FromSoftware had one big problem turning an old Dark Souls 3 boss into an Elden Ring Nightreign boss, and apparently it solved it by yeeting him into the sky

Elden Ring: Nightreign launch trailer
(Image credit: FromSoftware / Bandai Namco)

Everyone's favorite voiceless FromSoftware extraordinaire, Zulie the Witch, has uncovered how one boss fight in Elden Ring Nightreign needed to be changed to work around a visual detail previously obscured by a cutscene.

FromSoftware developers are the masters of asset reuse, and Nightreign shows off the studio's prowess perfectly. Plenty of bosses from older games make an appearance, and some are changed. As Zullie the Witch notes, this is necessary when bringing them from one game to another, as their old gimmicks may not work in Nightreign.

Zullie highlights one subtle change that has been made to Nameless King to make his fight more suitable for this multiplayer experience. An optional boss in Dark Souls 3, he rides a Stormdrake in the first phase of the fight, before dismounting and absorbing its soul in an ode to Ornstein and Smough from Dark Souls 1.

Nightreign - A subtle change - YouTube Nightreign - A subtle change - YouTube
Watch On

In Dark Souls 3, the cutscene allows the devs to swap the Nameless King model for one that's about 35% smaller, Zullie claims. However, in Nightreign, there's no cutscene, so how does FromSoftware make the change without us noticing?

Now, in Nightreign, he simply rockets himself upwards before coming back to land slightly smaller than he was before. In the chaos of battle you may not even notice it. Zullie says he disappears about 105 meters up, near the doors of the Spirit Shelter, and then the smaller model appears and is what comes down.

I love how much smoke and mirrors there are in video games. They're all an absolute miracle.

While you're here, check out our Elden Ring Nightreign review, as well as our Elden Ring Nightreign tips to help you beat the Nightlords.

Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.