Summary
- Elden Ring Nightreign emphasizes cooperative play, requiring bosses to be challenging for every player.
- The game can ensure challenge by implementing AoE attacks and a "reverse" aggro system for balanced engagement.
- FromSoftware faces a new test with Nightreign's boss design, potentially changing how players interact in cooperative gameplay.
When it comes to FromSoftware games in general, bosses can often be seen hogging the spotlight. While the developer has more than proven its abilities in world design, especially with the release of Elden Ring, FromSoftware's boss fights are still largely recognized as the star of each show, highlighting the studio's commitment to delivering gameplay experiences that are as challenging as they are rewarding. Now, with Elden Ring Nightreign on the horizon, FromSoftware has yet another chance to show its prowess when it comes to boss fights, but it may need to change its approach a bit this time.
Despite being an Elden Ring spin-off, Elden Ring Nightreign is a game that has been designed to be played cooperatively. Most FromSoftware games allow players to join others' sessions, and they have generally emphasized multiplayer components in other ways as well. However, the concept of Elden Ring Nightreign being a co-op experience is largely unfamiliar territory for FromSoftware, which means the way it has always approached its boss design might have to be altered just a bit to accommodate the new design, especially when it comes to the difficulty of said encounters.

If Ghost of Yotei Brings Back Legends, It May Want to Watch Elden Ring Nightreign Closely
If Ghost of Yotei plans to bring back Ghost of Tsushima's Legends mode, there are some things it could potentially learn from Elden Ring Nightreign.
Elden Ring Nightreign's Bosses Need to Account for Its Cooperative Gameplay
Elden Ring Nightreign's Bosses Need to Be Challenging for Every Player
While Elden Ring Nightreign can be played solo, the design of the game encourages players to play the game in teams of three. Of course, this is possible in Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC as well, which allows players to summon other willing players to any encounters they might have been struggling to overcome by themselves. The main difference here, however, is that Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree are designed for solo players and encourage cooperative play, whereas Elden Ring Nightreign has been designed for cooperative play and yet still allows solo play. Essentially, this means the rules have potentially been reversed for Elden Ring Nightreign.
Given Elden Ring Nightreign's change in formula, there is potential for its bosses to not be challenging for every player. Shadow of the Erdtree's refined aggro mechanics made things difficult for every player in the boss arena, as bosses would occasionally (and seemingly at random) lose interest in one player and attack another, even if the player currently being attacked wasn't doing anything to draw the boss' attention in the first place. That being said, it was still possible, as it often has been in FromSoftware games, to invite someone into a session and simply watch them defeat the boss alone — as players like LetMeSoloHer have shown.
The concept of Elden Ring Nightreign being a co-op experience is largely unfamiliar territory for FromSoftware, which means the way it has always approached its boss design might have to be altered just a bit to accommodate the new design, especially when it comes to the difficulty of said encounters.
In light of FromSoftware's history and Elden Ring Nightreign's reliance on cooperative play, it should avoid instances like this, where one player defeats the boss while the other two players stand back and watch. Instead, Elden Ring Nightreign needs to ensure its bosses are challenging for every player on the field, and it can do that in a few different ways that don't simply revert things back to Shadow of the Erdtree's seemingly random aggro swaps.
How Elden Ring Nightreign's Bosses Can Ensure Every Player Feels Challenged
One thing Elden Ring Nightreign can do to ensure its bosses feel challenging for every player is for these encounters to include plenty of AoE attacks for players to avoid. This is a common strategy among MMO bosses, and Elden Ring Nightreign could apply the same. Another step Elden Ring Nightreign could take toward this principle is implementing a "reverse" aggro system, which sees bosses paying more attention to a player if they aren't participating in battle. In other words, the more passive a player becomes, the more aggro they draw from the boss. This will ensure each player remains active at all times, and the aggro of the boss should, in turn, be balanced among the party members.
FromSoftware's history of offering challenging, memorable boss encounters faces an unprecedented test with Elden Ring Nightreign. As the studio goes headlong into cooperative gameplay design, it has an opportunity to change how bosses engage with players in an experience that is intentionally designed to be shared. By implementing mechanics like a "reverse" aggro system and AoE-heavy bosses, Elden Ring Nightreign should be able to balance its boss encounters for cooperative play.