It’s really easy to just accept annoying things about video games if it’s all you’ve ever known. We take for granted all the bad parts of game design when it's just the way things are done, until someone thinks of a better way🔯 to do it. No one thought it was weird that you couldn’t move your mouse to look around in shooters until came up with mouse freelook for Marathon. Similarly, we went through decades of game consoles with one or no control sticks until Sony invented the dual analog controller for the , and now it's the only kind of controller you’ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd ever use.
🗹 Elden Ring Nightreign Is An Unsurprisi🗹ngly Fun Roguelite
Elden Ring Nightreign is the latest action game from Fromsoftware - but this time, in♎ the form of a multiplayer roguelite. And it's unsurprisingly a fun neꦬw venture for the critically acclaimed studio. Check out our impressions from the recent network test in today's episode of Game Gems.
Sometimes you don’t know how bad things are until someoꦦne finds a better way. That’s something I was reminded of during a recent preview, when I discovered its most ingenious invention: when another player gets knocked down, you have to pick them back up by attacking them. It might not sound as revolutionary as the DualShock, but I assure you, it is.
Stabbing Is Helping
I’ve played countless co-op games that have some version of a team resurrection mechanic, and they all suck. When a homie goes down you have to run over to them, typically, hold a ༺button to bring them back to life. Sometimes there’s an animation, like you’re character lifting theirs back onto their feet, but sometimes you just stand there watching a progress meter build up hoping that whatever killed them isn’t ab𝓀out to kill you next. Sure there’s tension, the stakes are high, but is that fun? Is that a rewarding, skill-based mechanic? Or is it just the best thing some game could come up with and then every other co-op game copied it because no one had a better idea?
It always felt like a necessary evil tဣo me. I don’t like it, but I just assumed there was no better option. Some of my most frustrating experiences playing games have involved saving a teammate though. Either I couldn’t find the exact right spot to stand in to get the button prompt to pick them up, or I let go of the button when it was 99 percent full and had to start over, or the rez just didn’t work for no discernable reason. It’s a finicky, half-baked mechanic that every co-op game has used forever.
I never really considered how bad it was until I played Nightreign, and discovered there’s been a better way all this time. And it’s so simple! Rather than standing motionless over your friend’s body anꩵd waiting an eternity to pick them up, Nightreign makes you attack your friends to save them. When the homie g🦋oes down, it’s time to start stabbing.
Die By The Sword, Live By The Sword
I know, it doesn’t really make any sense. Why would poking your friend with a sword or bludgeoning them with a big hammer heal their injuries? Well, don’t worry about it. Are you gon♌na stab that guy or what?
What I like so much about this approach is that it’s consistent with the rest of🌄 Nightreign’s gameplay. Every swing and jab in a game is already a skill check, so why should it be any different for resurrecting fallen teammates? It doesn’t make you leave the battle to hopelessly stand over your friend praying the boss ignores you for long enough. It’s a continuation of the combat you’re already in; you’re just switching targets.
A fallen teammate effectively has a health bar, and you have to deplete that bar with attacks to rescue them. Stronger attacks do more damage and decrease the bar quicker, but just like any target, timing and aim is a big factor. You can even use a bow to revive them from range! Your quick horizontal slashes that you like to use on enemies so that you’re always ready to dodge out of the way probably won’t be effective on your teammate, considering they’re lyi♕ng on the ground. A slow, overhead attack is much more efficient, but of coཧurse, there are risks to committing to longer attack animations.
This mechanic evolv🐟es from Monster Hunter, which lets your break teammates out of sleep or paralysis by attacking them.
The more times someone goes down, the longer that ‘health’ bar gets, meaning you’ll need to do more sustained damage to save them. It’s a mechanic that’s brilliant in its simplicity. It allows you to stay engaged with the fight and it tests your ability to prioritize targe🍃ts and keep aware of your surroundꩲings. It completely fixes everything that’s wrong with this common mechanic in co-op games, and I can’t believe we’ve lived so long with such a terrible version of this.
I never want to 📖see another game with the old style of team resurrection again. If I can’t bludgeon my buddies to save them, then I’m not interested.
FromSoftware Apol🙈ogizes For Disastrous Elden Ring Nightreignꦆ Network Test
Elden Ring Nightreign didn🔯't get off to a good start, but FromSoftware is attempting to make u💜p for it.
