A few days after developer FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco announced that Elden Ring Nightreign — the newly released co-op focused roguelike spinoff of the award-winning 2022 ARPG — hit 2 million players on launch day, it's now been revealed that that number has risen up to 3.5 million. Notably, though, some major additions for the game were confirmed to be in development as well.
In a follow-up post to their celebration of Nightreign's performance thus far, the developers announced that Duos Expeditions — the option to play Nightreign with two people only, in other words — are officially coming at some point down the line. On top of that, it was also said that "enhanced" boss battles are on the way, and that further additions will be released gradually over time, too.
"In addition to the DLC releasing later this year, new additions will be gradually implemented, including enhanced fights against existing Nightlords starting this month, as well as Duo Expeditions at a later date," wrote FromSoftware. "Thank you for your support."
But the Night is far from over.In addition to the DLC releasing later this year, new additions will be gradually implemented, including enhanced fights against existing Nightlords starting this month, as well as Duo Expeditions at a later date.Thank you for your support.June 3, 2025
It's not entirely clear what the developer means by "enhanced." If I had to guess, though, I'd say these special versions of the Nightlord fights will include some particularly challenging new moves to dodge and larger boss health bars — something akin to the "Inner" battles from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's boss gauntlet, if you've played it. You'll be able to give them a shot at some point this month.
These will give those who've mastered the Nightlord encounters as they are some fresh challenge, and it's likely that they'll yield good rewards like lots of the Murk currency used for skins and high-quality Relic drops if you can overcome them.
Support for duo Expeditions, meanwhile, are something that players have been consistently vocal about, to the point where Elden Ring Nightreign's seamless co-op mod was released in a "rushed alpha state" to meet the demand for duos. FromSoftware previously said that it "kind of overlooked and neglected the duos aspect" and that it's something it was "looking at and considering for post-launch support," so I'm glad the studio decided to bring it to Nightreign in the end.
As for the 2025 DLC that's been mentioned, we know that it's scheduled to release by the fourth quarter of the year and that it will include "additional Nightfarers and bosses." I'm also hoping that it'll have a few new maps to play on; the fact Limveld is the only one in the game can make runs feel quite repetitive, and as I wrote in my Elden Ring Nightreign review, it's the game's biggest flaw.
This is great ... but what about crossplay?
Overall, it's great to see Nightreign getting new content and a highly requested feature, and it's a pleasant surprise that the enhanced Nightlord boss battles in particular are coming out so soon after the game's May 30 release. It's disappointing, however, that there's been no mention of crossplay or cross-platform play — a feature that would let Nightfarers across Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation systems all play together.
Crossplay has become something of a staple feature in co-op games, as it enables play with friends on other platforms and ensures matchmaking times generally remain healthy and short even long into their life cycles. FromSoftware's action RPGs have never had it, but given Nightreign's emphasis on co-op as a core part of the experience, I was hoping it might come to the game at some point.
Perhaps it still will, and the developer just isn't ready to commit to its implementation yet. On the other hand, it's also entirely possible that there's a technical factor of some sort preventing crossplay, or that the studio simply doesn't want to add cross-platform play due to concerns about cheaters on PC — a rare sight in FromSoftware games, admittedly — ruining the experience. Ultimately, I'll remain hopeful, but I'm not expecting good news.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold new experimental spinoff from FromSoftware that spices up the original game's Soulsborne combat with a roguelike, co-op driven twist. Though it has sizable issues like only having one map or underwhelming enemy variety, it's nevertheless going to be one of this year's best Xbox games and best PC games for Souls fans craving action. It's $39.99, but you can get it for $33.99 at Newegg with the promo code XVSAVE (PC) or EPET226 (Xbox).
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