So, it happened. The 2025 Game Awards came and went, and Elden Ring Nightreign didn’t walk away with the big one. In fact, it wasn’t even nominated for Game of the Year. For a FromSoftware title, that feels like a glitch in the Matrix. Since 2019, we’ve basically been conditioned to expect Hidetaka Miyazaki’s team to just show up, take the trophy, and leave everyone else fighting for second place.
But this time? Silence. Well, mostly silence, aside from the Best Multiplayer nomination.
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If you’ve been scrolling through Reddit or watching the chaotic discourse on YouTube, you’ve probably seen the "FromSoftware is falling off" or "Nightreign was a mistake" takes. Honestly, those arguments are missing the entire point of what Nightreign actually is. It’s not a sequel. It’s not Shadow of the Erdtree 2. It’s a weird, experimental, and surprisingly addictive roguelike that was never meant to be the next "Greatest Game of All Time."
The TGA 2024 Reveal vs. The 2025 Reality
Let’s rewind for a second. Everyone remembers the hype at The Game Awards 2024. When that trailer dropped, the chat went nuclear. We saw the Roundtable Hold looking like a ghost town, three players fighting a three-headed dog, and—most importantly—the Nameless King from Dark Souls 3 making a cameo that broke the lore-hunting community for three weeks straight.
The game finally launched on May 30, 2025. It sold five million copies faster than most games sell five hundred thousand. Yet, the reviews were... different. Not bad, just different. People were expecting a massive open world to get lost in for 200 hours. Instead, they got Limveld.
Limveld is essentially a procedurally generated nightmare. You have three days and three nights to gear up, survive the "Night’s Tide" (which shrinks the map like a battle royale circle), and kill a Nightlord. If you die? You go back to the Hold. It’s a loop. It’s fast. It’s basically "Souls speedrunning: The Game."
Why the GOTY Snub Actually Makes Sense
The reason Elden Ring Nightreign didn't land a GOTY nomination at the 2025 Game Awards isn't that it's a bad game. It’s because it’s a "niche within a niche."
Think about it. FromSoftware took the most successful RPG of the decade and turned it into a 3-player co-op roguelite. That is a massive swing. Most developers would have just made Elden Ring 2 and called it a day. But Nightreign, directed by Yuki Kido rather than Miyazaki himself, was a laboratory for testing new ideas.
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- The Combat: It’s arguably the best FromSoft has ever felt. The "Surge Sprint" and the character-specific Ultimates (like the Scholar’s magic-nullifying fields) make the base game feel slow in comparison.
- The Progression: Instead of traditional leveling, you’re hunting for relics. These persist across runs, allowing you to customize your "Nightfarer."
- The Crossovers: Seeing the Divine Beast Dancing Lion or Artorias pop up in the Forsaken Hollows DLC isn't just fan service; it's a mechanical challenge that fits the arcade-style loop perfectly.
Critics at the 2025 Game Awards had to weigh this against heavy hitters like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Silksong (yes, it finally came out). In a year that stacked, a multiplayer-focused spin-off was always going to have a hard time winning over the "prestige single-player" voting block.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Lore
There's a big misconception that Nightreign is just a "non-canon" asset flip. I’ve seen this everywhere. "Oh, it's just a spinoff, ignore the story."
Actually, the "Primordial Night" setting is fascinating. It takes place in an alternate timeline where the Shattering went even worse than it did in the base game. It’s a world where the sun literally died. The "Nightlords" like Heolstor the Night Aspect aren't just random bosses; they are manifestations of the void that replaced the Greater Will.
If you’re ignoring the dialogue from the Priestess in the Roundtable Hold, you’re missing out on some of the darkest world-building the series has ever seen. The fact that characters like the "Executor" (a former Crucible Knight) have their own specific endings—called Remembrance storylines—shows that FromSoft didn't just phone this in.
Is FromSoftware Moving Away From Single-Player?
This is the "pattern recognition panic" people are talking about. Because Nightreign had a network test in February 2025 and focuses so heavily on co-op, fans are worried that the days of Sekiro or Bloodborne are over.
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Relax. It’s not happening.
Nightreign was a side project. Even as the game received the "Award for Excellence" at the Japan Game Awards 2025, the team was already pivoting. We know from recent leaks and SteamDB updates that something called Project FMC is in the works. Whether that’s the rumored Dark Souls 3 remaster or a brand new IP, it’s clear that FromSoft is still a multi-track studio. They can make a zoomy multiplayer roguelike and a crushing single-player RPG at the same time.
What You Should Do Now in Nightreign
If you haven't played since the January 2026 update, you're actually missing the best version of the game. The "Gladius raid" mechanic—where another player's boss can essentially "invade" your session—got a massive buff to rewards. It's high-risk, but the relics you get are the only way to tackle the Everdark Sovereigns.
Here is the move:
- Unlock the Scholar: Seriously. The Forsaken Hollows DLC added this class, and it’s broken in the best way. Their "Fighter's Resolve" passive makes them a tanky mage, which sounds illegal but works.
- Farm the Forsaken Hollows: This map is much more vertical than Limveld. Use the "Surge Sprint" to find the hidden altars.
- Prepare for March: Kadokawa (FromSoft's parent company) basically confirmed more content is coming by the end of the fiscal year. We’re likely getting a new Nightlord and potentially a new map event.
Nightreign might not be the "Masterpiece" that Elden Ring was, but it's a bold, experimental game that deserved more respect than it got at the Game Awards. It's a game about the joy of the struggle, the loop of the hunt, and finally—finally—getting to see Artorias in 4K.
The best way to experience the current meta is to jump into the Everdark challenges. The bosses now start in their second phase and have a brand-new third phase that will absolutely wreck a team that isn't communicating. Grab two friends, pick your Nightfarers, and go kill a god. Again.