
No one thought it would happen, but it happened. FromSoftware is adding an easy button to one of its notoriously challenging games.
You are not daydreaming, and this isn't fanfiction – no judgement on what tabs you have open, though. It's the gritty truth: Elden Ring Nightreign recently got the atomic-level difficulty mode Deep of Night, which has proven to be simply too destructive, so a new update will allow players to voluntarily demote themselves and make it easier.
This apparent first for FromSoftware rides along with several Deep of Night changes the developer details in a set of patch notes posted September 19. "An issue resulting in your Depth level ranking not increasing after a victory in the Deep of Night mode has been identified," the developer explains. While introducing what it describes as a "temporary fix" to this ranking error, FromSoftware has chosen to make several notable "quality of life" adjustments. The most interesting, I think, is that "new feature to voluntarily decrease your Depth ranking by one level."
In another notable tweak, the Nightreign update – which does not yet have a release date – will give out "rank demotion protection" to players who reach Depth levels 3, 4, and 5, making sure they won't lose a Depth level after facing defeat.
"The rank loss protection will be applied for 1 defeat for Depth level 3," FromSoftware writes, "and 2 defeats for Depth levels 4 & 5. This protection also applies even after reaching these levels again after a Depth level demotion."
"Lets go voluntary derank," one Elden Ring Nightreign player reacts on Reddit. Don't mind if I easy mode.