Anyone who read my little tips and tricks article the other day will know that I have gone full neckbeard while playing Elden Ring. Whilst I did have a day’s head start on the release day (Thanks Namco Bandai!) I currently have around 50 hours in the game in the 5 days I have been playing (as of time of writing) and I have abandoned all other aspects of my life such as the gym or going outside in favour of playing FromSoftware’s latest title. Elden Ring has plagued my every thought over this past week and when I am playing it I am so hooked and in the zone but it’s when I am not playing the game that I have realised what a hold it has on me as I just constantly think about playing it.
It’s no secret however that I am an absolute fanboy when it comes to Soulsborne and SoulsLike games, dropping one of them into every list feature I have ever done or constantly annoying my friends with the mentions of the game – but what about Elden Ring? Being billed as the most accessible SoulsBorne yet and one of the best games ever created – I am clearly hooked. But is it everything people have made it out to be?
In short, yes. Whenever I am playing this game I can’t help feeling like I am playing a piece of history in future lists as one of the best games made and definitely a top 5 of all time games.
If you have ever played a Dark Souls game before then you know what you are in for when it comes to the gameplay and general world vibe. The combat is all mapped to the same buttons, the hit boxes are the same and rolling through attacks to whack an enemy on the butt is still the most viable tactic when it comes to boss fights. However Elden Ring has one thing that set’s it above all the other Dark Souls titles – Torrent.
Torrent changes so much of the game in so many ways from exploration to battle in the overworld (and underworld). Fighting on horseback has become one of my favourite things to do in the title. Sprinting about whacking a dragon on the wing then booking it away before it sets me on fire is just so satisfying to me and adds a whole new level of tactic to the gameplay.
Speaking of Torrent – the main reason you even have a horse is to explore the games vast open world which is stunning and macabre in the same measure. I have never seen a world so beautiful and devoid of hope at the same time as I do in Elden Ring. I do have to quickly address a couple of the User Reviews I have seen on Metacritic that try to state that the Open World all looks the same? Did you guys actually play this? Within half an hour this week I ran through a wood full of giant bears, up through a volcano plagued with dragons and a giant metal bull into a haunted mansion full of snake people? Are people reviewing this without leaving the tutorial area? This games open world is so vast and diverse that I never spend more than 10 mins in an area that looks the same.
It’s also this open world that makes Elden Ring a lot more accessible to newcomers to Soulsborne games. Gone are the days where you would hit a wall against a boss and have two choices of: 1) Learn the boss over a few hours and beat your head against a wall until it dies or 2) grind a bunch more levels fighting the same enemies to come back with more powers. In place of these two options – instead of banging your head on a boss for 2 hours you can instead jump on your horse and bugger off in a different direction. This works so well because there is nothing more satisfying than being absolutely bodied by a bossfight only to come back more powerful and smash it into the ground with ease.
I appreciate this review has turned into a fanboy talking about a Souls game and I haven’t yet had anything negative to say about the game, however, Elden Ring is not without it’s issues and these mostly come in the form of the games myriad of bosses. That’s not to say any of the bosses aren’t fun to fight – it’s just that due to the overwhelmingly large nature of the game with all the caves, dungeons and underground rivers, I have noticed that I have fought a few of the same bosses 4, sometimes 5 or more times which can get a little dry after the first few times.
One other thing I genuinely really dislike about the game is a few of the times, in order to spike the difficulty it would drop a previous boss in again but this time – TWO OF THEM! Which just proved to be annoying as Soulsborne combat thrives when you are stuck in an arena with a 1vs1 battle so having ANOTHER giant horse riding knight at my back hitting me with no defense was just irritating.
Luckily I could bypass most of these encounters but I know full well I am going to go back because lets face it: No Soulsborne boss is truly optional.
In summary, whilst it has a few issues that can make entire portions of the game a little dry – this is nothing I cant forgive for the overwhelming quality of the rest of the game but there is one thing I simply cannot forgive: Elden Ring has so many waterfalls and not one that I have checked has a secret cave or item under it. Therefore I have to give Elden Ring a 0/10.
But in seriousness, even with slight issues this is one of the best games I have ever played. I have gone full sweatlord over this game which no game has made me do in such a long time, so I give Elden Ring a
10/10