“While technical frustrations hold back its full potential, Elden Ring astonishes with fantastic open-world design and consistently rewarding exploration.”
There are pros and cons.
Cons.
You probably already know what you think of Elden Ring if you have strong feelings about FromSoftware's games. If you're a Dark Souls veteran, there's a good chance that this is your favorite game of all time. The praise for Souls games will sound like a cruel joke to those who find them tedious and punishing. Both sides will have a point.
There is a good reason that the games are so divisive. On the other hand, it is an amazing achievement. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the best open-world experience since, you guessed it, the action RPG. It is also a game that demands perfection from players while refusing to clean up the series.
Don't let that last part scare you off. Elden Ring is an all-enveloping adventure filled with incredible landscapes, fantastic enemy design, and deep customization. There is something to love here.
A lot of people will be happy by Elden Ring. It takes the ethos of Dark Souls and puts it into a more expansive package. It is a dark, high-fantasy action-RPG tightly packed with challenging boss fights.
Combat is the center of Elden Ring. Battles are all about evading an enemy's ferocious attack patterns and waiting for the precise moment to strike. The amount of options players have when it comes to creating a combat build is something that stands out. At the beginning of my journey, I was using a lance and casting fire spells. By the end, I had summoned an army of soldiers to distract bosses, and I was using a giant sword to distract my opponent.
Spelling gives players more flexibility when fighting tough fights.
It's a smart move to have magic play a bigger role in this game. Spelling gives players more flexibility when tackling tough fights. There is a lot to experiment with, between spells, summons, and special weapons that can be attached to weapons to give them powerful attacks. Veterans can ignore the systems and focus on traditional slashing and parrying, while new players can create their own training wheels through magic.
Elden Ring has a lot of fantastic boss fights. Each encounter feels completely different and pushes players to try new strategies. There is a sense of surprise and discovery that makes for a lot of fun. Every time I was about to enter the boss portal, I got a hit of excitement. On the other side, what fresh hell was awaiting me? Even if I knew I wasn't prepared, I still needed to know.
This is new information for people who love FromSoftware. The struggle is worthwhile for curious players. Elden Ring gives players more tools to play with and an army of delightfully deranged monsters to use against.
Elden Ring's action is a different story for people who have never understood the appeal of Dark Souls. This is still a tough game, even with new features, and I had to play it for hours against individual bosses. It won't be here if that never sounded fun.
There is a lot of discussion about whether or not these games are too hard. The real issue is that FromSoftware's games can feel too archaic for their own good, adding technical complications on top of the already high skill that already requires high skill. It is annoying that Elden Ring is still guilty of that, considering that this is the studio's jump to a more capable console generation.
I felt like I was fighting around sloppy design rather than dueling a powerful boss in many of the fights that gave me the most trouble. The camera is a mess. It's hard to see what's going on when fighting large enemies. The camera closed so close that I couldn't see when the dragon was about to attack. I had to roll at random.
It is always a caveat in tough fights. One major boss shoots wind projectiles out, which can clip into the floor, making them difficult to see. A huge rapier pierces through a stone wall as if it is not there. It's easy to remember boss patterns, but it's much harder to work around technical quirks. Stress is created by getting into frame stutters and game crashes.
I felt like I was fighting around sloppy design rather than dueling a powerful boss in many of the fights that gave me the most trouble.
The game's insistence on constant challenge makes it difficult to read a situation. Why does a nine-story reptile attack me with its claws while a grunt throws a pebble at me? It sticks out in the open world. Difficult enemies make it clear when the player is entering a space they aren't prepared for in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. When I was leveled up, I didn't understand when I should turn around and come back.
There is a list of gripes. Stat changes feel like placebos as numbers rise. New systems like Great Runes, which give players temporary stat buffs when they defeat major bosses, feel superfluous. Horseback combat, but it's a total mess as to whether or not your weapon will connect with a foe.
It doesn't make those issues any easier to digest, like a teen getting past the taste of cheap beer, but Souls veterans will learn to live with those quirks.
That might sound like an extensive list of grievances, but in the spirit of Dark Souls, I still love Elden Ring.
The game's open world is one of the best I have ever experienced in a game. Elden Ring allows players to loose in The Lands Between, a huge, golden tree-covered area. After creating a hero and getting a setup, players are free to explore the entire game.
Players could spend a lot of time looking at gothic art, uncovering secrets, and fighting an enemy.
It is an intricately designed space filled with breathtaking landscapes, diverse biomes, and no shortage of discoveries. Elden Ring doesn't give players a map full of question marks or direct them to anything. Exploring without a goal in mind was the most fun I had. There was always a reward waiting for me no matter where I went, whether it was a cave full of valuable resources or a mysterious shrine that gave me access to powerful spells in exchange for dragon hearts.
The best strength of the game is that it doesn't make players follow a set path. When I faced Stormveil Castle, I was able to travel out at any time. I came back several levels stronger with a shiny new weapon I found in an underground ruin and a powerful spell that I used to grab a dead guy off the side of a crumbling bridge.
I think that Elden Ring will be similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in that few players will care about the main story, and that in a very positive way. George R.R. Martin contributed to the writing of the game, but the overarching story is the least interesting thing about it. The real fun comes from riding around on horseback, stumbling upon a stone-giant with a shrine on its back, figuring out what to do about that, and comparing notes with your friends.
Elden Ring won't be for everyone. It is a game that understands how to let less technically skilled players see why fans love the games. Players could spend a lot of time looking at gothic art, uncovering secrets, and fighting an enemy. I'm confident that you'd still get a fulfilling, lengthy experience playing like that, which is a testament to how spectacular the experience can be when it's not in its own way.
Elden Ring is a new gold standard for open-world game design and has some of the best freeform exploration since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. At every turn, secrets are rewarded and feel secret. The number of tools available adds a new level of depth to its combat that makes constant experimentation worthwhile. It's hard to ignore the ugly quirks in FromSoftware's games, which stick out more on new tech. Elden Ring is still a landmark accomplishment despite the stubbornness to fix archaic issues.
If you want an open-world game with no challenge, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the game for you. If you want a newer release, it's comparable in quality.
The main story will land around 50 to 60 hours depending on how much exploration you do and your skill level. It feels like there is over 100 hours of content here.
Yes. Elden Ring's world is too amazing to pass up even if you hate Dark Souls.
Elden Ring was tested on a computer.
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