Elden Ring Nightreign’s first big DLC is out — but is it worth the price?

Why The Forsaken Hollows actually matters – and why it caught my attention

The Forsaken Hollows is Elden Ring Nightreign’s first major paid expansion, and it lands where it counts: endgame. This caught my attention because Nightreign’s loop is built on repeatable runs, so adding fresh bosses and enemy archetypes directly targets the part of the game veterans were most likely to exhaust. It’s not just fluff – it’s designed to extend the hardest, most replayed hours for people who’ve already learned the base game’s patterns.

• New high-difficulty content: two Nightfarers and two Day Three bosses raise the ceiling for veterans.
• Environmental variety: a new Shifting Earth event expands procedural layouts, keeping runs feeling unpredictable.
• Quality-of-life fixes in update 1.03 make run prep and combat more reliable for everyone.
• Pricing is tiered – included in Deluxe, paid for standard owners; a Fanatical sale has already discounted both.

Breaking down what’s actually in The Forsaken Hollows

On paper the expansion is focused and sensible: two new Nightfarers (the recurring enemy type players dread and love), plus two new Day Three bosses — the latter being the toughest rung in Nightreign’s roguelike ladder. There’s also a new Shifting Earth event that carves a “great cavity” into Limgrave, opening dungeon-like spaces that alter how a run plays out. For a game that thrives on environmental surprises, that’s the sort of procedural tweak that can meaningfully change strategies.

Update 1.03 is mandatory and arrives with essential QoL additions: a title-screen indicator for DLC ownership, a character menu that now shows equipped relics before you jump into a run, Fire Pots added to the Spirit Shelter shop, and a fix for target-lock issues tied to Raider’s ultimate art. These are the sorts of small but concrete improvements that matter in a loop-based game where prep and targeting reliability affect run outcomes.

Why this matters to Nightreign players

If you’ve already played dozens of runs, learned enemy tells and optimized relic combos, The Forsaken Hollows gives you new variables to shake up that knowledge. New Nightfarers mean new attack patterns to adapt to mid-run; new Day Three bosses provide a fresh apex test for those speedrunners and coop squads chasing top-tier clears. The Shifting Earth variant is particularly important — when procedural levels start repeating, one well-placed variant can buy dozens more hours of meaningful play.

Because Nightreign is cooperative-first, these additions will ripple through group play. Expect teams to rework roles and synergies to handle area hazards and boss mechanics the expansion introduces. That’s exactly where a roguelike-soulslike hybrid can stay alive: by giving groups new puzzles to solve together, not just harder damage numbers to trade blows with.

Pricing, value and the current sale

Bandai Namco’s approach is straightforward: The Forsaken Hollows is included for Deluxe Edition owners and sold as a paid upgrade for standard owners. The press materials list Deluxe at around £47.99, while the standalone upgrade is roughly £13. That’s a reasonable ask for a sizable content update that changes endgame variety rather than just slapping on cosmetics.

If you’re shopping right now, Fanatical is running a post-launch sale: Nightreign Deluxe Edition is listed at $48.39 / £42.23, and The Forsaken Hollows standalone is $13.20 / £11.44. That makes the Deluxe bundle a safer buy if you’re thinking long term and want any future expansions bundled in.

What I’m skeptical about — and what I want to see next

The expansion wisely avoids overpromising, but the press material also keeps some elements intentionally vague. “Unspecified additional features” is a classic move to preserve discovery, but it also leaves players wondering whether future content will remain substantive or drift toward lighter, monetized add-ons. FromSoftware’s pedigree gives me confidence the core additions will be meaningful — but I want clarity on the long-term roadmap. Will future DLC follow this “focused but meaty” pattern, or will we get smaller paid drops that nibble at the game’s systems?

Another practical question: how balanced will Day Three bosses be across solo and coop runs? Nightreign has always leaned into co-op, and bosses that only feel fair with a four-player team risk alienating solo veterans. Early community reports will tell us fast.

TL;DR

The Forsaken Hollows is a smart first expansion: targeted, endgame-focused, and supported by useful QoL patches. It’s a sensible buy for veterans who want fresh challenges and a good reason to jump back in. The real test will be how FromSoftware sequences future updates — if they keep shipping compact, meaningful expansions like this, Nightreign’s life as a live service looks promising. If they fragment content into cheap micro-drops, players will be justified in pushing back.