My first time playing Elden Ring Nightreign, I was stressed the hell out. My team and I were in an underground dungeon, trying to make our way past traps and dangerous blind corners, all while knowing there was an invisible clock ominously ticking down above our heads. If we were still underground when it hit zero a deadly storm called Night’s Tide would close in, potentially trapping us. That kind of anxiety was exactly what Elden Ring combat designer and Nightreign’s game director Junya Ishizaki had in mind.

Speaking with Ishizaki after my time with the game, I was surprised to learn one of the main inspirations for Nightreign – a co-op focused PvE action game – was the board game Pandemic. Ishizaki said that one of the things he enjoyed about Pandemic, which he later incorporated into Nightreign, was the idea of playing under pressure. “When you come up against these seemingly insurmountable odds, it’s up to the player to choose how to use their time in order to overcome the seemingly impossible challenge,” he explained.

The tension between whether to continue through the dungeon as the HP-draining Night’s Tide storm slowly closed in, or to cut bait and run, was …

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