I haven’t successfully completed an expedition in Elden Ring Nightreign: The Forgotten Hollows, but after spending hundreds of hours in Limveld, I consider that a good thing. I’ve failed in large part because everything is difficult and mysterious — and because FromSoftware refuses to do anything without trolling its players.
The new expeditions take place on a new map designed so meticulously, you can feel FromSoftware firing on all cylinders. The Forgotten Hollows rids itself of the basic grassy fields and medieval castles of the initial map. Here, you’ll find otherworldly terrain reminiscent of Elden Ring‘s most memorable areas, like Raya Lucaria, Siofra River, and the Snowfields. The map is full of areas like the Temple of Fire and its winding pathways, which make for some wonderfully tense exploration. I’ve yet to see much of the map, and with Nightreign‘s gradual storm, it’ll likely take me a good while before I can. But so far, The Forgotten Hollows makes me feel like I’m intruding on a mythical, terrifying place where I don’t belong. It’s like playing Elden Ring for the first time all over again. Except now, you’re accompanied by two other humans named ‘Egg’ and ‘EldenSteve,’ and they would rather die than stop and strategize with you.
The new map will bring out some of the more unfortunate tendencies of impatient, lone-wolf players. But I’m also comparing my recent teammates to the people who were still playing Nightreign months after release. These are folks whose behavior can be predicted by whatever the meta has dictated at that moment. To be fair, less than 24 hours after its release, the community hasn’t yet developed best practices for The Forgotten Hollows. And when I look around at all the enticing new bosses and enemies in the DLC, I can’t blame players for getting carried away.
Much of what strikes me about The Forgotten Hollows doesn’t sound positive, but hear me out. I spent most of my first expedition making the most boneheaded mistakes. I kept falling into the abyss and losing my runes. I spent minutes in a panic trying to get out of the storm, ferrying from one grace to another. I was frustrated by my inability to reach specific areas of the map. I lost levels that I couldn’t recover. Honestly, my teammates were probably raging at me — that is, until I witnessed make the same mistakes. The Forsaken Hollows is full of chasms and tricky jumps, and apparently people keep dying to them. At one point, the storm was gnawing at my feet. I was on the edge of a cliff. The Erdtree and its safe embrace lay before me, seemingly just out of reach. I cursed and jumped. I made it, barely. Nightreign and its lack of fall damage and double jumps already makes it a more acrobatic game than Elden Ring, but whoever it is at FromSoftware who insists on these platforming areas is satan incarnate.
It’s not exactly fun in the moment when it’s happening, but let’s be real here. Many of us play FromSoftware games because they provide palpitating moments of fear and adrenaline. Sure, there’s the lore. But you can’t get to those cerebral bits without first surviving whatever magnificent beast doomed to a slow and possibly endless ruin that the Japanese studio has cooked up for you.
I’m also looking forward to untangling the new mysteries that are likely to hide in The Forgotten Hollows. What does ‘the crystal cracked’ mean, and why is the game telling me about it? Why does this merchant have a small star next to them? What’s this mirror? Holy shit, why is this boss getting up after we killed it? Beyond the action, The Forgotten Hollows will be a feast for the people who read item descriptions. At least one familiar face from Elden Ring makes a return. Surely the fact there’s a divine tower on the new map means something, right? And I’m hearing some chatter that one of the new classes might have an unexpected backstory.
So, yeah. I’m dying left and right now, possibly even ragebaiting my poor teammates. But this, right here, is the juicy bit. There’s a lot to love about achieving mastery, and who doesn’t love a competent teammate? Eventually, though, The Forgotten Hollows will become familiar. I’ll know where to go and what to do at the right time. Whatever I don’t know, a guide will surely will. And when that happens, the fear will be gone — but so will the wonder.
