As players dive deeper into Elden Ring Nightreign’s endgame, they’ve been unlocking numerous skins FromSoftware has laid out as alternate options and rewards. It’s not too surprising how many of them are references to previous Souls games, but some of the deeper cuts are certainly interesting.
Souls YouTuber BonfireVN put together a side-by-side comparison of Elden Ring Nightreign’s Dark Souls skins with their origins in their respective Souls games. These skins unlock once you’ve cleared the final boss of Elden Ring Nightreign, and offer some big visual shake-ups for the various Nightfarers of the realm.
These “throwback” skins are callbacks to various pieces of Dark Souls history, mostly through NPCs and armor sets seen throughout the games. It’s a nice bit of nostalgia, and also a way to commemorate how Elden Ring carries the Souls torch forward. Some of the choices and details are fairly interesting to dig into, though, as BonfireVN shows.
The Guardian’s Solaire outfit, dubbed the Sunlight Knight Outfit, is a fairly obvious reference to everyone’s favorite Dark Souls 1 NPC. The Catarina Outfit for the Raider is a similarly clear reference, to Siegmeyer of Catarina.
But in sets like the Duchess’ Wraith Outfit, you can see the evolution of the Darkwraith design over the course of Souls, and how the set evolved from its first appearance to Nightreign.
Others, like the Ironeyes’ Sellsword duds, are surprising references to characters like Chancellor Wellager in Dark Souls 2. While it’s not surprising to see firekeeper outfits, or characters like Solaire or Artorias, it’s nice to see some deeper cuts. The Recluse’s Heretic Sorcerer Outfit calling back to Dark Witch Karla may not even be obvious at first glance, but it’s fun to see.
Plus, the detail FromSoftware has put on these armor sets is impressive, especially side-by-side with previous Souls games. A long string of games led FromSoftware from its early days to Elden Ring, and these Nightreign outfits are a solid commemoration.
We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.
Image credit: Souls YouTuber BonfireVN.
Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.
