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Live service games are hit or miss. More often than not, however: they turn out to be the latter. We see dozens of them appear yearly, and only a few manage to stay afloat. Even then, they sink one or two years later. Still, it is something the industry pursues vehemently. A few developers stay away from them, which I think is excellent, as it makes room for creating one finished product with a beginning, middle, and an end we can all enjoy without constantly spending money on new content. However, despite the live service bloat, I still think that if there’s one game that would benefit from becoming one, it is Elden Ring: Nightreign.
Elden Ring: Nightreign Has the Foundations for a Great Live Service Game
From the outside, Elden Ring: Nightreign already feels like a live service game in many ways. However, at the beginning of the year, the team behind Nightreign told PC Gamer it wouldn’t go down the live service road. “With Nightreign, we wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box on the day of purchase, so everything is unlockable, everything is contained with that purchase.” Said director Ishizaki.
In truth, that’s the perfect approach and something we sadly don’t see enough of nowadays. Every company looks for a way to make a game eternal, thus increasing profits. Even some franchises like Dragon Age considered going down the live service route. I’d say I’m happy it didn’t, but the last game was an absolute trainwreck. But that’s a can of worms I won’t open today.
In any case, I’m a big fan of single-player games or complete co-op experiences with a few updates here and there, but nothing that gives me FOMO or forces me to log in daily. And still, I would love for Elden Ring: Nightreign to become a live service experience. It has an addictive gameplay loop, excellent characters, a pantheon of bosses from Elden Ring‘s universe with the opportunity to expand it, and a structure that would allow players to continue queuing for new bosses and even complete daily or seasonal challenges. I know it sounds a bit sacrilegious, but I admit that I don’t want Nightreign to sail into the sunset one day.
The Formula Is Already There, It’s Just a Matter of Using It Properly
Looking at the gameplay loop, it is already pretty engaging. You delve into a 40-minute match, make it to the boss, and return to the hub with rewards that feed the roguelike aspect. You then improve your characters and return to the fray. This is already a great formula that would make Elden Ring: Nightreign an interesting live service prospect, assuming the developers know how to implement it and not make it feel pay-to-win.
As long as the live service part sticks to cosmetics and a bit of currency, I don’t see any harm in adding a battle pass of sorts. However, if it starts adding gameplay-changing unlockables — like relics or vessels — then we’d have a problem. On the other hand, it could go down the Helldivers 2 route and make everything FOMO-less. Just keep all passes there and let players decide when or how to spend their money, if they even choose to do so. Ultimately, it doesn’t sound like the worst idea, assuming FromSoftware implements it correctly.
Still, it is uncertain if this will happen, but dreaming doesn’t hurt. I’m not an avid supporter of live service games, but if someone ever asked me, “Is there one you’d like to be one?” Nightreign is the only one that would come to mind. Yet, if that doesn’t happen, there’s still a lot to do in the game, and I’m glad the legendary Soulslike developers experimented with this formula. It might’ve missed the mark for some, but Elden Ring: Nightreign still manages to gather around 70k players at night on Steam. That is definitely a sign that people want more.
