Elden Ring's Network Test was filled with hiccups and promise

I got the opportunity to play through the network test of Elden Ring: Nightreign, FromSoftwear’s newest title in the Elden Ring universe. While you can play this game solo, it is meant to have a party of three since this title is more focused on the experience of co-op than any of the other Souls/Souls-like titles FromSoftwear has published. In Elden Ring, there has always been a massive emphasis on playing with other people, even though you can play it as a single-player game. Elden Ring is in theory not supposed to be a journey that is taken alone, but if you decide to go it alone the help is there for you when you need it. My experience:                For Nightreign we couldn’t choose our co-op players, we were instead matched up with random players to fight each day alongside. While normally that would be a great thing, I think the experience was diminished to a certain degree. A lot of people wanted to explore the map, go their way, see what was new, and not be pinned down so to speak to mainline an area before it closed in on the players. A lot of the people I co-oped with went off and did their own thing, wouldn’t revive me at times, or would just ignore the layout of the map leading to the area closing in and us not having enough time to complete the first or second day.             Now while I get that this is a network test I felt, to a degree, underwhelmed and have so many questions in regards to the direction that game is going towards. After going through a certain number of three-day segments and a boss, is there a final boss at the end, or is it just a repeating cycle of three days and a boss battle at the end of each three-day segment? (confusing when written, I know).             In Nightreign you have no choice in how you level up, you just advance to the next level, the FP isn’t in a flask but in a tree, you can run significantly faster, and there’s no fall damage. The list goes on of things that make this game different yet intriguing in the Souls-like universe that FromSoftwear has cultivated.  The pace of this game and the challenge to get to the final boss solo or with others is really fun and what makes Elden Ring a stand-out title. Things to fix:            The main thing that I believe needs to be worked on for the release is the length of the days. I would love to be able to have the time to explore more and gather needed items for the run that I and my teammates are doing instead of worrying that the area will close in on us. The thing that is so special about Elden Ring is that there are so many secrets, lore bits, and things to explore. Even if you are in a very crowded area where you might die, there is always an area of respite or a way around the chaotic parts. A lot of this game from what I’ve gathered in the network test is that there is mostly chaos with minimal wiggle room to have time to explore. I just hope Nightreign stays genuine to the core of what Elden Ring is, I love it when companies go outside the box, it’s how we got Dark Souls 2, but maintaining the soul of the game is crucial to maintain the base players you already have, plus newer players coming in. In the end, Tarnished:             As nervous as I am to see how this game not only runs but is received amongst fans and non-fans of the franchise, I am incredibly excited to play the full version of Nightreign come May 30th, 2025.  There are a lot of new concepts like the things I discussed and more which you’ll just have to wait until release day to find out.  This game will be incredibly fun with friends, just stick together throughout the map, if you’re not together it gets kind of confusing and more or less time-consuming to find where you’re going solo. I can’t wait to see what secrets lay ahead, and what lore bits will be discovered in Limveld.