot of a crawling spider that evokes the arachnid-infested areas of Dark Souls 2. But the golden evidence of Dark Souls 2’s involvement can be found in a screenshot released alongside the trailer, which straight up reveals that The Duke’s Dear Freja, a colossal eight-legged nightmare, will make an appearance in Nightreign.

That’s a boss from each game in the Dark Souls trilogy, then. But there’s more evidence to suggest that it’s not just the enemies of FromSoft’s flagship series that have found their way into Elden Ring. At the trailer’s mid-point we’re introduced to a woman who wears an ornate metal face mask over her eyes and nose – the unmistakable attire of Dark Souls 3’s Fire Keeper. Now, I have to admit that this character’s voice does not sound like an exact match to the original character. But actors are not always available to reprise old roles, and – alongside all the other evidence – it doesn’t seem a stretch to suggest our old Firelink Shrine companion may be a big part of Nightreign’s story.

Mechanical Mixup

Returning friends and foes are the obvious thing to get excited about, but there are smaller, potentially more impactful gameplay elements seen in the trailer that also point to something of an overlapping multiverse effect. Rather than allowing you to create your own character, Nightreign asks you to step into the shoes of a pre-defined hero with their own unique skillset. Of the ones revealed so far, Duchess and Wylder are of the most interest. Duchess’ exquisitely tailored outfit immediately brings Bloodborne to mind. While I’m not yet convinced by fan theories that this is an alternate version of Lady Maria, I am excited by her quickstep ability, which replicates the dodge mechanic of FromSoft’s beloved Lovecraftian nightmare. Wylder, meanwhile, has access to a grappling hook that replicates some of the utility of Sekiro’s own prosthetic tool.

It’s hard to claim these elements are multiversal in the same way as the literal appearance of old bosses, but it’s fascinating nonetheless to see these elements bleed into Elden Ring. Afterall, the unique gameplay flavours of each FromSoft game are as important as the bosses. Further, non-character-specific mechanics include the ability to clamber up walls akin to the hero of Sekrio, being carried by a spectral bird from one location to another in a manner similar to the Giant Crow ride in Dark Souls, and what really does seem to be a medieval fantasy version of Bloodborne’s Stake Driver attached to Wylder’s arm during the battle against the Centipede Demon. As a long-time FromSoft fan, it’s hard not to be excited about all this.

The Law of Lore

As with anything FromSoftware creates, there’s a natural urgency to want to know how everything fits into the lore. There’s only so much to know at this very early stage, but our own interview with game director Junya Ishizaki at least gives us a starting point for theories.

“We’d like fans to think of Nightreign as an Elden Ring spin-off, first and foremost,” Ishizaki explained. “The story is completely separate and parallel to the world of Elden Ring’s. If you had to tie it in some way, we had the events of the shattering in the original game. After the events of the shattering, this is a completely separate branch of the Elden Ring story.”

So Nightreign is a separate timeline. Post the shattering, anything could have happened in this version of Elden Ring’s history. But no matter what kind of tale is written in this world’s own warped history books, the end result is the reign of the Night Lord – this new game’s ultimate foe.

If you feel like you’ve heard that name before, it’s probably because you’ve either read plenty of item descriptions in Elden Ring or watched VaatiVidya’s lore video about the Nox. In the interest of time, here are your CliffsNotes: the Nox are the people you encounter in the underground Eternal Cities of Nokron and Nokstella, where they – according to in-game descriptions – “live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night.”

Lord of Night. Night Lord. Could it be that Elden Ring Nightreign depicts a timeline in which the age of stars has arrived and the Lord of Night has risen? If so, the Nox are the keepers of the mimic tear – are the things we see mimics of things from other worlds?

A little more theorycraft suggests an alternate option. That post on the Dark Souls X feed spoke of “remnants of a fire that once burned bright.” That seems to be a reference to The First Flame, which could be extinguished in the finale of Dark Souls 3. Are the Centipede Demon, Duke’s Dear Freja, and The Nameless King “remnants” of The First Flame?

While we’re having fun, we know that the extinguishing of The First Flame is just one of multiple endings to Dark Souls 3 – endings that all, theoretically speaking, would produce their own timeline. Could it be that this alternate timeline for Elden Ring, ruled over by the Lord of Night, has merged with The End of Fire timeline of Dark Souls? Only time will tell if the lore really is so deep and thoroughly-plotted, and if this really is the start of a FromSoft multiverse… or if Nightreign is just FromSoftware letting loose and having a bit of fun. My money is on the latter.

Back in 2019, Elden Ring’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that he was interested in making a battle royale game. Five years later we have an Elden Ring multiplayer roguelike that features what appears to be a shrinking circle of death. But who could have guessed that, on the day FromSoft announced a game with battle royale elements, that the thing we’d be obsessing over was the return of a gargantuan bastard from Dark Souls 3? One thing is clear: you can count on FromSoft to continuously surprise us.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.