Elden Ring is a game steeped with lore. Story details are everywhere, from traditional cutscenes, environmental details, conversations with NPCs, and yes the FromSoft classic: even buried within item descriptions. But Elden Ring Nightreign is a very different type of FromSoft game: It’s an online-driven co-op PVE game with roguelite elements. That makes it a bit difficult to deliver the usual kind of FromSoft narrative. So how is the story in Nightreign conveyed? Well, let’s talk a little bit about Remembrances. Read on and/or watch the video below.
So to start, let’s break down what the story of Nightreign even is. And who better to break that down than game director Junya Ishizaki:
“Nightreign shares essentially the base setting and the world of Elden Ring, but it’s played out on a different stage so to speak. So there’s this concept called the Night Lord, which is a sort of abstract phenomenon or calamity that has befallen The Lands Between in this alternate timeline, and much like a real-life calamity, it’s something that it’s not done by design or intention – it’s just something that has occurred naturally and it’s befallen the lands between and it needed some sort of opposition. It needs something to oppose it, and that opposition comes in the form of the Nightfarers, who are these warriors who are entrusted with the fate of opposing and defeating the Nightlord and putting a stop to this terrible calamity.”
And that’s the setup that brings together our eight different character classes who are gathered from all across Elden RIng’s world. Nightreign’s story is more about filling in the details of who these eight characters are, what are their motivations, what was their past before having this responsibility thrust upon them to defeat the Nightlords. And to learn that, we have the Remembrances.
One of the stops the player can make at the Roundtable Hold in between matches of Nightreign is a journal in the library where you can view your current character’s Remembrances. Some of these are just journal entries that reveal a little bit of information about the character’s backstory. However, some of them are playable snippets of a moment from the character’s past. When you launch into a playable Remembrance, there will be a hazy dreamlike border around the screen, and you’ll be transported to the location of the memory.
After talking with an NPC within a Remembrance, you’ll gain a personal objective. These will differ from character to character and Remembrance to Remembrance. For some, like the Ironeye for example, your personal objective might be to launch into a match, travel to a specific marked location, and then defeat a miniboss that will only appear there if the Remembrance objective is active. Once you do, you’ll gain an item that you can bring back into the flashback, return to the NPC, and then you’ll be able to move forward to the next chapter of that character’s story.
The objectives themselves vary between classes and Remembrances. Wylder, for instance, instead of having to fight a boss, might have to find a specific item located in a cavern, which is a location you might not generally go due to the risk of being stuck there when the ring starts closing in.
Then there’s the Raider, who has a completely different style of Remembrance. He gets transported away from the Roundtable Hold and must participate in gladiatorial-like 1-on-1 battles against a variety of bosses.
It’s an interesting and very unique departure when it comes to storytelling for a FromSoft game. I personally have only gotten a small taste of these individual character storylines, but what I’ve seen and played through so far has me eager to see more once I get my hands on the full game.
