Elden Ring Fans Are Having Trouble Getting Used to…

Summary

Elden Ring: Nightreign players struggle with control changes from the original Elden Ring, including different buttons for consumable Sacred Flasks and items.
Players are also confused by the game's sprint controls, with some forgetting about the new Surge Sprint function.
The updated controls, difficulty spikes, and lack of balance in single-player contributed to the game's Mixed reviews on Steam.

Elden Ring: Nightreign players are having trouble getting used to the game's controls due to some unexpected control changes from the original Elden Ring. Although most of the controls in Elden Ring Nightreign are the same, some of the changes account for new abilities and updated tools, including consumable Sacred Flasks.

Released on May 30, Elden Ring Nightreign quickly became a successful title with more than two million copies sold on launch day. Elden Ring Nightreign follows up on the tremendous success of the original Elden Ring with a co-op twist where players, who enter the fray as Nightfarers, dive into the shifting lands of Limveld to fight the Nightlord. As Nightfarers, up to three players can team up to take on new and familiar bosses, with the gameplay mechanics of the original Elden Ring mostly intact. However, Elden Ring Nightreign players are having trouble adapting to some of the changes that developer FromSoftware made.

Elden Ring Nightreign patch will improve solo experience

Elden Ring Nightreign Announces Plans to Improve Solo Play

Solo play in Elden Ring Nightreign will be improved with a future patch that makes taking on FromSoftware's new game easier alone.

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By Matthew Schomer

Elden Ring Nightreign players like The_Mudddler and Justanotherkiwi21 on Reddit are having trouble with the game, since the refillable Sacred Flask is now mapped to X or Square with the game's default controller settings. In the Elden Ring, the X and Square buttons are used for the "Use Item" function, so some players have experienced some muscle-memory confusion while attempting to use items in Elden Ring Nightreign. Instead of X and Square, the Use Item function is now set to the Up button on the D-Pad, which was previously used for the "Switch Sorcery/Incantation" in Elden Ring.

Elden Ring Nightreign Players Are Having Trouble Getting Used to Control Changes for Items and Flasks

The change in controls can be especially jarring for players who spend hours playing Elden Ring in preparation for Elden Ring: Nightreign's launch. For example, Elden Ring Nightreign has a "Surge Sprint" function mapped to L3, but a standard "Dash" option can still be used by holding down the dodge button. As a result, some players are still using the original Elden Ring sprint rather than the faster and more convenient Surge Sprint.

Some of these control changes have led to some of the "Mixed" reviews of Elden Ring: Nightreign on Steam, along with brutal difficulty spikes and the lack of balance in single-player experiences. Others are questioning the absence of a native voice chat feature in Elden Ring Nightreign, since it could have helped players pair up with others more easily in the game. At the very least, FromSoftware is listening to player feedback, and there are plans to improve solo play for those who prefer to face the Nightlord alone.

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