Elden Ring is a game that denounces the ‘normal’ way of doing things. The player’s hand is not held and is guided by one thing and one thing only… mystery.
Elden Ring has arrived. FromSoftwares’ gargantuan epic has immediately crashed into the world of gaming with its brand new perspective. It is a beautiful, dreadful, hair-pulling, elation-creating amalgamation that promised to shift the games industry. It seems the hype, for once, has paid off.
For those familiar with the world of Soulslike titles, players will immediately recognize the game’s DNA. For those who are not, Soulslike titles do away with the hand-holding that has marred some of the better gaming experiences of the past. Demon Souls was the first game to revolutionize this truly, and with each successive release, FromSoftware has grown bolder and bolder.
Elden Ring, in many ways, feels like a culmination of every title that Hidetaka Miyazaki and the team at FromSoftware have created. The combat is difficult and brutal, and you will become frustrated, but there is almost nothing that can beat that elation.
Firstly, Elden Ring’s gameplay is stellar, and there’s not much else to say. The combat is fluid, and the hitboxes are pitch-perfect, leading to dynamic and exciting moments. The core gameplay stands as one of the most fun that FromSoftware has developed, primarily due to their dedication to ‘builds’.
The game feels freer than other souls-likes in that sense. In Dark Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Bloodborne, players are almost shoehorned into particular styles of play. Elden Ring breaks that convention. Your character build can be truly anything, and considering the obscure stat requirements on some weapons of Elden Ring, it seems the developers recognized this, too.
The gameplay is tight, and players need to ensure that they maintain every ounce of their focus in that classic Souls style. Players familiar with this ideal will no doubt take it in stride. For those who are experiencing Elden Ring as their first Soulslike title, you are in luck.
The game is more approachable than previous entries into the series, primarily due to the freedom to roam about the map as you see fit. That does not mean the game is not difficult; it is still a souls game, but it may be the one that I recommend to players wishing to become involved with the series going forward.
Elden Ring has some of the best boss fights in any Souls game. Period. They are all visually stunning and complex in a variety of ways. Bosses take time to beat, and while some bosses felt somewhat cheap, particularly with boss fake-outs, the game, on the whole, has bosses that are fair and fun to fight against.
Furthermore, the game’s exploration is phenomenal. The world map is brimming with fantastic details, allowing players to choose where they want to go to an amazingly specific degree. This, combined with FromSoftware’s penchant for fantastic world design, makes Elden Ring feel like the apex of exploration. Every nook and cranny holds a secret, whether that secret is an astounding weapon, golden runes, or, in some cases… a trap.
In addition to the game’s stellar gameplay, Elden Ring is gorgeous. While many of the Souls games have had pretty good visuals, Bloodborne stands out from the crowd in that aspect. Elden Ring is well and truly awe-inspiring. The number of times that I stopped moving to simply take in a stunning vista is seemingly impossible.
The game has some beautiful areas that seem to make the jaw drop. When combined with FromSoftware’s liberal use of color, it provides some of the most stunning visuals that I have seen in a game, and it truly takes advantage of the PlayStation 5.
In addition to this, the game’s plot, while still maintaining its somewhat vague and ambiguous nature, is fantastic. While it is still hidden behind various points such as bosses, hidden walls, etc., it is quite plain to feel George RR Martin’s world-building permeate through the setting. The world seems more complex than in other Souls games, and there are clear questions of morality that are not often seen in games of this style.
The game is also the simplest of all FromSoftware games. However, there are some points of contention. The game is riddled with fantastic side quests, all with interesting NPCs and some of the best dialogue found in a Soulslike game. These side quests can still become somewhat chore-like.
The lack of a quest journal can be considered an issue on occasion. While I can appreciate what the developers are going for, the game is so massive that even many other reviewers advised players to keep their journals so that they could keep track of all the goings-on within the game. I believe there is a middle ground between an overt quest journal and forcing players to track hundreds of names because, yes, while it forces players to think and consider scenarios, it also becomes very troublesome.
The game’s performance on the PS5 is exemplary. In certain regions, particularly in and around the Altus Plateau, players may see some texture pop in and the occasional visual glitch that may detract from the experience; however, the issues are so few and far between that they would barely be noticeable.
There are also some rather odd choices; for example, when talking to an NPC, players will have to press ‘talk’ on the NPC numerous times before they know that they have exhausted the character’s dialogue. The only way a player can know the NPC has no more new dialogue is when they loop, which, again, while not a massive issue, is a quality-of-life concern that does lead to some rather irritating moments and could easily be solved without ruining the collective Elden Ring experience.
One other issue is that the game lacks many accessibility features. For players with disabilities, FromSoftware games are still being kept from you. This is rather unfortunate, especially when games such as The Last of Us Part 2 are riddled with accessibility options, even text-to-speech, while Elden Ring does not even have a color-blind mode. It is an unfortunate and irritating misstep that forces people who want to play the game away simply due to their circumstances.
The last thing I shall mention is the game’s difficulty. As I mentioned previously, this game is far more approachable than any other Souls title due to the freedom that it provides players. However, the game’s tutorial is poor at best, and players are still expected to have knowledge of their games, which is ostracising to newer players. Providing the player the ability to summon ‘Ashes’ is an elegant solution to the difficulty issue as they do not do massive damage (usually) and serve only as a distraction.
Overall, Elden Ring is a game that I will compare to all the others. Its fantastic world design and incredible combat, amalgamated with some of the best boss fights seen in FromSoftwares’ history, ensure that Elden Ring will stand tall as one of the greatest games of all time. While the game has a few quality-of-life issues with some minor performance complaints, it is still stellar. It is a game that everyone should play, which makes it all the more unfortunate regarding the lack of accessibility options.
I hope that future patches of the game (should there be any) will include some accessibility options, allowing other players to enjoy the masterful world that Hidetaka Miyazaki, George RR Martin, and FromSoftware have created.
Elden Ring is out right now on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X/Series S and PC. You can check out a way to reach a secret area in Elden Ring to provide you with some fun early game abilities. You can also peruse the latest news in the world of gaming and ensure that you never fall behind right here at GamesCreed.
