IGN has shared new gameplay footage of the action game Elden Ring Nightreign. Journalist Mitchell Saltzman completed 10 runs in the game and detailed how the world behaves with procedural generation and whether everything on the map changes.

Despite its roguelike elements, Nightreign isn't entirely random. Loot and bosses spawn unpredictably, but geographically, Limweld largely remains the same. For instance, the overall shape of the map stays consistent, and objects like rocks, rivers, and lakes remain in place across all playthroughs. The same applies to Sites of Grace, gaols, cave entrances and exits, wind gusts, ghostly trees, and the massive castle located closer to the center of the area.

All other locations can change under the influence of various factors. For example, one of Limweld's regions might randomly suffer from a global event—triggered by a special modifier called "Shifting Earth". This event can even occur before the run begins, and in Saltzman's case, the northern part of the map transformed into a massive crater with rivers of lava. "Shifting Earth" can be replaced with something else if the player rests at the Roundtable Hold.

Other events don’t alter Limweld's geography but introduce dangerous enemies. Margit, the Fell Omen, might fall from the sky and pursue players across the entire map. Or terrifying tornadoes may appear in the sky, with creatures from another dimension lurking nearby—these foes are much harder to defeat than regular enemies.

Saltzman named the most impressive of these events as a mysterious boss that attacks players from a distance by bombarding them with swarms of beetles. Each hit from this "artillery" drains accumulated character levels, and the only way to regain them is to track the insect clouds back to their source. However, the journalist failed to do so: while he and his colleagues were rushing toward the boss, the playable area shrank (similar to battle royale mechanics), cutting off any chance to recover their lost progression.

Elden Ring Nightreign releases on May 30.

Main image: 4kwallpapers.com

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