Elden Ring is the newest FromSoftware game taking the market by storm. The souls-like adventure game really might as well be Dark Souls 4, with only a few aesthetic and story differences setting it apart from it’s predecessors. In this review, I’ll be taking you through my teeth-gritting and awe-whispering adventure in Elden Ring.
A Beautiful and Deadly World
Elden Ring mimics Dark Souls 3 in its difficulty, providing tough encounters and dangerous bosses that can set you back if you’re not prepared. There are plenty of moments in this game that can leave you frustrated, fuming, and ready to quit. In that sense, it’s no different than any other Dark Souls game, as difficult gameplay is the Souls signature.
Where Elden Ring really separates itself is in it’s beautiful vistas and open world. Whenever I find myself struggling to beat an encounter, I can always turn right around and come back to it later. The world has tons to explore, and the freedom for you to explore it at your own pace, not gatekeeping you from the rest of the game by a particularly hard boss.
Elden Ring’s open-world is often compared to Breath of the Wild, and the comparison isn’t unwarranted. There is a lot to do in Elden Ring, and not a lot of forced direction in doing so. The only thing you really need to do in Elden Ring is defeat bosses. How you do so, the order in which you do so and the way you get to them is really up to you.
Elden Ring doesn’t scale down enemy levels to match your own, and some areas are specifically designed to take you through others, so there is some direction present in the game. However, this works even further in the game’s favor, as finding a secret path that bypasses content or defeating an enemy you are way under-leveled for is a great feeling.
Even with how vastly open the world is, it’s hard to get lost. For someone who doesn’t feel like exploring, the Light of Grave exists to direct you towards your main objective. If you don’t want to explore every little aspect of the world, you can just follow the big glowing path.
Speaking of great feelings, nothing quite matches the sense of accomplishment in a video game as defeating a Souls boss. Elden Ring is no different in this regard. When I finally defeated my first boss, I felt unstoppable, and that’s a feeling that persists with each tougher enemy I overcome on my path to becoming an Elden Lord.
Traveling between locations in Elden Ring filled me with an awe I haven’t yet experienced in a Souls games. While the game maintains the grim setting, it combines it with a uniquely high fantasy take, offering beautiful sights that define normality between your many, many deaths. It’s almost calming, gazing on the giant spectral tree as I return to gather my lost grace.
You meet characters in Elden Ring pretty organically, stumbling upon new and interesting people along your way. Thankfully, not all of them are hostile, and they provide interesting side stories for you to experience alongside your main quest.
The large, beautiful world is full of plenty of these side stories for you to discover, which is a refreshing distraction from the overarching story that you’re going to have a hard time understanding on your first playthrough. Confusing storylines are another Souls staple; It’s been ten years, and I still have no idea what’s going on in the Dark Souls series.
At least with Elden Ring the goal is fairly clear; You are something called a Tarnished, and while you aren’t the only one, you are by far the least-famous one. You journey to the realms beyond to become an Elden Lord, which of course involves the titular Elden Ring. Everything else I leave to you to piece together.
Elden Ring offers a lot of new systems that improve upon the Souls franchise. Mounted combat now exists for wide-open areas, and so do mounted enemies to match your newfound mobility. You can now crouch walk, making stealth a lot more viable, and sorcery is stronger than it’s ever been.
The difficulty of a Souls game means it’s not for everyone, but the sense of accomplishment you get from learning a bosses’ moveset and overcoming what once felt like insurmountable odds is unlike anything else you’ll experience in a video game.
Elden Ring is worth a try, even if it doesn’t seem like your type of game. You very well may find a new favorite.
The Final Word
Elden Ring takes the Souls-like franchise in a new direction, much in the same way Sekiro did. Elden Ring provides you with a world that’s incredibly beautiful, better than any Souls game to come before it in my opinion, and exploring it is as rewarding as it is satisfying.
Our Elden Ring review was written based on the PC version of the game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website!
Comments