Day and Night cycle

Day and Night cycle Description

A huge new feature to Elden Ring is the Day and Night cycle, the time of day plays an important role in Elden Ring, it determines Enemy types and locations and affects more aspects of the game that are detailed below, we know from the article in “The Overture of Elden Ring” that the moon plays an important role in Elden ring and that Glintstone sorcery is the study of the stars, this section will be updated when more information is available.

How do I control Day/Night?

There are two ways that the time of day can change, firstly the change will happen naturally over the course of 1 hour in-game, there are 3 states (Morning, Afternoon, and Nightfall), so that’s roughly 20 minutes per state.

The other option is by choosing to pass time when you visit a Site of Grace, you will be able to choose from the above mentioned 3 states and will immediately see the changes in the world.

How do I tell what time of day it is?

When you access your Map, in the bottom right corner you will see a “Sun Dial”, this shows you which state you are in and how far into that state you are.

This is a very useful feature as it allows you to plan accordingly and tells how much time you have left to hunt down a certain enemy for example.

How does the day and night cycle affect Elden Ring?

Morning and Afternoon are very similar states and focus more on aesthetic changes in Elden Ring, we may see some enemy locations change or some new enemies appear during these times but Nightfall shows the biggest changes in the game.

During Nightfall we see more difficult Enemies appear in the Lands Between, a Mounted Northern Mercany changes into a Black Rider that we have seen in the Story Trailer, Bats appear in groups on the surface, and enemy locations change. However, Nightfall does give the player some advantages. During Nightfall stealth is a lot more efficient, the range at which enemies can spot you is reduced meaning you can get closer before striking them. The Bosses database includes information on which bosses appear at night.