Fan-favorite Elden Ring companion won’t return in Nightreign

While Torrent the horse won’t return for Elden Ring Nightreign, the game’s director believes the new traversal system will make up for it.

Torrent plays a pivotal part in both Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. On top of being useful for navigating the open-world map, the noble steed also proves essential in some combat scenarios.

But the upcoming Nightreign co-op adventure will offer a different kind of Elden Ring experience, one wherein runs may last no longer than 45 minutes.

Given the drastic shift in moment-to-moment action, developer FromSoftware opted to reimagine past traversal mechanics, which means a certain someone will sit on the sidelines during Nightreign.

Elden Ring Nightreign director says players won’t need a horse

During a preview event for Nightreign, Director Junya Ishizaki confirmed to journalists that players won’t have access to a horse in the new game.

Ishizaki said (via Dot Esports) that the team hopes Nightreign players will make the most of the “new traversal techniques,” before noting that traversal and exploration have changed along with “game speed and game feel.”

“We hope players enjoy using the sprinting and mounting system and Spectral Hawks to get around the map. In these ways, we have tried to change around the traversal, and in many ways, it does feel speedier than riding Torrent when you go back to playing Elden Ring,” the developer continued.

Bandai Namco

Elden Ring Nightreign’s smaller map and faster-paced gameplay may make riding a horse less of a necessity. However, what’s known about the Spectral Hawks Ishizaki referenced suggests players won’t be hurting for an animal ally to help with traversal.

These creatures will be accessible at various points around the map, where they’ll spawn to fly users to specific locations.

Select players will get to see how this all pans out in the coming days when Nightreign’s Network Test kicks off on February 14.