Elden Ring Nightreign producer thanks players for "bravely" embracing its "peculiar aspects" as it collects Mixed Steam reviews: "As with Demon's Souls or Sekiro, it may be confounding at first"

Elden Ring:: Nightreign is proving to be the most controversial FromSoftware game in years, with a Metacritic score calling back to the studio's decades-old obscurities and Steam reviews taking the new release to task for everything from a 60fps cap to the lack of duos support. That all hasn't stopped 2 million players from buying in, and producer Yasuhiro Kitao is very thankful to those who have.

"Nightreign has some peculiar aspects to its game design and is different from our recent titles in various ways," Kitao says in response to the game's day one sales announcement. "Nonetheless, many of you have bravely jumped into this world, and for that we're immensely grateful."

FromSoftware's games have always been an acquired taste – it just happens that a lot of people acquired that taste between Dark Souls and Elden Ring. "As with Demon's Souls or Sekiro," Kitao adds, hearkening back to the studio's other modern hits, "it may be confounding at first, but just like those games, Nightreign offers its own challenges and experiences."

Kitao concludes that "once you overcome the initial hurdle, it'll surely provide a sense of accomplishment that's also its very own. We hope you enjoy it."

The full scope of how much the community enjoys Nightreign – or doesn't – is only going to become clear as time passes, and there's certainly no consensus right now. The only thing that is clear is that Nightreign is targeting a much different, more multiplayer-focused audience than FromSoft's recent work.

Nightreign's got a lot to prove, not least because FromSoftware's The Duskbloods, one of the biggest upcoming Switch 2 games on the horizon, is also a multiplayer-focused take on the Soulsborne format. Here's hoping that both Nightreign and The Duskbloods can find their mark.

Wondering how to two-hand in Elden Ring Nightreign? We've got you covered at that link.