FromSoftware hit a "fork in the road" while making co-op spin-off Elden Ring Nightreign as concerns propped up that its three-day structure wouldn't allow players to slow down and take everything in like they could in the studio's older, single-player-focused games.
One of the joys of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, aside from finally besting a boss that's been bullying you for hours, is stopping the bloodshed, looking up at a beautiful skybox, and maybe taking a stroll through some gorgeous ancient ruins.
Elden Ring Nightreign doesn't really give you that freedom. The game's 45-ish-minute matches take place over three in-game days, and if you're hoping to beat the big boss at the end, you're going to need to keep it moving at all times, looting and slaying smaller foes along the way.
That quicker, more urgent structure apparently gave the studio some worries according to director Junya Ishizaki. "There were, of course, some concerns about not necessarily being able to play slow like previous titles, like Elden Ring, and take your time and really take in everything that was going on," he told GamesRadar+.
"So that was a main fork in the road and a potential point of friction for ourselves as developers and players. But that's a case that we believed in, and we believe that that was the direction for this title in particular. So we wanted to create something new with that. It was a good opportunity to create something new, something that felt fresh and gave us this brand new challenge as well. So I'm confident that that was an important turning point for this game," he explained.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ishizaki broke down how the studio doesn't see asset reuse as a "one-to-one copy-paste situation" because it's innovating in other ways.
