From no details to a sudden release date announcement and imminent release, the sun has truly risen again for Elden Ring Nightreign fans, as the first paid DLC, The Forsaken Hollows, launches on December 4th. Retailing for $15, it adds exactly what was initially promised – additional playable characters and bosses (before that little bit was pulled from the Steam listing) – but in true FromSoftware fashion, there’s more. Here’s everything you need to know about the DLC before its release.
The Scholar
The first of two Nightfarers, an absolute nerd to his friends and the bane of enemy packs, the Scholar specializes in thrusting weapons like the rapier. His real talents lie in observation – by using Analyze, he can debuff multiple enemies at once. In the same vein, observing your allies will grant them buffs.
These both pair well with his Ultimate, which links foes together and causes them to take shared damage. Meanwhile, any healing items will benefit nearby allies. Truly, the perfect counter to Nightlords like Libra, whose Condemned (those clones of your party) can be a real headache to deal with. But on top of all this, the Scholar is capable of leveling up items to make them more potent and grant additional effects. He can also store more resources, which is a great way to keep your team stocked up at all times.
The Undertaker
If the Scholar is the chisel, then the Undertaker is the hammer – quite literally, since she specializes in the same. A frontlining damage dealer, her skill “Trance” will grant increased Toughness and more damage to combos while turning her regular movement into a dash, which doesn’t use stamina. If her Ultimate bear is full when using Trance, it further improves the buffs granted.
Speaking of which, her Ultimate has to be one of the most ridiculous things in the game, as the Undertaker removes an “uncanny bone” and uses it to careen into a target like they owe her money. Not only is this viable for breaking an enemy’s guard, but it also deals solid stance damage. And if all that wasn’t enough, her passive, “Confluence,” is straight-up broken. After an ally uses their Ultimate, the Undertaker gets a free charge for her own Ultimate. This is completely independent of her current charge. If you have three Undertakers in the same team, you can unleash a barrage of heat-seeking missiles to annihilate enemies.
New Relic Passives
Thanks to GameSpot’s recent preview, we also have an idea of the dedicated Relics that each new Nightfarer can run with. The Scholar can inflict continuous damage on targets connected by his Ultimate, boost the attack of analyzed allies, and even stop Analyze from slowing at all. Meanwhile, the Undertaker can gain increased attack power when using her Ultimate, increase the damage of the final hit in a combo, and even restore health to any allies that you brush past while dive bombing an enemy with your Ultimate. All in all, a pretty good line-up of options for both classes.
New Day 3 Bosses
FromSoftware has announced two new Day 3 bosses, but only one has been seen properly – the Balancers. They’re the seven warriors with wings seen in the first trailer, and based on impressions, they’re absolutely merciless, attacking all at once and hardly giving you a chance to breathe. Even more interesting is that one of them will be designated as the “leader” at one point, gaining buffs and wide sweeping attacks from which there’s no escape. While the Scholar is seemingly born for this fight, you’ll need all your wits and the most abject teamwork to survive.
New Dark Souls Bosses
Of course, it wouldn’t be Nightreign without bosses from other FromSoftware titles. Thus far, we’ve seen Artorias the Abysswalker from the legendary Dark Souls 1 DLC, but new gameplay from GameSpot highlighted another DLC boss – the Demon in Pain and the Demon from Below, as seen in Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City. Whether they’ll combine to form the Demon Prince is unknown, but they still look as menacing as ever.
The Great Hollows
When examined on its own, the new Shifting Earth, the Great Hollows, doesn’t seem like it’s really all that. After all, previous Shifting Earth conditions would transform a portion of the map, and that’s that. The Great Hollows, however, isn’t just that but more like an entire new location. A thick fog seemingly blankets everything (that’s ash, by the way), and there’s a lot more verticality – yes, even more so than in the current Shifting Earths. All in all, it’s easy to get lost and maybe fall to your death.
Shadow of the Erdtree Influence and The Crystal Curse
By the way, if you thought the verticality of the Great Hollows is similar to the Land of Shadow from Shadow of the Erdtree, you’re not the only one. Director Junya Ishizaki told GameSpot that, despite being unintentional, there may be a “bit of influence.””It’s one of those things [where] a lot of our staff have also been playing Shadow of the Erdtree as the development for Nightreign has been going on,” he said, “So there’s probably a little bit of influence there, but I don’t think [Erdtree’s influence is] necessarily intentional. It might even be almost like subconscious, but there’s definitely, I think, a bit of that for sure.”
Some areas throughout the Hollows present a new status effect called the Crystal Curse, and by clearing the key objective, you can obtain a buff that renders you immune to it. Also, speaking of doing things subconsciously…
Somehow, the Swamps Returned
“It’s definitely one of those things that [it] always just seems like [our game] ends up with a swamp,” said Ishizaki. Yes, the swamps have finally arrived in the DLC, and they’re not just of the poison variety. You’ll encounter Scarlet Rot swamps, swamps that inflict sleep, and so on. Unsurprisingly, they’re quite challenging, especially since enduring the pain and inhumanity of debilitating status effects ends with a fight against the swamp’s boss. The Scholar could certainly come in handy with those buffed items to combat status ailments, huh?
Forges For Re-Rolling Weapon Skills
It’s not all bad news when it comes to the new points of interest. Remember the Legendary Forge in the Crater? A more regular version can potentially crop up in Limveld. Defeat all the enemies and light it up to gain the option to re-roll a weapon skill. The catch? It’s completely random, so you’re just as likely to end up with an even worse skill for your current weapon as something better. Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile option that just adds more to the build-crafting.
“Definitely A Little Bit Harder”
If you’re going into The Forsaken Hollows, expecting the difficulty to skyrocket like Shadow of the Erdtree for Elden Ring players, there’s some solace. Ishizaki told GameSpot about the challenges the team faced while balancing and ensuring that the DLC wasn’t “so hard that new players can’t get into it.” While it’s “definitely a little bit harder” than the base game, he feels that it’s “not ridiculous or anything like that, but that’s still within what we would consider to be a fair challenge.” Ishizaki also believes that even those who spent plenty of time on the base experience will have “a bit of that feeling like they had when they first played Nightreign, where there’s still a bit that they’re trying to figure out.”