FromSoftware dropped The Forsaken Hollows on December 4th, marking the first (and only) paid expansion for Elden Ring Nightreign. After months of free updates that kept the community engaged, this $15 DLC promised fresh challenges, new characters, and unexplored depths beneath Limveld.
The reality? A package that delivers genuine gameplay innovation alongside some baffling content decisions that have sparked the most negative response to a FromSoftware release in recent memory.
Meet Your New Nightfarers
The expansion’s strongest asset arrives in the form of two playable characters who genuinely shake up team dynamics. The Scholar enters the fray as an academic who excels in arcane abilities and gains advantages through battlefield observation. His toolkit centers around the Analyze ability, which applies debuffs to enemies you keep in view, and Communion, his ultimate that links enemies so damaging one damages them all, while also doing the same for allies letting them share heals.
What makes Scholar compelling is how his Bagcraft passive allows you to level up the effectiveness of each consumable item category when you use something from that category. This transforms him into a strategic asset who rewards thoughtful item management and positioning. He’s fragile, yes, but that kind of sacrifice-now-and-benefit-later dynamic is really interesting and trades off trusting that your Scholar knows what they’re doing.
The Undertaker brings a completely different energy. Described as an abbess who was mandated to slay the Nightlord, boasting impressive strength and faith, she wields a hammer with surprising speed. Her signature feature is Confluence, a passive that whenever any other Nightfarer activates their ultimate, the Undertaker has a very brief window to use Loathsome Hex for free. With proper coordination, you can unleash as many as five ultimates with the Undertaker on the team.
Both characters demand new thinking about team composition. The Scholar requires patience from your entire squad while he sets up devastating combos. The Undertaker thrives on synchronized ultimate timing that turns coordinated groups into damage-dealing machines. These aren’t just stat variations on existing classes – they’re genuinely fresh approaches to Nightreign’s combat puzzle.
The Great Hollow: Beautiful But Constrained
The new Shifting Earth event transforms Limveld into something vertically ambitious. The Great Hollow stretches deep beneath Limveld, where cursed crystals emanate their malevolent aura, and ancient ruins left by the old folk stand silent. The area introduces a crystal curse mechanic that halves your HP if you don’t have the favor of the Great Hollow, which you earn by resonating with dark blue crystals scattered throughout the zone.
Visually, the Great Hollow impresses. The subterranean landscape features exotic ruins and a sense of scale that makes exploration feel genuinely different from base game Limveld. The problem? That same time pressure that makes Nightreign’s core loop so addictive becomes a constraint here. The Great Hollows would be fun to explore without the time crunch, but with that limitation, I feel no incentive to explore it at all, noted one disappointed player.
FromSoftware also leaned hard into their swamp obsession. The expansion adds Sleep Swamp, Poison Swamp, Madness Swamp, and Scarlet Rot Swamp as new points of interest. Whether you find this delightful or exasperating probably depends on your tolerance for FromSoftware’s trademark environmental hazards.
Boss Battles Old and New
The DLC introduces the Balancers as your primary expedition boss. This encounter pits Nightfarers up against multiple enemies, all of which are aggressive and demand a solid strategy built around movement that gives your comrades space but also communication that can enable you to shift priorities on a dime to help each other. After defeating the Balancers, you unlock access to the Dreglord, described as a composite corpse entity born from piled bodies and lingering resentment, acting as a roaming Expedition threat.
Perhaps more exciting for longtime Souls fans are the returning legends. Artorias is being added to the game. He’s one of the Dark Souls 1 DLC bosses, absolutely iconic and beloved. He’s joined by other familiar faces including Divine Beast Dancing Lion from Shadow of the Erdtree, along with the Curseblade and Divine Beast Warrior combination, as well as Mohg, Lord of Blood and the Demon Prince from Dark Souls 3.
These encounters provide genuine challenge and variety. Director Junya Ishizaki promised that whenever people who have played the main game extensively go into the DLC content, they’ll be able to have a bit of that feeling like they had when they first played Nightreign. For veterans seeking fresh tests of skill, the boss roster delivers.
The Ugly Truth: Where’s the Loot?
Here’s where things get uncomfortable. The Forsaken Hollows has become FromSoftware’s worst rated release on Steam, where the 47.7% user rating places the DLC at the very bottom, almost 10% below Ashes of Ariandel in Dark Souls 3. The Steam reviews currently sit at a “Mixed” rating with only 46% positive.
The overwhelming complaint? Equipment—or rather, the lack thereof. “How are there no new weapons besides the two signature weapons the new characters come with? And those are just a reskin of a basic hammer and a basic thrusting sword,” wrote one frustrated reviewer. Another echoed the sentiment: “Why didn’t they add the Elden Ring DLC weapons, Ashes of War, or spells? That feels like a MASSIVE mistake, and I am genuinely heartbroken that we can’t get those items in this game.”
The timing makes this particularly stinging. Shadow of the Erdtree introduced dozens of weapons, spells, and abilities that Nightreign players have been hoping to see. Instead, we’ve only confirmed two new weapons are available with The Forsaken Hollows on release. These are the default weapons for the Scholar and Undertaker.
FromSoftware has acknowledged the feedback. In a recent interview, director Junya Ishizaki indicated that they’ll try to improve it by bringing weapons in future updates. But that’s cold comfort for players who expected more substantial loot diversity in a paid expansion.
The Verdict
The Forsaken Hollows occupies an awkward middle ground. The new Nightfarers represent some of the most thoughtful character design in Nightreign, with mechanics that genuinely transform team dynamics and create exciting new strategies. The boss roster brings beloved legends back while introducing challenging new encounters. The Great Hollow looks stunning and adds welcome verticality to the experience.
But for a $15 expansion releasing six months after launch, the lack of equipment variety feels like a fundamental misread of what the community wanted. This isn’t about demanding Shadow of the Erdtree’s scale—it’s about providing the basic variety that keeps a loot-driven game exciting. When your expansion adds exactly two weapons, both of which are basic variations on existing types, you’ve missed something crucial about why people play these games.
The expansion functions as intended. The new characters work well, the bosses challenge appropriately, and the Great Hollow provides a fresh environment to master. But “I like the new content, but it’s not up to the standards I have begun to expect from FromSoftware,” as one reviewer noted. That sentiment captures The Forsaken Hollows perfectly—it’s good content that falls short of reasonable expectations.
For dedicated Nightreign players who’ve exhausted the base game and want fresh characters to master, the expansion offers genuine value. The Scholar and Undertaker alone justify exploration, especially for groups who communicate well. But if you’re hoping for a transformative addition to your arsenal or a significant expansion of Limveld’s scope, you’ll find yourself disappointed by what FromSoftware chose not to include.
The bones are solid. The execution is competent. The omissions are glaring. Whether future updates address the equipment drought will determine if The Forsaken Hollows is remembered as a misstep or simply a foundation that needed more time in development. For now, it’s a qualified recommendation that comes with a significant asterisk about managing your expectations.
… and don’t forget to check out our other Nightreign articles as well.
Leave a Reply