Although Elden Ring Nightreign's reveal trailer at The Game Awards got FromSoftware fans buzzing that more was being done with the IP after Shadow of the Erdtree's massive success, there was a lot of confusion surrounding what was revealed. The trailer showed off a lot of cool features, but wasn't overt on what Nightreign actually is, being a three-person co-op, roguelite title, which many have begun to compare to battle royales like Fortnite due to the Ring of Reign closing in as night approaches. What was even less overt was what was going on with the lore.

The Soulsborne fanbase is loosely split into two factions: one that only cares about combat, builds, and bosses, and the other that will dive into the lore, trying to explain everything as if they were scholars of ancient history. Although the former are likely excited to see new gameplay elements, bosses, and better traversal, the latter might be pulling their hair trying to understand the mess that Nightreign has introduced. Its lore doesn't seem to make much sense at all, and that is probably fine for the kind of game Nightreign will end up being.

Elden Ring Nightreign's Lore Is A Mashup Of Soulsborne Worlds

Dark Souls 2 & 3 Get Special Treatment

The reveal trailer tells players the gist of the game, but some extra digging is needed to understand the general story. The objective is to help the Nightfarers avert some kind of disaster by dropping into Limveld and surviving three nights to stop someone named The Night Lord, who is probably waiting behind the giant door that looks like an upscaled version of the one sealing the Throne of Want from Dark Souls 2. The overall idea and plot of the game makes enough sense, but it's the Smash Bros-like combination of so many elements that makes everything messy.

Bosses and characters from former Dark Souls games are in Nightreign for some reason, and there hasn't been any indication that the two worlds were linked previously. Despite sharing the same genre, Dark Souls and Elden Ring are separate IPs with different histories and worlds, so there shouldn't be any reason why the Nameless King is back to repeatedly kill players atop his Storm Drake, nor is there a reason for the Fire Keeper's apparent return. That doesn't seem to matter, because both are here to stay, along with the Duke's Dear Freja from DS2.

The Fire Keeper refers specifically to the Fire Keeper who aided the Ashen One in DS3, as there were many more beforehand that tried to help their champions Link the Fire, such as Iudex Gundyr.

Although it has so many elements from the Dark Souls series, Nightreign is still an Elden Ring title, with Sites of Graces instead of Bonfires and the Roundtable Hold still playing a massive part in the game. Limveld, the area in which Nightreign is set, is like a twisted version of Limgrave, Elden Ring's first area, and it seems Margit or Morgott are back to terrorize players as they explore the world. How Limveld came to be is anyone's guess, and how the Nameless King got here is completely up in the air, considering that he should be dead.

Nightreign's Lore Might Not Be Explainable

There Are Too Many Elements Being Smashed Together

Nightreign has brought up whether Elden Ring and Dark Souls are connected, possibly through the many painted worlds seen in the Dark Souls titles, to try to make sense of everything in the trailer. One thing that should be noted is that Nightreign's version of the world is parallel to the original Elden Ring's, although it isn't clear in what ways it is different. It could be a world in which the Greater Will never came to the Lands Between, meaning that Marika never became Queen, yet Margit is seemingly around, so Marika and Godfrey have to be somewhere.

Margit is an alter ego of Morgott, the son of Marika and Godfrey and the Omen King of Leyndell.

Perhaps the realm of Limveld is a sort of pocket dimension prison, and the Night Lord is attempting to break free, but if this is the case, then Elden Ring has to be linked to Dark Souls somehow because of the Fire Keeper and Nameless King's appearances. As with every Soulsborne game, there are so many questions about what's actually going on, but because of the nature of Nightreign's genre (being a roguelite), there might not be answers to carefully dig for like in Elden Ring or the Dark Souls games.

From a lore point of view, there might not be a reason why the Nameless King is in Limveld and how the Fire Keeper managed to escape her duties in Firelink Shrine. Even the Centipede Demon from Dark Souls 1 comes back as a boss, although changed to fit the three-player mechanics, and these returning elements seem to just be thrown in without explanation. These assets might be used to save time so that FromSoftware can focus on the co-op mechanics and new gameplay features, rather than being evidence of its IP worlds being linked.

Nightreign Is An Experimental Project Separate To The Main Elden Ring World

It Doesn't Have To Make Sense As A Spin-Off

While Elden Ring was the culmination of everything FromSoftware has learned from Soulsborne games, Nightreign seems to take the scaffolding of 2022's GOTY winner and use it to try to experiment with something new. FromSoftware always does things its own way, sometimes making odd choices like not allowing for duo runs in Nightreign, and it seems on track to make something truly unique. It just has a few old elements to allow for the experiment to go smoothly, although this experiment might sacrifice making sense in the lore.

Because Nightreign has explicitly been stated to be in a separate, parallel world to Elden Ring, it means that whatever happens in the game doesn't affect the canon Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin have established. Nightreign's lore could go completely off the rails, which it looks like it has in places, and it wouldn't affect the intricate story seen in Elden Ring, giving the developers the freedom to try new things out while having 2022's biggest gaming IP as a platform. Nightreign could be the future of co-op play in Soulsborne games.

Ultimately, fans will still try and make sense of the lore in Elden Ring Nighreign, but with the story being completely separate, it doesn't need to make sense in order to be what FromSoftware is striving to make. The game is an experiment. Bringing old elements in saves time, money, and helps to get the community talking about the project so that it can make a return. Separating it from the main story means that all the lore-breaking doesn't actually matter, and Elden Ring could carry on with a sequel without worry.