Listen up, Nightfarers. If you’ve been grinding through Limveld’s brutal three-day hunts and thought you’d seen everything FromSoftware could throw at you, think again. The Forsaken Hollows expansion drops on December 4, 2025, and it’s bringing enough fresh nightmares to make even the most battle-hardened veterans sweat.
Wait, What Exactly Is Elden Ring Nightreign?
Before we dive into the DLC details, let’s clear something up for anyone who might be scratching their heads. Elden Ring Nightreign isn’t your typical Elden Ring experience—it’s a standalone multiplayer co-op survival game that reimagines the core design of FromSoftware’s masterpiece. Unlike the sprawling open-world adventure of the original game, Nightreign operates on a session-based structure where you and up to two friends venture into Limveld—a region whose layout shifts with each expedition—attempting to survive three complete day-and-night cycles.
You take on the role of Nightfarers, chosen champions hunting shadowy beings called Nightlords. The game launched on May 30, 2025, and quickly became a hit, crossing 2 million units sold within a single day and eventually shipping over 5 million copies globally. Not bad for a multiplayer spin-off, right?
What’s New in The Forsaken Hollows?
Two Fresh Faces Join the Fight
The expansion introduces two brand-new playable characters to the Nightfarer roster: the Scholar and the Undertaker.
The Scholar represents an academic explorer of the Lands Between who excels in arcane abilities and gains significant tactical advantages by observing the battlefield. From the trailer footage, we can see the Scholar wielding a magical spellbook to cast various incantations against approaching foes. If you’re the type who likes to hang back, assess the situation, and strike with calculated precision, this intelligence-focused warrior might be your new main.
The Undertaker, on the other hand, is described as an abbess tasked with slaying the Nightlord, specializing in strength and faith to dispatch enemies with brutal efficiency. She combines physical power with faith-based magical attacks, and the trailer showcases one of her abilities where she launches herself into the air and crashes down onto enemies like Astel, stunning the massive cosmic creature. For those who prefer to get up close and personal while channeling divine fury, the Undertaker looks absolutely devastating.
With these additions, you’ll have ten Nightfarers to choose from when assembling your squad for the next expedition.
A Rogues’ Gallery of Returning Legends
Here’s where things get really exciting for longtime FromSoftware fans. The trailer’s biggest reveal came at its conclusion: Knight Artorias the Abysswalker, the legendary boss from Dark Souls’ original expansion, makes his return.
Artorias represents a pivotal moment in FromSoftware’s design philosophy—while many Dark Souls bosses moved slowly with simple attack patterns, Artorias introduced faster-paced combat with more complex combinations that became the studio’s signature style. Throughout Dark Souls, you hear tales about this legendary knight before finally facing him in corrupted form, driven mad by the Abyss. His inclusion in Nightreign is a dream come true for Soulsborne veterans who’ve been clamoring for more variety in the mid-expedition boss pool.
But wait—there’s more. The trailer also confirms that enemies and bosses from Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion are joining the fray, including the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. According to analysis of the trailer, the Dancing Lion appears poised to serve as the final encounter for the new Shifting Earth event. Additional enemies from the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion—including Fire Knights, Messmer Soldiers, and Cuckoo Knights—will add greater variety to your runs.
Meet The Dreglord and Other New Nightmares
The expansion’s centerpiece boss is The Dreglord, characterized as a new abomination that serves as one of two new Nightlords added to the game. The trailer’s description provides narrative context, suggesting these new threats emerged from the aftermath of battles against the Night—wounds given consciousness, twisted life forms born from discarded souls. Pretty grim stuff, even by FromSoftware standards.
Beyond the new Nightlords, the DLC adds multiple new field bosses to encounter during your expeditions. Trailer analysis suggests a single-headed version of Gladius (Beast of Night) will appear as a raid encounter, and Astel joins the roster of cosmic horrors you’ll need to overcome.
Descending Into The Great Hollow
The Forsaken Hollows introduces a new Shifting Earth event called The Great Hollow, described as a massive cavity deep beneath Limveld. This subterranean expanse features exotic ruins and temples, sacred towers marking remnants of an ancient civilization, and crystals that emit a cursed, life-draining aura.
The Shifting Earth mechanic represents a special condition where the map undergoes dramatic geographical transformations. Based on visual evidence from the trailer, the entire Limveld region has been transformed, with new caves and knight encounters not present in the base game. The terrain appears heavily corrupted by the toxic rain that plagues the world, and the massive cavity provides access to revisiting threats from the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
For those keeping track, The Forsaken Hollows doesn’t introduce an entirely new map but rather presents another variant of Limveld through the Shifting Earth system. The aesthetic appears inspired by Elden Ring’s underground regions, particularly the areas surrounding the Eternal Cities of Nokstella and Nokron.
The Bigger Picture: Why This DLC Matters
Since its launch, Nightreign has received several significant updates, including enhanced difficulty through Everdark Sovereign versions of Nightlord bosses and the challenging Deep of Night mode. The Forsaken Hollows represents the game’s first substantial paid expansion, and it’s clear FromSoftware is treating Nightreign as a platform for celebrating its greatest hits from across the Soulsborne catalog.
Critics have praised the expansion as exactly what fans have been requesting, though some note the content package may be smaller than initially hoped. For dedicated players who’ve invested heavily in the game – particularly those with consistent co-op groups—this represents essential new content worth clearing your schedule for.
How to Get Your Hands on It
The Forsaken Hollows launches December 4, 2025, across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. The expansion costs $15 as a standalone purchase.
If you already own or purchase the Deluxe or Collector’s editions of Elden Ring Nightreign, you’ll automatically receive the DLC at launch without additional cost. Players who pre-purchase The Forsaken Hollows before December 3 will receive bonus downloadable apps including a digital artbook and mini soundtrack.
Important note: FromSoftware has warned players to avoid duplicate purchases, as the previously available Deluxe Upgrade Pack store page has been replaced with The Forsaken Hollows listing. The base game of Elden Ring Nightreign is required to access the DLC content.
What Should You Expect?
If you’re a Nightreign veteran, you know the drill: each expedition throws different challenges at you as you race against the encroaching Night’s Tide. The layout of Limveld remains consistent in its overall structure, but enemies, loot drops, and boss encounters shift and randomize with each session. When you enter Limveld, your character always starts at level one, requiring you to defeat enemies for runes and locate Sites of Grace to level up before facing the expedition’s challenges.
The Forsaken Hollows expands this formula with fresh variables. You’ll need to master the new Nightfarers’ abilities, adapt to the altered geography of The Great Hollow, and develop strategies for confronting both brand-new bosses and reimagined versions of classic FromSoftware encounters.
For newcomers wondering whether to jump in, Nightreign offers three-player cooperative action where teams work together, choosing from a cast of unique characters to face overwhelming threats. Combat builds on the baseline Elden Ring foundation with notable adjustments: fall damage has been removed, movement speed has increased for faster exploration, and revival mechanics differ from the main game. The focus on teamwork and synergy between different Nightfarer abilities creates a distinct experience from the solo-focused original Elden Ring.
The Bottom Line
FromSoftware continues demonstrating why it remains the undisputed master of challenging action RPGs. The Forsaken Hollows delivers precisely what the Nightreign community has been requesting: expanded variety through new playable characters, fresh boss encounters drawing from the studio’s legendary catalog, and environmental changes that keep each expedition feeling distinct.
The expansion promises an unknown threat emerging in Limveld alongside the new Shifting Earth event, setting up narrative hooks for what comes next. Whether you’re a hardcore Soulsborne veteran eager to face Artorias once again, or a Nightreign enthusiast hungry for new content to master with your co-op crew, December 4 can’t come soon enough.
Mark your calendars, Nightfarers. The hollow awaits, and with it, some of the most punishing—and rewarding—challenges FromSoftware has crafted for its multiplayer experiment. Steel your resolve. This hunt must be seen to its end.
You can also check out our other Nightreign articles to shorten the waiting time.
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