Elden Ring Nightreign’s Sentient Pest is the second Everdark boss to fall short of expectations set by Gaping Jaw: ‘There’s almost no challenge’

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As part of the ongoing updates from FromSoftware for Elden Ring, a new boss known as Sentient Pest, a more powerful version of an existing Nightlord, has been introduced in the Everdark realm. Previously, Everdark bosses have appeared for Gapping Jaw and Fulghor, and now this new adversary joins them.

The colossal battle against Everdark Gaping Jaw significantly raised the bar for the challenge level of Everdark boss fights. Upon encountering it for the first time, game reviewer Harvey Randall experienced a minor existential dilemma, remarking, “Oh dear, I’ve been playing a training course for 55 hours.” Despite its horrifying awesomeness, subsequent Everdark bosses have struggled to match Gaping Jaw’s impactful influence.

Often, I avoid participating in battles that I foresee losing. However, having completed majority of the Remembrance tasks in Nightreign and finding myself with no other engagements, I decided to arm myself with my formidable greatsword, ready to face the Sentient Pest. And it’s alright.

Sentient Pest isn‘t particularly tough as Nightlord, but it does require some finesse from you. For instance, you might find yourself battling both a flying moth and an armored scorpion simultaneously. The moth can be tricky to hit if you don’t have any projectiles, while the scorpion tends to rampage around quite a bit. However, it’s a fight that is manageable and serves as a great introduction for novice players.

However, it’s equally applicable to Gaping Jaw, as I found the Everdark transformation to be lethal, and my anticipation ran high when initiating the Everdark-centric third phase for the Sentient Pest. Yet, my excitement waned when the unexpected twist unfolded: FromSoft introducing another fight bug into the fray.

In my gaming world, just when I thought I’d vanquished the moth and the scorpion duo, another fiery moth materializes unexpectedly, resurrecting them both! To make matters worse, it then combines with the initial moth to form a monstrously larger flaming creature—genius move on their part!

From that point forward, the battle remains largely familiar, as there are no novel strategies or movesets to master, nor towering whirlwinds to navigate. Instead, it’s a matter of gradually depleting their health and defeating these creatures once more. The flaming insect also needs to be slain before it revives its companions. Frankly, for an Everdark boss encounter, this feels rather anticlimactic.

I’ve been thrilled about Everdark Sovereign system ever since I laid eyes on the Everdark Gaping Jaw! Frankly, Everdark Fulghor and Sentient Pest just didn’t live up to my expectations. Sure, they have an appealing design that I can’t get enough of, but the gameplay left me wanting more.

Fulghor, despite being a bit simple, is still fun to battle multiple times because he’s engaging. However, Sentient Pest seems underwhelming in comparison, with a lovely design but lackluster gameplay that feels like it took the wind out of my sails.

The subpar battles we’ve seen from the Everdark Nightlords following the latest Everdark Night could be attributed to a few factors. To start, players of Soulsborne games are exceptionally fearless. They’ll fearlessly plunge into flames and learn its patterns, only to miraculously stop getting hurt. I suspect that the Nightreign players have evolved at a pace faster than their adversaries.

It’s also plausible that Nightreign serves as a trial run for FromSoftware, given that Director Junya Ishizaki described it as a chance for him to explore new ideas he had been developing. As such, Nightreign ventures into unexplored territory for the company within the realm of PvE multiplayer games. Consequently, it wouldn’t be unexpected if the Everdark bosses are also experiments, designed to gauge player preferences and tolerances.

It’s not acceptable to offer lackluster post-release content for Nightreign. After all, it doesn’t come at a low price, so I expect the upcoming Everdark Nightlords to make a strong impact rather than merely fluttering around like an attractive, fiery butterfly. I hope FromSoft takes the lessons from the Everdark Sentient Pest and increases the intensity for future contenders.

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2025-07-03 17:17