The major factor that sets Elden Ring: Nightreign apart from the base game is that it is designed to be a co-op experience. Instead of a long, primarily solo RPG adventure, you and two companions will rush through Limveld slaying bosses, getting loot, and hopefully surviving all three nights. While you could try your luck matchmaking with random players, your best bet at success is to get a group of friends together. FromSoftware games have notoriously obtuse matchmaking systems, and sadly, Elden Ring: Nightreign isn't much better. Here's how to play with your friends.
How to play with friends in Elden Ring: Nightreign
After beating the tutorial (or more likely dying), you will appear at the Roundtable Hold. This acts as your hub between runs and is where you set up matchmaking.
Before explaining how to start a party, you should know that Elden Ring: Nightreign is not a cross-platform game. This means that, no matter what, you can't form a party with someone on a different platform than the one you are on. You also need to pay attention to which boss you're targeting on your run. Besides just limiting which people you randomly matchmake with, anyone you want to team up with also needs to have that same boss selected.
Then there's the matter of the world state. Based on different events we won't spoil, your world state can change in multiple ways called Shifting Earth. This further fragments who you can match with because two players with different world states cannot team up. There are also eight different expedition playlists to further dilute the matchmaking pools.
If the stars have aligned and you and your friends have the same world state, boss selected, and are on the same platform, here's how to party up.
Step 1: Approach the Table of Lost Grace and select Commence Expedition.
Step 2: Hit the right bumper to view Matchmaking Settings.
Step 3: Either select Invite Members to invite players directly from your friends list or go Under *Multiplayer Password and enter a unique password.
Step 4: Send that password to your friends.
The only final note we need to make is one you likely already know. Nightreign can only be played solo or in groups of three, with no options for duos. If you set a password and only invite one friend, that third slot will be randomly filled before you can start the game.
