In a new video about hidden or poorly explained Elden Ring Nightreign character mechanics, FromSoft LoreTuber-in-Chief VaatiVidya revealed that the new game’s default, John DarkSouls character, Wylder, actually has some fighting game-worthy combos and movement tech.
The tricks were first outlined months ago during Nightreign’s network test by user OnslaughtCasualty42 on the FromSoftware subreddit. In the delightfully named “A Dogshit Guide to Make Wylder Fly,” OnslaughtCasualty42 outlines how Wylder’s ultimate ability with the Guts arm cannon has some surprising interactions and combos with his jump and grappling hook.
The marquee one, shown off by Vaati, is to pull yourself forward with the grapple, do a 180° turn, and fire off the ultimate to launch yourself even farther forward like a Quake rocket jump. It reminds me most of the kind of wild movement tech and offstage recovery combos you see in Super Smash Bros. Melee, like the Reverse Temple Jump.
It honestly has pretty limited utility in actual Nightreign gameplay though: Maybe to clear a chasm quickly with no spirit spring around, get to the top of a fort from a nearby mountain, or quickly escape the danger zone as the circle closes in. But who cares—it’s rad as hell.
Nightreign gets most things right and a few things bafflingly, disastrously wrong, but its roster of Souls dudes is unimpeachably excellent. They look sick, feel fun to play, and it’s starting to become apparent that they all have crazy-high fighting game skill ceilings with movement tech and hidden mechanics galore.
My favorite remains Johnny Katanas, the Executor, whose slow-moving Sekiro deflect stance demands that you learn when it’s time to tank, and when you should be DPSing. I hope FromSoft brings mechanics like these forward to character classes in its future mainline, single-player games.
