“This isn’t good enough”: The Elden Ring Nightreign Digital Foundry tech review is here, and both Xbox and PS5 players will be disappointed by the results

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After the official release of Elden Ring Nightreign, a spinoff from FromSoftware’s challenging new co-op roguelike game, Digital Foundry – a well-known team of expert tech analysts for video games and hardware – has recently evaluated the game’s performance across its console versions. You can find their detailed analysis on Eurogamer or watch it in video form on their YouTube channel (or watch it below).

Although I found a lot to praise in Nightreign’s gameplay (check out my review for more), Digital Foundry’s Thomas Morgan points out that from a technical standpoint, the new game falls short overall and shares many of the same problems experienced in Elden Ring from 2022. It’s important to mention that unlike the original, Nightreign doesn’t provide ray-traced shadows or ambient occlusion as features.

According to Morgan’s analysis, neither the Xbox Series X nor the PS5 can consistently maintain 60 frames per second (FPS) when playing Elden Ring Nightreign in its 4K visual setting. Instead, they both fluctuate between 35-50 FPS, with occasional dips into the 20s during initial runs in Limveld. The PS5 Pro performs slightly better, offering a range of 40-60 FPS, while the Xbox Series S, being a lower-tier model, provides 30-40 FPS in its 1440p quality mode.

To get the best performance, it’s suggested to adjust the resolution settings according to your console. For Xbox Series X, PS5 Pro, and PS5, you can scale from 4K to 1440p, while for Xbox Series S, you should scale from 1440p to 1080p. However, achieving a steady 60 FPS isn’t guaranteed across the board; framerates on Xbox Series X and PS5 fluctuate between 40 and 60 FPS, while PS5 Pro manages around 50-60 FPS, with the Xbox Series S also showing similar performance.

Xbox systems offer a broader range (40-60Hz) for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which matches your display refresh rate to your FPS, thereby reducing screen tearing. This makes for a more seamless, less jarring experience according to Digital Foundry. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that the performance across all consoles in this regard is not excellent.

By the way, if you’re curious about playing Nightreign on last-generation consoles, it seems that the PS4 can only manage a relatively low frame rate of 20-30 FPS. This is despite the game running at 900p with significantly reduced shadow quality and grass density compared to current-generation consoles. If you want the best experience playing Nightreign, I’d recommend using a newer console instead.

It’s worth mentioning that although Xbox has a slight advantage in framerate, PS5 Pro users might appreciate superior image quality during performance mode, as the more sophisticated hardware generally doesn’t lower its resolution to the same extent as Xbox Series X or PS5. However, Elden Ring Nightreign doesn’t appear to offer any enhancements or optimizations tailored for Pro users, which may disappoint those who own a PS5 Pro.

The review doesn’t cover the gameplay on PC, but after playing it for more than 60 hours on Steam myself (on a top-notch RTX 4070 Ti SUPER system), I can assure you that it performs smoothly. However, I should mention that my experience might be different from others due to the high-end nature of my PC setup. Personally, I didn’t face any trouble achieving a steady 60 FPS on the highest settings, but there were occasional minor stutters during my playtime. Following the full game launch, some users with RTX 40 and 50-series GPUs have reported significant frame rate drops that FromSoftware is currently looking into; as is often the case with PC gaming, your experience may vary.

In summary, it’s disappointing to see that Elden Ring Nightreign encounters similar performance issues on consoles as its predecessor, and I can only hope that the developers address these problems in both games through future updates. As usual, it’s reassuring to have Digital Foundry experts conducting comprehensive tests like this one. If you’d like, do consider checking out their Patreon page for support.

As an analyst, I’m excited to share my thoughts on Elden Ring: Nightreign, a captivating spinoff from FromSoftware that infuses the original game’s Soulsborne combat with a roguelike, cooperative twist. Despite some sizeable challenges such as limited map variety and less diverse enemy types, it promises to be one of the standout games of this year for fans hankering for intense action. Priced at $39.99, you can save a few bucks by using the promo code XVSAVE (for PC) or EPET226 (for Xbox), bringing the price down to $33.99 at Newegg.

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2025-06-03 23:09