Following the release of a patch for Elden Ring Nightreign earlier this month that made the solo play experience considerably easier than it was at launch, developer FromSoftware teased that "enhanced fights against existing Nightlords" were also coming this month (and also confirmed support for Duo Expeditions is coming later). Now, two weeks later, those "enhanced fights" have arrived in a surprise update — and they're not to be underestimated.
Late Wednesday evening, the studio added the fights — dubbed "Everdark Sovereigns" — with the first being a more difficult version of the "Gaping Jaw" Adel, Baron of Night boss. Everdark Sovereign variants of "Sentient Pest" Gnoster, Wisdom of Night and "Darkdrift Knight" Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow were implemented as well; publisher Bandai Namco says tougher versions of every other Nightlord fight (except for the final boss) will come "at a later date."
Notably, these special bouts are on a weekly rotation schedule, which means you can only challenge a specific Everdark Sovereign boss if it's available the week you're playing. The harder Adel fight is around from now until June 25, 5:59 PM PT / 8:59 PM ET, and if you're able to beat it, you'll earn a special currency called Sovereign Sigils you can exchange for rare Relic upgrades and other unlocks. Every Everdark Sovereign kill gives these, with a bonus amount awarded when you defeat each Everdark Sovereign for the first time.
Those looking to brave encounters with the Everdark Sovereigns should be prepared to have their skills in FromSoftware's new co-op roguelike spinoff pushed to the breaking point. Compared to the regular versions of the Nightlord battles, these ones "are extremely challenging and pose an even greater threat to the Nightfarers with new moves and increased power."
For example, the current Adel, Baron of Night Everdark Sovereign immediately starts the fight in Phase 2 of the original encounter, and eventually begins a "Phase 3" of sorts in which it uses some chaotic teleporting moves and can even generate a colossal storm of electricity you have to leap into the eye of with Spiritsprings that appear in the arena. The boss' attacks also deal more damage than they do in the original fight, and it likely has more health and higher status resistances as well.
Note that to challenge Everdark Sovereigns, you'll have to be connected to FromSoftware's online servers. That means no Everdark Sovereigns for folks playing offline solo, though given their rotating, limited-time nature, this is understandable.
A taste of what's to come with Nightreign?
Ultimately, it's great to see Elden Ring Nightreign getting new content so soon after launch, even if Everdark Sovereigns don't seem like they'll be that different from their normal counterparts (Adel, at least, is still by and large the same encounter). I wish we had harder versions of all seven Nightlords, also, but hopefully it doesn't take long for the remaining four to be released.
It will be interesting to see where FromSoftware goes from here with Nightreign and future updates. We know a full DLC for the spinoff is eventually coming that will add new character classes and bosses, but I expect we'll get more iterative releases like this one that build on what's already in the game, too. Perhaps other variants of the Nightlords that shake things up in other ways will come, or we'll get additional Shifting Earth modifiers for the Limveld map itself.
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 as low as $35.99 at CDKeys.
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