There are all kinds of DLC expansions for video games now. Quarterly updates populate the MMO space, patches with decimal numbers in the ten-thousandths are continually released to improve multiplayer gameplay, and general expansions to increase playtime and push the envelope further are only three types of included downloadable content in the grand scheme of things.
Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows falls into the last category, and it does an excellent job at extending the lifespan of the GOTY 2022 spin-off, for better or worse. It’s safe to say if you’re a die-hard fan of Nightreign or FromSoftware-developed Soulslikes, the development team knows their audience and The Forsaken Hollows is exactly what that audience wants: more Nightreign, without trying to cater to a broader audience.
For the Nightreign-curious, Justin Wood does an excellent job capping exactly what it is in CGMagazine’s review for the base game, but for the DLC, The Forsaken Hollows does exactly what it sets out to do. First off, Nightfarers have been clamouring for new classes since release, and the DLC introduces two with their own storylines, and reasons for being at the Roundtable Hold. The Undertaker and Scholar are unique, with class abilities, proficiencies, stats and scaling that relates to their strengths.
The Scholar could be considered Elden Ring Nightreign’s resident support character. Dressed like a Raya Lucaria Valedictorian, The Scholar brings a playstyle to Nightreign that I can only describe as ‘Phoenix Wright.’ You can pick up all of the junk around the map and use the items to level each item up (this is called Bagcraft), doing more damage with throwables, and get bigger buffs with items like Golden Fowl Feet. These ‘clues’ power up the Scholar during each Nightreign run, allowing perishables to have better use. During a grueling fight with the new Balancers Boss, I was delightfully surprised when a level three Warming Stone resurrected my teammate after being stabbed, but that’s not all he has up his sleeve.
“Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows does a deft balancing act for these two new classes to fit right in with their previous Nightfarer counterparts…”
The Scholar boasts a stiff S-scaling in Arcane (which makes sense), which allows him to bestow status abilities onto enemies faster than most other Nightfarers. The Scholar’s best tool though, is his Analyze class ability. With Analyze, Scholars can buff their teammates and de-buff enemies for an easier time in Limveld, and all of these Bard-like abilities can be applied at once making the battlefield a friendlier place for Nightfarers. His ultimate ability Communion stacks buffs, heals, and damages any surrounding enemies, making it a real support powerhouse.
The Undertaker provides a more hands-on approach to slaughtering Nightlords. Equipped with a Mace and high strength and faith stats, The Undertaker will be managing funerals for her own enemies. Her ultimate (called Loathsome Hex) is best used when communicating with other teammates, as it is a flying kamikaze-style tabbing move that soars through the air to find its target.
When an ally uses their ultimate, The Undertaker can deploy an extra Loathsome Hex to deal more damage and not spend an ultimate use. Her class ability, Trance, puts Undertakers into a fugue state (that oddly looks like she’s encased in Silver Tear) where dodging is easier, chaining combos is religion, and damage is assured. Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows does a deft balancing act for these two new classes to fit right in with their previous Nightfarer counterparts, and these abilities synergize with each character tremendously.
Both The Scholar and The Undertaker have their own Remembrance questlines in The Forsaken Hollows, adding needed exposition and backstory to why they found themselves there in the first place. While the development team did succeed in making more of a good thing with The Forsaken Hollows, it’s true they did have some oversight. Both ‘remembrance’ skins for Undertaker and Scholar look virtually identical to their base counterparts, and fans have had problems with this choice on previous base game characters and to see the same choice made is a little disheartening.
Aside from cosmetics, The Forsaken Hollows also adds two new named Nightlord bosses to hunt, and a huge Shifting Earth event (that doubles as a fresh map to explore) called The Great Hollow. The Great Hollow ups the difficulty of Nightreign by making half the map a fall-to-your-death zone, but it’s a gorgeous hearken back to both Shadow of the Erdtree and the original Dark Souls biome (before making it to Ash Lake) in design. By owning the bridge between Elden Ring Nightreign and Dark Souls, FromSoftware has also implemented a skin for both Scholar and Undertaker that are pulled directly from Dark Souls and seep with nostalgia for the 2011 title.
The Scholar embodies Oswald of Carim, ready to take player confessions and Undertaker does her best Anor Londo Firekeeper impression, donning the brass armour of the Darkmoon Knightess. Nightfarer teams can now use a team of Dark Souls 1 MVPs as their Nightfarer squad, and it strangely works (even if Solaire and Xanthous make an odd couple).
The Great Hollow map is where Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows brought the heat. To play The Great Hollow (and fight the Balancers Nightlord), fans just have to fight and defeat the first Nightlord, the Tricephalos, before being granted access. To unlock the two classes, both characters just need to have a conversation at the Roundtable Hold with you. The ease to unlock The Forsaken Hollows is a far cry from the legwork required in base Elden Ring to get to Shadow of the Erdtree, and Nightreign is better for it.
As mentioned, there are endless ways to die by falling in The Great Hollow so Nightfarers need to remain vigilant the whole way through. Located around the map are four crystals (that resemble Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back crystals) that you must destroy in order to break the curse on points of interest on the map.
Like formidable opponents on the base game’s map, on Day 2 these crystals are marked on the radar but fans who know their way around The Great Hollow will be able to destroy them earlier. FromSoftware implements roguelike aspects of gameplay flawlessly here, as more seasoned players will be able to coach newer players or have an easier time on the map by themselves. The player in Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows gains lasting experience, even if your Nightfarer resets each run so the player’s time is amply spent.
“While Elden Ring Nightreign is by no stretch a perfect game, The Forsaken Hollows is a near-perfect DLC.”
A new point of interest can be found on The Great Hollow (named after their Elden Ring counterparts) called Divine Towers. These function as grueling arenas that pit players against three waves of randomized enemy bosses for a boon that lets players charge their ultimate abilities faster and a guaranteed legendary drop (the tower also gives in-game currency called Murk). While only one new map has been added to the Elden Ring Nightreign equation, it feels like a whole new branch of the game has been added with all of the bells and whistles to encounter.
As far as end-of-day bosses go, FromSoftware brought Knight Artorias out of retirement (with a brand new moveset) as a boss fight that will truly test your mettle. The Lord of Blood (aka Mohg) will also make an appearance, and the Libra Nightlord will randomly appear on the map to sell players a Purifying Crystal Tear (or players could just beat him up and take it) to negate the nihil curse spread by the Lord of Blood’s power. These aren’t Nightlords, just new introductions to the boss slate by FromSoftware to add new adversaries to Nightreign.
The two named bosses, The Balancers and Dreglord, are no slouches. The Balancers are a flock of angels that create hell for the player in a boss fight that sees players exterminate every last one. After defeating the Balancers, they can raid your run on the Dreglord, stealing flask charges and making the game feel a whole lot harder if you don’t hunt them down and kill them, adding more tension to each run they show up in. The Dreglord is a crucible boss fight that has moves similar to Dark Souls’ Manus, Father of the Abyss, with big sweeping hammer swings that can remove a player from their health bar with a single swipe.
While playing Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows with a player that played the entire Dark Souls trilogy alongside me in jolly cooperation, the additions to Nightreign hit different. With each callback to the base trilogy that put FromSoftware firmly on the map, it feels like the development team put great care in restoring each aspect of their old titles for the new Nightreign system, and it shows with how soundly the jump is alongside new moves each adversary can whip out on the fly. FromSoftware brought a sea of greatly designed new content to explore with The Forsaken Hollows, and it costs less than an amiibo of Solaire of Astora from Dark Souls Remastered.
While Elden Ring Nightreign is by no stretch a perfect game, The Forsaken Hollows is a near-perfect DLC. The art of the journey is explored wondrously in The Great Hollow, like FromSoftware is playing Dungeon Master and Nightfarers are the party of adventurers. With the staggering amount of new additions and gameplay mechanics, Nightreign has brought exactly what fans of Nightreign could have dreamed for in The Forsaken Hollows, more Nightreign (but much harder). Except for forgetting to add more new weapons (outside of the base Scholar and Undertaker equips) FromSoftware has brought a tremendous amount of new content for Nightfarers to tear through, and it’ll still feel like you’ve just scratched the surface. Like a random message in base Elden Ring would say, “Praise the tree!”
