FromSoftware's next game is an Elden Ring spin-off called Nightreign, and it's coming next year

Thursday's Game Awards promised to be a night full of surprises, but one of the very biggest dropped near the beginning of the broadcast: FromSoftware isn't done with Elden Ring yet, and its next game will be out in 2025. Elden Ring: Nightreign is not Elden Ring 2: it's a standalone spin-off coming next year.

There's a lot to absorb from the trailer: it features a group of unique characters sprinting and climbing across a familiar-but-different interpretation of Elden Ring's starting zone of Limgrave. When a fiery blue circle engulfs the land, Nightreign looks an awful lot like a battle royale—but all the combat we see is a trio of players facing off against Elden Ring bosses, with no PvP in sight.

Nightreign's trailer prompts more questions than it gives answers, but I've got those for you. I went to Tokyo last week to play an early build of Nightreign and talk to FromSoftware about its new roguelike spin-off. Check these stories for more:

• Elden Ring: Nightreign hands-on: 6 hours with FromSoftware's wild new co-op roguelike action RPG remix
• What the heck is Elden Ring: Nightreign? Our big explainer covering new characters, loot, roguelike mechanics and more
• Elden Ring: Nightreign 'is not what we consider a live service game,' says FromSoftware: 'We wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package'
• If you want to play Elden Ring: Nightreign as soon as possible, good news: It'll have a Network Test next year