FromSoft decided they should release the third piece of Elden Ring content in three years as it shoots for more accolades for its blockbuster hit. But Elden Ring Nightreign is not more DLC, but a standalone project focused on the concept of a co-op survival game of farming enemies, getting loot and killing big bosses in a repeating cycle.

Now, reviews are coming in for Elden Ring Nightreign with the embargo lifted. They are…pretty good, though far from the epic high scores we saw from the original game and its DLC. As it stands, here’s how all three scored on Metacritic:

Elden Ring (2023) – 96

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (2024) – 94

Elden Ring Nightreign (2025) – 78 on PS5 (80 on PC, with fewer reviews)

That’s a perfectly acceptable score, but again, with FromSoft and Elden Ring, you’re holding them to a higher standard. It may not surprise fans that doing a pure multiplayer game and straying away from the core of the series is not quite as attractive as sticking with what we know works.

I did have a code myself, but did not have enough time to play to write a review. In my very limited time with the game, I understood the loop but my initial impression was that even if I loved the game and its expansion, this was probably not going to be for me. That’s the case for some reviewers, but we’ll see how fans feel when they get their hands on it in two days.