Elden Ring Nightreign Now Outrates Shadow of the Erdtree on Steam

By early 2026, Elden Ring Nightreign remains one of FromSoftware's most unusual success stories. On Metacritic, the cooperative survival spin-off has drawn a user score of about 6.4, leaving it among the lowest-rated FromSoftware titles of the past decade. Critical reception has been mixed as well. Yet Steam tells a very different story. The game currently sits at Mostly Positive, and its rating has climbed above Shadow of the Erdtree, an expansion frequently praised as one of the best DLC releases in recent memory.

A closer look at the SteamDB figures makes the contrast even clearer. Elden Ring Nightreign has a rating of 77.69 percent, with 78.61 percent of its Steam reviews marked as positive. Shadow of the Erdtree, by comparison, holds a SteamDB rating of 69.66 percent and a positive review share of 70.29 percent. A widely shared Reddit observation from user Offisapup first drew attention to this gap, and the numbers have continued to support the same trend.

Metric	Elden Ring Nightreign	Shadow of the Erdtree
SteamDB rating	77.69%	69.66%
Positive Steam review share	78.61%	70.29%
Review volume	Fewer total reviews	Over 10k more reviews

There is, of course, an important caveat. Shadow of the Erdtree has accumulated more than ten thousand additional Steam reviews compared with Nightreign. Would a larger sample size close the gap entirely? It is difficult to imagine the swing being that dramatic, but the volume difference does mean the comparison should be read with some caution. Even so, a multiplayer-focused title outperforming a beloved single-player expansion on Steam is not the outcome most observers would have predicted when Nightreign was first announced.

So why are Steam players reacting more warmly to Nightreign than Metacritic users? One answer lies in the type of experience each release provides. Nightreign is built around co-op play, rapid three-day cycles, and a cast of heroes such as Wylder, the fighter shown readying a melee strike in widely shared footage. That loop can feel chaotic at first, especially for groups that do not coordinate well. But as players have learned the rhythm of each run, the game has become more approachable. Player familiarity has gradually turned early frustration into a smoother cooperative rhythm.

In contrast, Shadow of the Erdtree has faced growing criticism for its difficulty. Some Steam reviews call out hard-hitting bosses that punish even veteran Elden Ring players. Others describe portions of the expansion's open world as feeling empty. Nightreign is certainly not without its problems, but it is not the most demanding game FromSoftware has produced. When a squad knows what it is doing, a Nightreign run tends to feel more like a fast, tactical puzzle than a brutal endurance test. That difference in difficulty helps explain why the multiplayer spin-off is earning goodwill in the same community that once celebrated Shadow of the Erdtree.

Another factor may have nudged Shadow of the Erdtree downward. Its nomination for Game of the Year in 2024 drew pushback from some Elden Ring fans who questioned whether an expansion should compete in that category. That debate may have influenced a portion of the expansion's user reviews, adding a layer of score-based criticism that had little to do with the actual gameplay. Nightreign, by comparison, entered 2026 without the same award-season baggage. It has been judged more directly on whether its loop is fun, and for a growing number of Steam players, the answer has been yes.

Could this shift continue? If FromSoftware supports Nightreign with balance updates, new Nightfarers, and additional Nightlord encounters, the Steam rating might remain stable or improve. Shadow of the Erdtree still has an enormous player base and a massive review count, so its 69.66 percent rating is not a sign of failure. It simply shows that even the most acclaimed expansions can be pulled down by difficulty complaints and expectation-driven backlash.

For a professional observer, the lesson is clear. Metacritic scores capture a broad and often reactionary slice of audience sentiment, while Steam reviews come from players who have actually spent time in the game long enough to form an opinion. Nightreign's Mostly Positive rating is not a fluke. It reflects a dedicated group of players who understood what the game was trying to do, learned its systems, and found a co-op loop that stands on its own beside the more traditional Elden Ring experience. Whether the wider critical conversation ever catches up remains uncertain, but on Steam, Nightreign has already made its case.