Elden Ring: Nightreign - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We have tested the released Elden Ring: Nightreign on maximum graphics settings with video cards of the GeForce RTX 20, 30, 40 and 50 series, as well as Radeon RX 6000, 7000 and 9000. Also, during the tests we conducted, we assessed the quality of the graphic display of the game itself.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
ELDEN RING: NIGHTREIGN — a story add-on to the original Elden Ring, made on an engine of our own design with extended support for DirectX 12. The DLC scales the visual settings for modern and outdated video cards, while maintaining the overall style, gravitating towards gothic fantasy and the gloomy atmosphere of an open world.
System Requirements
The minimum
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-10600 / AMD Ryzen 5 5500
• RAM: 12 GB
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 580 (4 GB)
• DirectX: 12
• Storage: 30 GB
• Sound Card: Compatible with Windows
Recommended
• OS: Windows 11 (64 bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-11500 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600
• RAM: 16 GB
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB) / AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (8 GB)
• DirectX: 12
• Storage: 30 GB
• Sound Card: Compatible with Windows
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
Elden Ring: Nightreign is a spin-off of the original project, growing out of an idea for a co-op mode that never made it into the main game. After the massive success of Elden Ring, the developers began to consider creating a parallel branch that would focus on session interaction and team survival, but would still retain the overall feel of the world and combat system. In the early stages, the project was simply an experiment with procedural arenas and adapting combat mechanics to short play sessions. However, internal testing showed that the idea could develop into a standalone game.
One of the main problems during development was the attempt to combine two incompatible genres: a role-playing game with deep builds and a roguelike structure with constant progress resets. A compromise solution was adopted: to remove the usual leveling and replace it with temporary improvements within each game session. This also affected the structure of the world - it is no longer open, as in the original. Instead, a "three-day" scheme was used, where each day is a separate zone with increasing difficulty and a new boss at the end. This architecture was dictated by technical limitations and the desire to maintain the pace of the session.
The project was initially created with multiplayer in mind. It was based on the idea of well-coordinated teamwork: each of the three players has their own role, and only a competent distribution of resources and responsibilities allows you to get to the final boss. However, it was decided to keep the single-player mode. This required the introduction of adaptive difficulty and AI assistants, but in practice, single-player play turned out to be more difficult than in the studio's classic games - due to the session format and the constant threat of failure after death.
The limited number of preset heroes caused discontent among a part of the audience accustomed to deep customization. The developers decided to focus not on the variety of builds, but on clearly balanced roles, which made balancing easier. Each character was created for a specific function in the team: crowd control, damage, protection, healing. During testing, it was revealed that combinations of builds critically affect success, and an unsuitable composition can make some sessions almost impossible.
A separate scenario framework was developed - not as a linear plot, but as a background mythology. The player is not given long introductions: the narrative is presented through the environment, zone names, and enemy design. This decision simplified the integration of procedural generation and eliminated the need to rework the scene for each new location option. However, many found the very idea of an "alternative Limgrave" controversial, which looks like the original but lacks recognizable points. This blurring of geography caused some players to feel like a modified copy, rather than a new chapter.
The optimization process turned out to be more complicated than planned. Co-op, procedural generation and constant change of conditions created too high a load on the server and client. There were problems with synchronization of enemies, jerks of players, desynchronization of hits. By the release, most of them were fixed, but the technical condition still raises questions. Also, the project does not have cross-platform play, which for a multiplayer project with a limited user base creates risks of a decrease in online in a few months.
| GRAPHICS |
Nightreign uses the same visual foundation as the original Elden Ring, but adapts it to new challenges. First of all, it had to abandon the solid open world - instead, a system of procedural areas built from modular blocks was used. This allowed to simplify the structure of levels and provide variability, but visually many zones look the same. They are filled with repeating ruins, similar trees, rock formations. Despite the technical work, the world feels less alive and developed than in the main game.
The lighting model has been revised to create a tense atmosphere. There is almost no daylight here - instead, twilight, night, rain, and fog prevail. This supports the feeling of hopelessness, but also reduces the readability of the scene. Some areas seem overexposed - it is difficult for players to distinguish enemies against the background of the environment. This is especially true for areas with a large number of effects - dust, rain, fog, sparks. Often, visual overload prevents adequate reaction in battle.
The enemy models remain well-designed, but the variety leaves much to be desired. Since sessions are structured around three in-game days and zones are shuffled, many enemies are repeated. Even bosses differ mostly in numerical stats across sessions, rather than unique animations or behavior. This reduces the sense of scale, especially if players encounter the same archetypes multiple times in a row.
The animation of movements, rolls and strikes is preserved from the original, but adapted for the network format. This led to longer telegraphs and more noticeable pauses - they are introduced for correct synchronization, but make the gameplay less dynamic. Some strikes seem drawn out, as if deliberately stretched out to give players a chance to react, especially in co-op. This disrupts the pace of combat, especially in comparison with the studio's solo games, where everything was built on reflexes and timing.
Spell and skill effects have been reworked for spectacle, but sometimes performance suffers. On weaker configurations, explosions, spell shadows, and reflections on wet ground cause FPS drops. The console version on base Xbox One and PS4 models shows strong simplifications of shadows, low draw distance, and unstable frame rate. The PS5 and Series X version runs much smoother, but is also not ideal in battles with several large enemies.
The interface has been redesigned to be more compact, but this makes it harder to read when there is a high density of objects on the screen. Notifications about buffs, team status, and resources are compressed into a small panel, making them almost impossible to look at during combat. Inventory navigation and abilities remain minimalist, but suffer from frequent delays when switching - especially when using a controller.
| GAME ENGINE |
Nightreign's engine is based on the same internal technology as Elden Ring, but has been heavily modified to support network sessions, procedural generation, and reduce the load on the client. The main challenge was synchronizing the combat physics. In the original game, everything was calculated locally, and the timing of attacks depended only on the player's reactions. Here, all interactions go through the server, which introduces a small delay. This delay is especially noticeable when blocking, parrying, and rolling - the player often takes damage despite the correct dodge animation.
The physics model of battles has been simplified. Many details, such as weapon weight deviation, rotation inertia, armor resistance, have been cut or smoothed out. This is done to make battles predictable online. As a result, battles seem more straightforward, less dependent on small nuances. This is especially noticeable on heavy classes, which now move faster and more easily than in the original. The fine line between "slow but powerful" and "fast but weak" has disappeared.
Procedural zone generation works through pre-set templates. The world is not created completely randomly, but assembled from modular elements. This allows for balanced passages, enemies, and loot, but at the same time makes the maps recognizable. It’s hard to feel like you’re in a unique place if every other turn leads to a familiar structure. Also, the generator doesn’t always place enemies adequately — there can be bugs with enemies getting stuck in textures or falling off the level’s boundaries.
Engine optimization for different platforms is partially implemented. The game runs stably on new consoles and PC, but suffers from frequent drops on base consoles of the previous generation. The reason is the high density of effects and the complex structure of lighting. In some areas, the number of particles and light exceeds the technical capabilities of the device, causing a drop in FPS to 25-30 frames in battle. On PC, the game behaves better, but with frame generation enabled and high resolution, sharp drops are also possible.
Enemy AI is simplified compared to the original. Behavior is built on three threat levels, and rarely adapts to the player's style. This is justified by the session nature, where tempo is more important than depth of behavior. However, this reduces the uniqueness of enemies - they often act according to the same patterns. Exceptions are bosses, where predetermined phases and attacks are used, but even they become predictable after several playthroughs.
There is no mod support or engine expansion yet. Updates and events are planned centrally, and the game is not open to user-generated content. There is also no replay system, photo mode, or battle editor. All this makes Nightreign a closed project, focused on in-game activity, but not on developing a community outside of it.
| QUALITY |
At minimum settings The quality of textures and shadows is noticeably reduced: surfaces look blurrier, materials lose volume, and object models are simplified. Lighting is static, with minimal scattering effect, reflections are disabled or replaced with screen-spatial ones. The drawing distance and density of vegetation are limited, weather effects (fog, ash, snow) look primitive and have almost no effect on the scene. Combat animation remains smooth, but the visual effects of spells and blows are significantly simplified.
On high settings Enhanced lighting, soft shadows, and improved materials are activated. The visual depth of scenes is enhanced by dynamic fog, detailed vegetation, and weather effects. Characters' clothing and armor are displayed with maximum detail, while magic and impacts create rich light splashes and particles. Dungeons and ruins gain volume, while day and night light enrich the scene with color temperature and depth. Overall, the picture becomes more cinematic and expressive.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
Asus GeForce RTX 5070 TUF Gaming OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade 48GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
|
Cases and cooling |
|
| Software configuration |
|
| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 576.52 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.5.1 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with maximum graphics quality settings without upscaling. The game has a 60 frame lock.
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080; other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any positions of video cards. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (by default, the most productive solution is selected). The test is carried out on the most powerful CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Max
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the level Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the level Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the level Radeon RX 6900 XT or GeForce RTX 4070.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the MSI Afterburner program. The results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at separate screen resolutions of 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with different anti-aliasing settings were taken as an indicator. By default, the most current solutions are displayed in the graph. Other video cards are added and removed from the graph at the reader's request.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Max
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Intel Core i5-10600
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Intel Core i5-10600
- Max
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 12 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 8 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The indicator was taken as all used RAM. The RAM test on the all system was conducted on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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