The Night Reign expansion of the grand fantasy RPG from FromSoftware, Elden Ring, has garnered a nomination in the category of the Best Multiplayer Game at the renowned Golden Joystick Awards. The developers shared the good news and their excitement to be a part of the “great games” category and to be able to encourage the fans to vote for them by posting the official voting link on their social media.
Most of the gaming community considers the nomination to be a surprise because the multiplayer features of the game have always been a mixed blessing, getting both praise and criticism at the same time. The co-op and PvP aspects of the game have united a very committed group of players, but at the same time, there is always the discussion going on about the improvements that are needed.
The comments to the announcement Twitter post reveal the wide range of views about the nomination. One gamer, Fart Giggleson, simply said “All it needs is crossplay.” The comment seemed to point to what many see as a lacking feature, one that, if added, could really boost the multiplayer experience. The debate over the current multiplayer system is really widespread across the gaming community.
On the other hand, there are the people who do not want to see the same changes coming at all. One user referred to voice chat and text and Iemonium said, “Pings could use some innovations and maybe some chat commands would be good but actual chat? God no.” The exchange is a perfect illustration of the division in the community as to what the good multiplayer features in a game like Elden Ring are.
The situation gets even more interesting with international responses. There is a whole Arabic thread where the users Abdulmalek and Nameless King are discussing the worthiness of the nomination or not. One claims, “It’s an achievement if they get nominated for Game of the Year or if they win best multiplayer game,” while the other thinks that being nominated is not so great. They keep on about the nomination’s worth, one even calling the Golden Joystick Awards “weak awards without competition.”
Oops! What was I saying? Oh, right, the multiplayer aspect. Elden Ring’s multiplayer has been a mixture of different features, let’s say. One can’t simply say that it is the classic matchmaking system where players just queue and get into a game. The system involves using specific items, summon signs, and all that. The difference in approach has found its advocates and critics. The circumstance that it is being nominated for the Best Multiplayer Game Award beside what are most likely the more traditional multiplayer genres, is quite frankly crazy.
Moreover, there is a realization of the tight competition in the category, exemplified by a comment from one user who goes by the name of Nagger, who remarked that “Bf6’ll be a winner in this category tbh,” implying that Battlefield 6 would be more worthy of the prize. This emphasizes that, despite the official tweet not specifying which other games besides the Night Reign expansion are up for the award, the competition will be very tough.
The Night Reign expansion has received unbelievably positive feedback from gamers since its release; besides in the new areas, bosses, and as the expansion of the multiplayer elements that was both a cause for the nomination and a double-edged sword award. The players are exploring the new content deeply, working on their builds, and even completely conquering the new world that continues the saga of Elden Ring.
The most captivating part of this situation is that a game that was mainly perceived as a single-player experience is now being praised for its multiplayer features. Elden Ring was not marketed as a multiplayer game, nevertheless, the community managed to develop an amazing ecosystem around co-op and PvP combat. The invasion system, the cooperative boss fights, the messages left for other players – all these create a unique social experience that is not offered in any other gaming realm at the moment.
You can now vote on the Golden Joystick Awards website, and it will be fascinating to see if and how the community supports this nomination. Given the strong emotional attachment the players of Elden Ring have with the game, there is bound to be a strong urge to win. But it is still unclear whether the game’s non-traditional approach to multiplayer management will be enough to cope with the other major multiplayer games of today.
To sum up, even if Elden Ring does not win, the nomination itself is enough to present the game’s multiplayer aspect in a very favorable light in the eyes of both the industry and the community. It certainly is not the best possible scenario, but it is a valuable one nonetheless, and it has been able to attract millions of players worldwide. The new release of Night Reign is a clear signal of the commitment of FromSoftware to continue evolving the features that they introduced and that, based on customer feedback and recognition from the Golden Joystick Awards, there may be hundreds more advanced processes coming soon. The game is available on PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
