On May 30, the latest addition to the highly successful Elden Ring universe, Nightreign, was released. Expectations were high as the previous installments had garnered much praise from all quarters, and the game has more than met them, taking over livestreaming on its first day.
As per Steam, the new title is a "standalone adventure within the Elden Ring universe, crafted to offer players a new gaming experience by reimagining the game's core design." It was released for the PlayStation 5 and 4, Xbox One and Series S|X, and PC earlier on Friday, with the developers suggesting that players use consoles (controllers) for the best experience.
Such was the initial day's reception to Elden Ring: Nightreign that it hit over 300,000 concurrent players on Steam within two hours of launching. Currently the fourth most-played game on the platform, the early signs suggest that this title has surpassed two million sales on Valve's digital distribution service alone.
In fact, the co-op action survival game entered Steam's ten most popular games list for May 30, sitting pretty in the fourth spot with 313,593 peak players. Most impressively, it has jumped to the top of the online storefront's top-selling charts, even beating the other recent launch that received much hype, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
This success was reflected in livestreaming as well, with Streams Charts' Twitch database ranking Elden Ring: Nightreign as the top game by concurrent viewers on its release day and fourth over the last week. The FromSoftware offering is currently the fifth-most-played game on Steam, only lagging behind legacy titles like Dota 2, Counter-Strike, and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS.
Apart from the name value the franchise brings, a massive reason for the game attracting so many players on its first day is the gameplay itself. Soulsborne games are not meant to be fast-paced or a social affair, but FromSoftware has tried to buck that trend with Nightreign, which many are saying is perfect when played by three friends.
While many might compare it to battle royales like Fortnite or PUBG Mobile, and fairly so, the in-game mechanics work differently. Nightreign requires the trio of players to cooperate and survive multiple days, which are basically three ten-to-15-minute rounds that make up one match, or Expedition.
It is this fight to last the entire three days, all while struggling to maintain positive communication with your friends and keeping up with the legacy Elden Ring mechanics, that makes it appealing.
There are also various bosses that pop up and need to be killed to get the best items and other inventory-related goodies. The issue is that most players have struggled with facing these unknown quantities, which makes surviving the whole Expedition an intense affair, far from a casual hang-out with your buddies.
Of course, any new title, especially one that comes loaded with a rich history, cannot command livestreaming success without the help of top content creators. Elden Ring: Nightreign had no such issues, attracting streamers of the caliber of Zack "zackrawrr" Hoyt, Alan "alanzoka" Ferreira, Dylan "Caseoh" Baker, and Félix "xQc" Lengyel on its release day to help it appeal to a wider player/audience base.
However, not everything has been rosy, with Steam's ratings still showing the game as getting "mixed reviews." This makes it FromSoftware's second-lowest rated title, as players were left unhappy with the title's 60fps cap and lack of duos support (only solo or trio gaming is possible).
More importantly, hardcore fans are not best pleased with the change in direction for this game, even if the core Elden Ring experience remains. Many in this category prefer the old-school gritty combat mechanics and tough boss fights that take multiple runs to finish to the fast-paced action seen in Nightreign.
Essentially, it is an acquired taste that could very well attract a whole new genre of gamers to the soulslike genre. Especially those players who like playing frantic, chaotic co-op titles that do not require too much investment in terms of time or learning the gameplay mechanics.
In terms of the most popular video game releases of 2025, Elden Ring: Nightreign stacks up pretty well, taking the fifth spot after hitting 339,154 Peak Viewers (PV) just a couple of hours after its launch. This puts it above the highs achieved by other hyped titles like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Doom: The Dark Ages, and ARC Raiders.
To surmise, FromSoftware continues to hit it out of the park when it comes to offerings in the Elden Ring universe. While Nightreign might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially the hardcore fans, it has still managed to capture the attention of players globally and could very well end 2025 as one of its top video game releases by concurrent viewers on Twitch.
