Dark Souls to Nightreign: Never Ever Alone | Extra Credits Gaming

Okay, friendos. Nerf gun to your head. What would you say is the core experience FromSoftware wants you to take away from the majority of their games? Brutal difficulty? Death as a gameplay loop? Deep lore dives? One to yeet patches off a cliff? Look, all of these things have helped solidify the genre in the hearts and minds of players worldwide, but I actually think that in our ever-present quest to, you know, get gooder, the discourse might have been looking in the wrong place for the actual secret sauce that keeps us coming back for more. And all it took to realize this was a rainy night. So, fellow Souls diehards, today I present to you a treatise on what very well could be the real X factor of Soulsborne titles, that they have always secretly been a warm and cuddly social experience. You know, even if a millennia cuddle can end a good run real quick.
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full disclosure, Zoe plushy might privatize nap production. Before we leave this site of grace, please welcome long-time friend of the channel, sister in arms against the encroaching night lords, and my favorite 3:00 a.m. hotel lobby gaming buddy at every PAX, Jasmine That Bronze Girl Bular, who guest wrote this episode. Thank you, Jasmine. From Bloodborne to Sekiro, Elden Ring to Dark Souls, FromSoftware's flagship games are often set in oppressive, forlorn landscapes in decline, with many forces, both in game and out, pushing you, the player, to feel like this is an experience meant to be taken on by yourself, that it's you and you alone wandering and outnumbered through a dark and crumbling realm. So, it's no surprise that at first, these countless hours I've spent in these worlds has always come with a quiet solitude. Because although playing a complete run of these games with friends is technically possible, they do not make it easy. Summoning folks to play with is inconvenient at best or incredibly frustrating at worst. Jasmine still remembers the first time her companion

in Bloodborne was unsummoned upon defeating an area boss, as well as the ensuing surprise when she realized she could not resummon them in that particular area, and that is a pain I very much feel. Add in the external factor that the vocal minority of naysayers posit that these pain points are proof that one should simply get good instead of relying on help from others. A very hollow take indeed, if you ask me, because the desire that these games foster to connect with others, despite the difficulties across all of the titles in the genre, by accident or by design, feels like it in fact has fostered a different kind of online community playing these games together. Okay, but let's back up a bit. Whilst multiplayer elements are rarely at the forefront of the mainstream Soulsborne conversation, one does have to admit that messages left by other players, ranging from helpful tips to evil tricks to juvenile but memorable jokes, are as core to the Dark Souls experience as, oh, I don't know, endless invasions while dodging arrows in Anor

Londo. Seriously, do you not have anything better to do? It's 2025. Sorry. [clears throat] Adding to these community staples are all of these specters of other IRL players wandering and dying in these same grand but empty halls as you, giving just the slightest peek that beyond the veil of loneliness the game shrouds you in, others are there with you. Then, with each moment of micro multiplayer fueling a desire to connect with another person, you may, naturally, summon another player before a difficult boss. But then, once met with a quiet stranger to help you even the odds against Ornstein and Smough, it always ends the same way, them disappearing quietly and thanklessly into the ether with nothing more than a praise the sun emote, making the world feel a little bit more empty via a newfound absence of the connection you just made. Heck, sometimes these experiences across players create legends and lore in their own right. It's such a fascinating facet of a sort of you don't know what you got till it's

gone outlook on forming a multiplayer community. In a similar vein, I don't think it's just the in-game or mechanical multiplayer aspects of Souls games that makes them inherently communal. The reality is that outside of the games themselves, Souls-likes have always been a nexus of social interaction. We fans are always checking wikis, comparing notes, sharing builds, watching lore dumps on YouTube, and witnessing our friends on Discord throw themselves at a boss we ran past 2 hours ago. In a game where no two playthroughs are exactly alike, players sitting around the old online bonfire or lantern light or site of grace and regaling each other with differing tales of adventures is kind of a time-honored tradition. Then, of course, there are the many people who engage in the Soulsborne community by watching others stream the game. Because witnessing someone play these games very, very poorly is arguably just as entertaining as watching someone play them well. And we Maidenless clearly do like to watch, with Souls-like games being incredibly

popular on Twitch, as evidenced by Kai Cenat's Elden Ring stream peaking at over 285,000 viewers. Not to mention the community also rallies for tons of feats of prowess, like no-hit runs or the most difficult boss being downed with a Dance Dance Revolution pad or something. Conversely, the popularity of on-screen death counters and live heart rate monitor feeds tells us that even if you aren't breaking any records with your run, the community will still be there to cheer you on as you fell market on your 40th attempt. I mean, they certainly did back in the day when I created my own two challenge runs. We ran Dark Swoles and Elden Ring Fit on our Twitch channel a while ago, wherein I combined the mental challenge of beating both Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring with the physical challenge of having to exercise every time I died. And I'm still waiting on that Bloodborne remaster so I can get back in shape. There's really no other way TO DO IT.
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WHAT, GO TO THE GYM?
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GOOD ONE, ZOE. But while we were waiting on that, FromSoftware at the 2024 Game Awards said, "Hold my flask." When the

clouds parted, the heavenly envoy sang, and a new Soulsborne was given onto the world, but in a very different kind of game, Elden Ring Night Reign, a both entirely new and not so entirely new roguelite installation of the Elden Ring franchise, where playing cooperatively with others is the constant focus as opposed to subconscious vibe. Whereas the original Elden Ring is a non-linear game in which slow exploration, experimentation, and lore discovery for the individual are front and center, Night Reign's gameplay loop is quick and snappy and encourages switching up characters and builds for every boss as a team. It requires adaptability, speed, and good objective callouts, none of which are necessarily required to thrive in the original game. This kind of shake-up isn't necessarily new as far as video game sequels go, but there still wasn't any guarantee it would work. In fact, just for a quick tangent, for a little contrast, let's take a look at another game that came out around the same time at a similar price point, FBC

Firebreak. I promise you this is all going somewhere. On the surface, these two games may look as though they have little in common, especially if Steam reviews and audience reception are anything to go by. But they both come from studios that take enough successful swings that a pure multiplayer project from either is an exciting prospect. However, where Night Reign seems to have found its wings, both literally and spectrally, Firebreak fell flat. And I would posit that while Night Reign's macro gameplay and even core gameplay loop may be very different from Elden Ring, the fact that its micro gameplay and amazing combat system is still basically identical is what gives the original's multiplayer undercurrent full permission to shine in Night Reign. However, Firebreak fails to deliver on the best aspects of Control or any other game in the Remedy verse, which is an exceedingly executed story-driven experience. Sure, combat-wise, Control is a fun game, but it really is the music, amazing character performances, and world-building that are far greater pulls, none of which, sadly, are present

in any meaningful way in Firebreak. And look, perhaps FromSoftware's experience in implementing the multiplayer so deeply in the subconscious of its past games set them up for success when they took the dive and released a fully co-op forward experience. On the flip side, perhaps it was Remedy's lack of experience in that same regard that led to its spin-off amounting to a generally weak entry into an already bustling horde game market. To be clear, that is not to say that Remedy is a weak developer by any stretch of the imagination, but rather, even the best studios can sometimes fumble on their first try nailing the fabled multiplayer sequel if multiplayer elements are not already baked into the games that the studio has done in the past. I mean, I know this is opening a different can of worms, but Rocksteady Games made Arkham Asylum, City, and Knight, all certified bangers, but failed to stick the landing with the multiplayer looter shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Of course, I could put on my tinfoil hat to explain that as well, but let's not go there. And by this point, you're

probably screaming at your phone or whatever being like, "MATT, NIGHT REIGN IS NOT A PERFECT EXPERIENCE. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" AND I AGREE. As much as its sales numbers may differ from Firebreak's, it does share one glaring flaw with it, an absolutely abysmal tutorial. And I know I'm breaking from topic again, but let me just vent here for a second. Night Reign's tutorial teaches you a few basics about combat, sure, but it never actually teaches you about the night reign. Like, the only way you learn it will kill you is if you veer away from where the tutorial tells you to go and you die a wet, wet death. Plus, the tutorial completely ignores a core element you need to know to survive in this game, that the night reign circle constricts over time. Now, for veterans of battle royales, this is old hat, of course, but it just irks me that the major deviation to the core loop actually isn't taught in the tutorial. You only learn that info during an actual game with actual people counting on you, which, all I'm saying, feels a bit silly. But come to think of it, during my first uninitiated foibles was where my faith in this game being the

natural evolution of FromSoftware's core multiplayer experience was rewarded. Because when I died and braced myself for the inevitable deluge of disappointment and disconnects, it never came. And I think that's because Night Rain's core loop of only succeeding as a team instills a general feeling that we're all in this dizzying experience together. Sure, you can run off on your own and do your own things and ping your own locations, etc. But it's pretty clear from the jump the safest way to move through the game is as a unit. Oftentimes, the general public views the Souls-like community as a toxic and unfriendly place to new or casual players. My experience with Night Rain, however, has shown me something a little different. In short, look, there are bad actors and people that don't take enough time or just slam that ping button over and over and over again. But more often than not, whether I'm playing with friends or a rando wilder named dumster, they're going to throw themselves into the jaws of the equilibrious beast's madness to revive me when I'm down.

Because that's the best chance of us all getting out of this alive. And if you are watching this, thanks, buddy. Though this culture of paying things forward and helping each other out is fostered by other design elements as well. For instance, the many consumables and signature character abilities that benefit the rest of the party more than the individual, signaling again that cooperation is key here. And even when players do drift to different parts of the map, the game's very nature of the accursed rain coming pushes us all back to a single spot at the end of the day, reminding us that we all have to stand together against the night. And while that live-together-die-together design intent does make Night Rain sing, perhaps the reason it was able to transcend where others fell flat making the jump from its progenitors is because other Soulsborns trained its audience to be open to that idea from the outset, even if the core gameplay loop is different. These games have always encouraged cooperation for cooperation's sake with often times no tangible reward

other than the satisfaction of helping out another player on a boss that you have a particular grudge against. I know I have camped with my summoning sign out in front of the Godskin Duo a bunch because screw those two chuckleheads in particular. So, Night Rain, despite its frustrating res mechanics and unlucky drops on occasion, still really hammers home an aspect of this genre that I love so much that I hadn't considered before Jasmine brought this idea to us. I mean, in Miyazaki's own words, quote, "Our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity. We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what's happening, and learn from their mistakes." Unquote. At the end of the day, that core gameplay experience holds true whether you are overcoming adversity through rote memorization and a solo grind or getting through with tools that the developers gave you, like summoning spirits, strangers, or maybe even with a little help from your friends. And since there

are countless ways for players to assist each other across the gamut of FromSoftware titles, to us that signals that Night Rain isn't just a co-op spin-off of Elden Ring, but a natural evolution of the camaraderie and multiplayer elements of the genre as a whole. Because we believe that that undying spirit of jolly cooperation might just be the keystone that makes a Soulsborn so special. And the real getting good is the friends we end up getting along the way. Actually, on that note, Zoe, Jasmine, that Everdark Triceratops ain't going to slay itself. Hey, small girl, big hammer. I don't make the rules. If you're loving the return of EC, then a great way to support us is by picking something up in our merch store. We've got mugs, shirts, pins, plushies, even a new Zoe puzzle. You can check it all out by clicking or scanning here. And then once you've, you know, checked out, you can check out our next video here. That sounded better in my head. Would you believe that Angela Valenciana, Arlo's Arlo's posting, Dominic Valenciana, Hunter's E, Joseph Blaine, Kuyakoy, Lotus Wolf, and Zely

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