Souls Games With Better Co-Op Than Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign’s co-op gameplay is tense and demanding, requiring skill and teamwork to master. However, its casual, straight-to-the-action approach is completely at odds with the Soulslike subgenre that spawned it. Souls games aren’t usually a frantic scramble for the boss, before moving on to the next one.

In most Souls adventures, a boss encounter is the culmination of a smaller journey through a very bleak area, one that’s best enjoyed with allies watching your back. So, if Nightreign’s rougelike action isn’t doing it for you, and you prefer a more traditional approach to Souls co-op, then you’re in luck. Various Souls and Soulslike games did co-op better than Nightreign. Here are the very best.

10 Nioh 2

Samurai Souls

Nioh 2 is one of the best Soulslike games set in feudal Japan and expanded on the first game in all the right ways. It was also able to borrow the best elements from the Dark Souls series and put its own spin on them, such as improving co-op. While Nioh also had a fun co-op system, this sequel's Expedition Mode took it to new heights, letting three players tackle a mission together, culminating in an epic brawl with the area boss. Even Nioh 3 didn't manage to outshine Nioh 2 when it came to co-op.

The reason why Nioh 2 has better co-op than Nightreign is that players get to appraise their loot at the end of the run, switching out their gear for better armor and weapons before tackling the next mission/boss. Nightreign doesn't let players do this, forcing them to start again at the end of every run, a system that isn't everyone's cup of tea. Those of us who take pride in our buildcrafting were especially alienated by Nightreign.

9 Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Final Fantasy, But With a Dark Soul

So Stranger of Paradise didn't exactly set the world on fire when it released in 2022, but this Souls-style retelling of the original Final Fantasy hid a surprisingly great co-op mode. You explore the world with your two AI allies, but at any time you can switch these out for other players, making gameplay far more tactical, engaging, and personal.

Sure, there's not so many people still playing it in 2026, but if you want to buddy up with some friends and play some Soulslike co-op with a Final Fantasy theme, then this is still the best place to do that. The fact is, Elden Ring Nightreign doesn't let you go hunting for Tonberries with your friends, something we never knew we needed until Stranger of Paradise came along.

8 Code Vein

Biting Back

Code Vein is a flashy, over-the-top action game rather than a more methodical, slower-paced Soulslike. Players take control of a vampire trying to survive the apocalypse with a gory anime art style, and things often feel closer to Devil May Cry than Elden Ring. However, it spends much more time world-building than Nightreign does, so it will appeal to the more traditional Souls co-op fans, who want to explore before tackling the area boss together.

Co-op battles are where the game shines brightest, featuring some twisted creatures that will take all your cunning and skill to bring low. They'd also make any Night Lord cower in fear. It’s a shame Code Vein 2 didn’t contain co-op gameplay, leaving the original as the only challenger to Nightreign in the series.

7 Dark Souls

The Godfather

While 2009’s Demon’s Souls did it first, 2011’s Dark Souls arguably perfected FromSoftware’s co-op system. Bosses were fearsome obstacles to overcome and having a second or third player go into battle alongside you made things slightly less intimidating, especially when your co-op partners knew what they were doing. Ornstein and Smough could be a nightmare for a solo player, but with a "Sun Bro" having your back, It's payback time.

Anyone who’s been stuck on a Souls boss will know the feeling of standing outside a fog gate, waiting for a Summon Sign to appear, then the joy of seeing your savior materialize and bow to you. Of course, this was no guarantee of victory, but teamwork makes the dream work. This feeling has been lost in Nightreign, where co-op is a given, so the original Dark Souls gets the flowers getting us started on this gods-killing journey.

6 Dark Souls 2

Epic Battles, Flawed Sequel

Everything we said about Dark Souls also applies to Dark Souls 2, just on a grander scale. While Dark Souls 2 wasn’t as well-received as other challenging Souls sequels, it had some stellar co-op moments that no Souls game has been able to match to this day – and that includes Nightreign. The standout moment is the battle against the Ivory King, who summons a small army of goons to go into battle with him. Things look bleak, like they do in The Lord of the Rings at the battle of Helm's Deep, but much like Aragorn, you soon realize you're not alone: the cavalry is coming.

You see, the player can recruit some NPC allies, who have waited thousands of years to make sure the Ivory King doesn’t return from death and are ready to send him back. This fight is a far cry from the one-on-one David-versus-Goliath duels Dark Souls is known for, and becomes even more of an epic brawl if you recruit some co-op partners. Heading into this showdown with a squad at your back is an exhilarating moment for Souls co-op fans.

5 Dark Souls 3

Mob Mentality

Are we going to cover the whole Dark Souls trilogy? You betcha. Dark Souls 3 looks and plays much more smoothly than its PS3-era predecessors and is one of the hardest Dark Souls games. So, naturally, this made multiplayer more electric, with fights becoming more visceral and fast-paced. Believe it or not, it was Dark Souls 3’s PvP multiplayer that elevated its co-op moments. You see, this was a game where players would pledge their allegiance to covenants in a way that they hadn’t in earlier games.

This created PvP hotspots where players would invade others in droves, calling their covenant allies to come and join in the mobbing. This meant that players who came under attack would call on their covenant team members for aid, essentially creating Dark Souls gang warfare. Summoned allies needed to protect the host player at all costs, while opposing players sought to kill them quickly to snag the victory, leading to some of the most frantic co-op gameplay the series has ever seen. With Nightreign not offering PvP, the game has never been able to replicate this.

4 Bloodborne

Ruthless Aggression

Bloodborne took the Dark Souls template, injected some Lovecraftian nightmare fuel, and turned things up a notch in the action department. Forget circling your opponent with your shield up – this was a game that rewarded aggression, and that suited co-op gameplay beautifully. Even Nightreign’s monstrous encounters can’t hold a candle to many of Bloodborne’s horrifying boss battles, and there’s nothing more exciting than walking into one with one or two co-op partners by your side.

A rougelike game simply cannot match the atmosphere and sense of dread that Bloodborne brings to the table. The speed and brutality of Bloodborne somehow make this even more satisfying than any of FromSoftware’s earlier games, but without descending into the arcade game feel that Nightreign offers. Summon some allies when battling Mergo's Wet Nurse in Bloodborne, then try and have something in Nightreign compare to this.

3 Demon’s Souls (2020)

Back to Basics, and Brilliance

The remake of Demon’s Souls took things back to basics, but in the best way possible. Gone were the covenants and epic boss battles, but in their place, Demon’s Souls used the power of the PS5 to bring traditional Souls co-op to a new generation of fans who may have missed it the first time around in 2009.

By 2020, players had experienced Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, and were hungry for more Souls action. Demon’s Souls delivered this with production values that even Elden Ring never managed to top, and this applies to the far more casual-friendly Nightreign, too. For the first time in over a decade, players were forming small bands to tackle legendary bosses like the imposing Tower Knight, the tragic Old King Allant, and the terrifying Flamelurker. The Demon’s Souls remake also primed players and allowed them to sharpen their skills before Elden Ring came along and changed the game forever.

2 The Lords of the Fallen (2023)

Running With the Baton

Being both a sequel and a reboot of Lords of the Fallen (2014), this game was far more than a Dark Souls clone. While not designed by FromSoftware, like Elden Ring Nightreign, The Lords of the Fallen was also a dark and gothic tale set in a world beset by monsters. Players take control of the Lampbearer, guiding them through an interconnected world rather than a fully open world like Elden Ring. What truly set The Lords of the Fallen apart from the rest, though, was its approach to co-op gameplay.

Unlike FromSoftware’s Souls games, which saw players ejected from a host’s world once a boss has been defeated, The Lords of the Fallen offers a seamless experience where players can explore the whole game together from start to finish, something Dark Souls fans had been crying out for. This mechanic was especially useful to friends who wanted to co-op the whole adventure, rather than seeing them summoned before each boss over and over again. While The Lords of the Fallen borrowed much from the Dark Souls games, it’ll be interesting to see if FromSoftware’s next Souls adventure borrows this feature for its co-op gameplay.

1 Elden Ring

The Game-Changer

While Nightreign offers a co-op-focused experience without the usual trappings of a Soulslike game, its brisk pace and lack of build progression have alienated some Souls fans, who prefer the traditional approach – and this includes co-op gameplay. Sure, Nightreign’s rougelike gameplay and massive boss fights are thrilling, but encounters can often feel disposable when compared to the original Elden Ring’s carefully curated battles in an engaging open world. While co-op in earlier games was often seen as a crutch to get through difficult bosses and areas, Elden Ring actively encouraged and rewarded it, even creating enemies that were designed to be battled by multiple players, like Radahn.

All bosses in Elden Ring could be defeated solo, but taking them on with allies just added to the fun, with the game ramping up the challenge to accommodate all comers. Some co-op players became legends, with their exploits getting mythologized in forums and on YouTube. Figures like this created a cult following and were petitioned by players to help them defeat tough bosses like Malenia.

It was Elden Ring’s encouragement of co-op that ultimately led to the development of Nightreign, with that being one of the game’s jewels in its Elden Crown. However, Nightreign can never beat the feeling of assembling your own team of Avengers in the Lands Between and having each of them walk through the fog together.