Elden Ring Nightreign is a more streamlined experience than Elden Ring itself. Rather than making a build from scratch, you'll pick a class and level it up during each session. We didn't get to see the archer at work in the beta, but we've just gotten a new trailer for Ironeye, the bow and arrow-focused character that has nimble moves and finally makes the bow a genuinely useful weapon in a modern FromSoftware game.
We already knew the bow and arrow could do backstabs – backshots, if you will – and this new trailer shows off just how powerful they are in Nightreign. Let your teammates get up close and personal with the bosses, and as soon as they've worn them down, you can shoot them in the back to stagger them before dashing in to drive an arrow straight into their heart for a devastating critical hit. Finally, a Legolas simulator.
Ironeye wields a skill that sees you fire off a huge arrow that pierces multiple foes and then unleashes an area of effect whirlwind in its wake to finish off any stragglers. If enemies decide not to simply walk up to you in a line and instead stand in a wide formation, you can use another attack that seems to spread multiple arrows in front of you to hit all enemies in an arc, so you have a lot of options with Ironeye. (As a reminder, any class can wield any weapon, too, though there's clearly a bow focus here.) That should make it easier to deal with Nightreign's wildly unpredictable random events.
As well as a regular ol' bow and arrow, we see Ironeye using flaming shots. I don't know what it is I love so much about regular weapons that are just on fire, but they sure do scratch an itch. This makes it look like you could be able to add other elemental effects, too.
All this reminds me of the ranger class in Dragon's Dogma, and that was always my favorite one. I was going to go all-out with a big sword in Nightreign, as is my preference in the Dark Souls games and Elden Ring itself, but this trailer definitely makes me want to give bows a proper go. Because sure, people have beaten Elden Ring with bows, but people have also beaten Elden Ring with dance pads, and those aren't very compelling weapons either. Previously, I only used a bow to chop off the dragon tail in Dark Souls. Maybe it's time for a change. Check out our Nightreign hands-on preview if you can't decide for yourself.
In the meantime, have a look at all the new games of 2025 so you can play something while you wait for Elden Ring Nightreign to come out at the end of May.
