Bandai Namco Entertainment
The ascent of brutally difficult games from developer FromSoftware has naturally led to an evolutionary step in the formula that is Elden Ring, a full-blown open-world RPG.
Built atop a familiar, gloomy and taxing foundation, Elden Ring boasts lots of noteworthy names attached to it. Game of Thrones author George RR Martin played a role in crafting the world, and its predecessors include the Souls series, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
It’s not hard, then, to see why Elden Ring is one of the most anticipated games of 2022. Unshackling the smash-hit formula and setting players loose in an open-world setting is both tantalizing and, for those familiar with the prior third-person romps, intimidating.
Granted, open-worlds are all the rage today, and with that comes hesitancy on the part of players, as well as the expectation that the usual trappings of the foundation will also take a noteworthy step, too. Whether FromSoftware makes it all work could decide much about the future of its games and how Elden Ring compares to giant-sized expectations.
Graphics and Gameplay
Elden Ring is very Souls-esque in the presentation department.
That’s to say, player design and the general environments won’t blow anyone away. They don’t look bad, either, but Souls players know what to expect over the six overworld areas. The same certainly doesn’t apply to enemies. Standard-fare baddies, giants and more all the way up to bosses are littered with grotesque detail, and that includes some harrowing sound design, whether it’s voiced or the gurgles and screams that come with encountering monstrosities.
In past Souls games, the vistas outside the playable area would look gorgeous but merely function as a pretty backdrop. They’re still as gorgeous as it gets, but now they’re reachable, too.
On that same note, general exploration and how it ties to gameplay has evolved. Past games made players mostly stick on a linear path and struggle against bosses until they finally beat them. Thanks to a smartly crafted open world, players can literally find creative ways around entire dungeons and bosses and into new areas.
That said, the open world is a bit of a psychological beatdown. There are rarely friendly faces, and the somber music, color palette and overall sense of dread make the whole thing both immersive and, at times, tiresome.
Thankfully, it’s clear this was at least somewhat anticipated or intended because Sites of Grace litter the landscape, and players don’t usually have to travel far to find another. There, players can save, level up and more. These can double as an objective marker that points the way players should be going.
Players also get a mount early on that is both fast and comes equipped with a useful and often hilarious double jump.
Elden Ring introduces mounted combat and a stealth system, too, a pair of must-have items in open worlds that players will use quite often. The former is fun and can make tough baddies easier, while the latter is nice to have and mess around with, oftentimes helping player survival in situations they’d otherwise have to run for their lives.
For the most part, combat is just like Souls with more animations and freedom. Players can throw out light and heavy attacks, and block and parry with a number of different weapons and items. New to combat is the ability to break an enemy’s stance, just like in Sekiro. It’s all backed by a typical health and stamina system.
Players will get to decide the how and why of what weapons and loadouts they use. But it’s very RPG-esque in that they can attack from range with weapons and items, then get closer and either two-hand a weapon or even use the returning power stances with a weapon in each hand.
There’s an expected magical side to combat, too, employing focus points (think, magic or mana) on spells, skills, throwing tools or summoning spirits to aid in combat. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s as refined and effective as the more standard builds.
As a whole, combat can feel clunky. The camera placement becoming awkward or enemy-lock-on disappearing at times can create major frustrations. Some of the difficulty seems to stem from not-so-great controls, too—needing to hit “Y/Triangle” and then both “RB/R1” and “LB/L1” at the same time just to put both hands on a sword is a bit much.
Granted, that sort of complaint, as well as clunky menus and item management, is one that can fade over time as players climb the steep learning curve. That doesn’t mean every boss will feel fair or consistent, but the game is far less punishing about players experimenting with their loadouts and approaches to situations than in the past. And for solo players, there are discoverable NPCs players can summon for help during boss fights, which is a welcome accessibility feature that should help newer players feel at home.
No matter where one falls in opinion on the game’s difficulty and mechanics, it’s clear Elden Ring works hard to mix up enemy variety. There’s no auto-piloting through mobs of enemies, and with the risk of losing runes (experience points that function as upgrade points and currency) upon death, it creates a rewarding gameplay loop. Those enemies out in the wild also subtly tend to train a player for what they’ll encounter from bigger bads in the area, too.
Story and More
While Elden Ring rightfully carries an RPG tag, it isn’t overtly in the player’s face with the story. There’s an intro cutscene, but there aren’t major conversations with dialogue options or ensuing scenes that explain a ton, leaving players to fill in the gaps as they go.
The short of it? The scene is the Lands Between, where the destruction of the Elden Ring has created something of a power vacuum in which shards of it called the Great Runes rest in the clutches of demigods.
The player character is a Tarnished who sets out to become the Elden Lord by seizing all of those runes. It’s simple enough, though the brief friendly characters and bits of lore players will stumble upon help flesh things out respectably.
There are 10 different character classes to start. One is a Wretch, who starts with a loincloth and evenly spread stats. Magic and/or Faith users will gravitate toward classes like Prophet, while a melee-minded user would be Hero.
No matter the choice, Elden Ring is a little looser in customization and player agency than similar games, which makes sense given its more RPG-like nature. Players will find ample weapon skills called Ashes of War that they can apply to certain weapons. Some of these, for example, let swords do ranged or magical attacks, while others simply permit a spinning slash. They’re easy to equip or take off at minimal cost, encouraging experimentation, especially against bosses.
Along those same lines, magical items for non-magic users persist, either as craftable, discoverable or purchasable.
Classes, by and large, are merely pre-determined starting points for skill dispersal, but players can apply level-up stat bonuses to whatever they choose while making a character fully to their liking.
Those bemoaning another open-world game certainly won’t be alone. But Elden Ring, impressively, manages to avoid most of the typical complaints. There aren’t dozens of same-y outposts to clear for a forgettable reward while an overall completion percentage ticks up slowly. There is a ton of unique, handcrafted encounters, as well as secret bosses, dungeons, rewards and even straight-up funny stuff to find.
The nature of the game helps those with open-world fatigue, too. Every fight, even with the lowliest of NPCs, matters, both because players are trying to gather as many runes as possible to level up and because one mistake means death and attempting to get back to recover the lost runes.
Exploration is especially encouraged because it plays into the crafting system quite well. Finding little shrubs and pots might not seem like much, but being able to craft items as opposed to spending hard-earned runes on them means putting more runes into leveling up.
Multiplayer is back on the menu in almost identical fashion to Souls games. Players will see white-outlined avatars of other players fighting in the world. They can check notes left by other players, and clicking a bloodstain will show a red-outlined avatar and how another player died in the exact same spot.
Co-op play and hostile invasions are back as well and perform just as expected. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s a nice thing to have that should help the game’s longevity. As always, the interaction with player notes left on the floor can be hilarious—that note about treasure ahead could be a troll job leading to a boss fight, instead.
Speedrunning Tips
Souls games haven’t had a hard time keeping a healthy speedrunning playerbase because of the high skill ceiling required to achieve world-best times.
Elden Ring, though, is a bit of a twist on the speedrunning formula because of the implementation of an open world.
On one hand, the fact a speedrun might cut out a huge chunk of the world’s content might actually position it in a worse spot than some of its predecessors in this regard. Counterbalancing that, though, is the unprecedented level of player control and experimentation when it comes to skills and builds.
Either way, some of the tried-and-true mechanics of Souls games will apply. That means skipping cutscenes and dialogue and most combat that isn’t essential. Players will need some runes to pour into level-ups, but not a ton. Prioritizing the health pool and strength in order to inflict more damage upon level-up is the smartest way to go because a seasoned runner will know all of the animations to avoid attacks, anyway.
Generally, most necessary fights with a melee build can—besides memorization of enemy animations and how to bait certain attacks—focus on getting help from summonable NPCs and spirits. Between fights, heavily leaning into fast travel when not on a mount and memorizing Site of Grace locations will make for quick runs.
Conclusion
Elden Ring is often as difficult as any Souls game. But its open-world nature means that, instead of slamming one’s head against a wall at a dead end, be it boss or dungeon, one can simply turn to the weary atmospheric vastness, pick a direction and guarantee new discoveries and ways to progress.
Even without the presence of an open world, though, Elden Ring would be a smash success for the way it improves upon its predecessor’s tried-and-true tropes. The across-the-board improvements are necessary to keep things feeling modern but distinct enough to stand out.
It should go without saying, but Elden Ring won’t be for everyone given its grinding, difficult and abrasive nature. While an RPG, it’s one would-be players need to understand more so than most in order to properly adjust expectations.
But as a standalone title, Elden Ring is the best place for players new to the Souls-like formula. As a whole, it’s also cemented as one of the year’s best releases.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
