How to Play Elden Ring Nightreign Early with the New Zealand Trick

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Elden Ring, renowned as one of the greatest video games ever made, has generated immense excitement. Consequently, it’s logical that Elden Ring Nightreign is eagerly awaited in 2025. With the official launch just around the corner, some lucky gamers can get a sneak peek at Elden Ring Nightreign before everyone else by employing the well-known New Zealand trick.

For a while now, it’s been known among gamers that there’s a special method, often referred to as the “New Zealand trick,” for accessing games earlier, particularly on Xbox consoles. This process is easier compared to PC and PlayStation due to its streamlined region-changing feature. Elden Ring Nightreign, which doesn’t have a simultaneous worldwide release, can be unlocked using this trick as soon as it becomes available in New Zealand, regardless of your location. However, there are certain limitations to this method and it’s not always feasible on certain platforms.

How to Play Elden Ring Nightreign With the New Zealand Trick

To get an early access to Elden Ring Nightreign, simply adjust your system’s region settings to New Zealand. This is because Nightreign releases first in New Zealand due to its earliest time zone. By modifying the region, the game will be playable as soon as it’s midnight on May 30th (which translates to 5:00 AM PT/8:00 AM ET on May 29th in other regions) in New Zealand. Keep in mind that this trick only applies to Xbox consoles, and there might be a few extra steps for other platforms.

As a gamer, here’s how I’d explain it:

“If you want to pull off the New Zealand trick for PlayStation, you need to set up a brand new PSN account based in New Zealand and buy ‘Nightreign’ on that account. Make sure this new account has console sharing and offline play enabled on your main console’s settings. By doing so, you can play ‘Nightreign’ using your main account, even though technically it’s the other account that owns the game.

Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work at all for PC users, but Steam gamers have an advantage: they get early access to ‘Elden Ring Nightreign’ a few hours ahead of console versions. The PC release of ‘Nightreign’ launches six hours earlier than its console counterparts, so Steam users can start playing at 3:00 PM PT/6:00 PM ET on May 29. While the New Zealand trick might give you a few-hour headstart on your PC gameplay, it won’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

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2025-05-29 02:15