Bosses have long been a cornerstone of FromSoftware's action RPGs, and Elden Ring Nightreign is leaning heavily on that pedigree. The game itself is largely an asset flip from Elden Ring, though that doesn't mean Nightreign is derivative. Using remixed locations, enemies, and bosses, Nightreign is a session-based action roguelite, primarily designed around teams of three players. Seeing enemies from Elden Ring is unsurprising, since Nightreign takes place in a parallel world to its predecessor, but Nightreign also notably includes bosses from previous FromSoftware titles, including at least one from all three Dark Souls games.

Elden Ring Nightreign's full release is purported to have much more variance between runs, catering to its status as a roguelite. The Limveld seen in the CNT was rather static, but even the map's terrain is expected to change drastically in the final build.

Every Brand-New Boss In Elden Ring Nightreign

One Confirmed & Three Candidates

Elden Ring Nightreign's new bosses are being kept tightly under wraps. Only one was seen in the CNT, and it remains the only one to have a confirmed name at the time of writing. One other creature in promotional imagery seems to be one of the unannounced Nightlords – the eight final bosses that players select from when beginning a session in the Roundtable Hold. A third monster appears to be a field boss, while another character prominently featured in Nightreign's trailers could be a boss, but is also theorized to be one of the four unrevealed Nightfarers.

The most prominent new boss is Gladius, Beast of Night, one of Elden Ring Nightreign's Nightlords, which is also known as Tricephalos in the matchmaking menu. This moniker seems to be something of a taxonomic classification, since Gladius is a towering, fire-breathing wolf with three heads. Gladius was the only Nightlord present in the CNT, meaning it was always the final boss of a run, being the sole encounter on Day 3. The boss fight is designed to specifically take advantage of Nightreign's three-player teams; for certain phases, Gladius splits into three single-headed versions of itself.

Another Nightlord candidate comes from a promotional image released alongside Nightreign's initial gameplay trailer. This potential new boss is centaur-like, apparently missing an arm and having a smooth, featureless face. It wields a gargantuan blade, and is presumed to be a Nightlord because of its surroundings in the image. Whereas Gladius has bright red clouds and flaming spectral banners in its boss arena, this new centaur boss has golden rays piercing black clouds and bright yellow sigils protruding from a similar sandy landscape, reminiscent of the beach where Starscourge Radahn's Elden Ring boss fight takes place.

The final new enemy to almost assuredly be a boss is a dragon-like creature whose mouth splits its head vertically into two gaping, side-by-side halves. It's seen briefly in both Nightreign trailers, and is likely a field boss, as it's shown being battled in Limveld's overworld while not surrounded by the Night's Tide (the encroaching rain that sets the landscape ablaze with blue flames). It has two feet and two wings, but no arms, and is shown to charge at players with its mouth open, head dragging along the ground.

There is one last character with the potential to be a new boss, but it remains more mysterious, causing some uncertainty. Both trailers feature a humanoid figure with what appears to be a bizarre, almost goat-like head. Two horns form almost complete circles on either side of its head, and in the middle of each are large yellow eyes with horizontally elongate pupils. Similar, smaller eyes can be seen all over the creature's neck, and it's shown wielding a staff and casting what appears to be an incantation. Its role in Nightreign is unclear; theories pose it may be a boss, while others claim it's a Nightfarer. The Guardian Nightfarer has already set a precedent for playable characters who do not present as human.

Every Elden Ring Nightreign Boss Returning From Previous FromSoftware Games

From Dark Souls To Elden Ring

While most of Elden Ring Nightreign's new bosses remain a mystery, many returning bosses have been confirmed by promotional material and seen in the Closed Network Test. Unsurprisingly, most hail from Elden Ring, including some highly notable names, like the Fell Omen, which appears to be Nightreign's version of Morgott, the Omen King, a demigod Shardbearer. "Fell Omen" refers to his Margit, the Fell Omen alter ego, but Nightreign's version has Morgott's moveset. Every confirmed Nightreign boss that originates from a previous FromSoftware title is in the table below.

Perhaps most interestingly, there are currently only three confirmed bosses that are not from Elden Ring or its excellent Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. The Centipede Demon hails from the original Dark Souls, and was featured in the Closed Network Test as a boss that could spawn at the end of the first day. The multi-headed Centipede Demon was originally found in Dark Souls' Demon Ruins, a late-game area that is notoriously bare-bones due to development constraints. Its moveset is largely unchanged.

Only four different day bosses were seen in the CNT: Day 1 possibilities were the Centipede Demon or the Demi-Human Queen and Demi-Human Swordmaster duo, while Day 2 could end in a fight against the Fell Omen or the Draconic Tree Sentinel and its Royal Cavalrymen companions.

Dark Souls 2's lone representative in Nightreign thus far is The Duke's Dear Freja, who originally guarded one of the four Primal Bonfires in the Brightstone Cove Tseldora area. Freja is a huge, two-headed spider, and has only been seen in promotional stills, much like the centaur-like presumed Nightlord discussed above. The Nameless King's inclusion in Nightreign is what initially posed the game as something of a crossover. The optional Dark Souls 3 boss can be seen in Nightreign's reveal trailer, riding his Stormdrake, the King of the Storm. Found in Archdragon Peak, the Nameless King is a two-phase boss fight, but it remains to be seen how it's adapted for Nightreign.

It will also be interesting to see if Freja and the Nameless King are renamed, like how Morgott/Margit was shortened to just the Fell Omen. Both are associated with important Dark Souls lore, especially the Nameless King, who is the firstborn son of Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, Dark Souls' final boss. It is also up in the air whether these crossover bosses have any impact on Elden Ring Nightreign's lore, or if it's purely a nondiegetic connection.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment America/YouTube