Originally known for their work on Armored Core and King’s Field, FromSoftware gained massive popularity worldwide thanks to the Souls franchise. For thirteen years, these games continued to revolutionize the genre with highly-customizable RPG mechanics, horribly-grim worlds to explore and an unforgiving yet overly-satisfactory combat system. Despite their slight departure in tradition withSekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the Japanese developer has returned to the formula we’ve become accustomed to, but with a dramatic twist. With a true open world to explore, we’re looking at a Dark Souls: Breath of the Wild. That sounds like an exaggeration, but in reality Elden Ring is by in large the biggest and most ambitious project we’ve seen from FromSoftware, not necessarily changing too much to the core systems, but wrapping it together in something that’s the next major step we had hoped for. Whether it’s taking down massive fire-breathing dragons or crazed kings, the meshing between minds of Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin is on point. It’s hard to believe that it has been six years since we’ve gotten a traditional Souls game from the developer, but what they have delivered is the evolution the formula has needed.
As one can expect from FromSoftware, Elden Ring’s plot isn’t expressed in traditional means, such as through linear progression and cutscenes. It’s told through piecing together the desolate and scatted world via items obtained, slowly learning the vast and overarching concepts the universe has to offer. This seems to delve in various different types of fantasies, most notably Norse mythology with parallels to Yggdrasil (the Erdtree) and even a beautiful zone filled with Vikings and ancestral spirits. Granted, it’s not just Norse mythology, but ideas strung together through various means of fantasies and ideologies that mesh together surprisingly well. Each of the kingdoms are dramatically different from one another, containing enemies and characters that have different outlooks on life. George R. R. Martin’s influence can be felt immensely, with the idea of rivaling houses and mottos influencing allegiances. Not to divulge too much as it’s up the player to put all of this together, but there’s slightly more direct storytelling in certain spots, such as the introduction of specific enemies, and there are even more lively NPCs with compelling lore to tell. In the end, if you’re a fan of this type of environmental and trinket observation storytelling, then you’ll feel right at home in this depressing yet overly-compelling world.
Despite its name, Elden Ring is very much a Souls game. The core gameplay, adventuring and aesthetics (for the most part) closely resemble to what we’ve become used to, but with more polish and adjustments. Cutting down enemies with a blade or conjuring magic with staves and catalysts are still the norm, but it’s done in a more approachable way. A lot of the systems are easier to work with, such as upgrading and even dying. Before, upgrading would require specing weapons into specific categories, such as fire, lightning, magic, etc. Now all that needs to be done is simply upgrading the base weapon and equipping an “Ashes of War” armament to adjust its affinity. Going into battle against an enemy that’s weak to magic? Simply swap the weapon’s armament to magic at a Lost Grace (Bonfire). Granted, elemental changes aren’t accessible right from the get-go as it requires exploration and finding specific Whetblades, but this system in general is a welcome addition.
On top of this, there’s now a checkpoint system in play. This is used primarily to shorten the run back to a boss fight from a Lost Grace, allowing the player to get right back into the battle. One might think this would contradict FromSoftware’s environmental design philosophy of shortcuts, but thankfully this is primarily used for optional bosses. Most of the story encounters have their own intricate sprints to get to, and a blessing is unavailable. Outside of this, there are other quality-of-life adjustments such as the number of equipped spells is no longer reliant on a specific attribute stat and are instead reliant on exploration. Guard parrying makes countering an opponent’s attacks much easier. The concept of ember or human forms is swapped out with equippable Great Runes, which are activated through a rare item and greatly enhances specific attributes based on the rune itself. And then there’s crafting. Crafting is a brand new system that, depending if “cookbooks” are collected, gives players access to a huge array of different items, from boosting item discovery to coating for a weapon with a certain element. We’ve become so used to having a limited number of items in one playthrough, but now most of them are done through this system. This ties into coop, making it easier to actually play with friends. Instead of having to find rare items in the world, all that needs to be done is craft an item with easily-accessible plants.
All of this makes Elden Ring more approachable than Souls games, but don’t mistake that with it being easy. So many bosses, and even mobs, can one-shot without much warning; there, the trial-and-error mechanics come into play. Combat is one of the best components thanks to the encounter design. Taking on one or two enemies at once is generally no problem, but once that number increases, and thanks to well thought out traps, death is almost always certain. The bosses are what most players come for in terms of combat, though, with a massive catalogue of varied combatants to fight through. Because this is an open-world game now, there’s a fair amount of relatively simplistic boss encounters, but even they’re a threat with unforgiving attacks. The main attractions in the story are what will drive players to learn, as it’ll be a test of your reflexes and understanding, slowly figuring out the attack patterns and how to either dodge or mitigate the damage. There’s nothing as satisfying as beating your head against a wall for a couple hours before finally bringing down a frustratingly-difficult boss thanks to getting down the movement and timings to a tee. It’s still not perfect as there’s nagging issues in the system itself, such as action delays and questionable hitbox shenanigans, but otherwise the combat in Elden Ring is the best seen from FromSoftware.
The world is one of the biggest and most compelling parts of Elden Ring as it breaks away from FromSoftware’s traditional formula. The Dark Souls franchise introduced a more open pathing system, allowing players to loosely go to different parts of the world with a number of gated zones halting progression. That has essentially been unlocked in Elden Ring. There are still areas that you need to progress the main story to access, but for the most part, everyone is given options in gaining access to new locations. You could skip good portions of the story, or at least put it away for much later. For example, we’re tasked with getting to a plateau in the north, but there are two ways of getting there. One is taking the back entrance, which involves going through deadly terrains and facing a challenging boss, or the second being exploring the world to find two halves of a medallion to take essentially an elevator up, bypassing all of that. It comes down to giving players more options in how they want to approach situations.
It also should be stated that the map in Elden Ring is colossal. After the first forty hours we thought we knew how large the map was going to be, but upon entering a new area, we witnessed the map double in size, leaving us speechless. FromSoftware has put a staggering amount of work into making this world not only feel massive, but also dense and lived in. It has all the usual medieval tropes, but there are sections of the world you’d never expect to see that’ll leave you awestruck. There is a downside to making such a massive world, though: a lot of the ruins and caverns can run together. That’s not to say they’re copy and pasted, but they share similar structures and geometry. I also would’ve liked to have seen some sort of indicator when optional bosses, be it in gaols or caverns, were completed. Granted, there’s a marker system that helps alleviate this issue, but even one-hundred markers can get quickly used up. That might be a testament to just how expansive and dense the map truly is, but some of these quality-of-life components could go a long way.
Due to the world being so large, it’s only natural that the player isn’t walking around on foot all the time. Near the beginning of the campaign, a trusty steed will be provided, which almost feels like a cheat at times. Being mounted gives serious advantages in the overworld, making suicide runs basically non-existent, and some of the bosses out in the world overly easy. Granted, there are some that will literally punish the player when they try to even mount up, but too many times did I find myself easily avoiding attacks by simply moving in and out and circling around. Still, having a spectral steed is something I never knew I would have wanted in a FromSoftware title, as it makes traversal and exploration much more enjoyable.
One of the best elements in the open world is the night and day system. This is something that has been done in basically all open-world games already, primarily just affecting the environment’s visual appearance, but Elden Ring does something more compelling. Depending on the time of the day, certain portions of the world will be altered. For example, during the day a festival is accessible in a certain castle, but at night that festival is transformed into a boss battle between two powerful monsters. Same goes with areas normally associated with safety which are then turned into invasions from NPCs that are on the hunt. The night is far more deadly in the overworld and it’ll make everyone rethink venturing into certain zones.
From a graphical standpoint, this is about what’s come to be expected from FromSoftware. It’s not going to blow the competition away, especially after the recent technically-breathtakingHorizon: Forbidden West, but it perfectly expands the Souls format into an open-world setting. What it may lack in the technical department it more than makes up for in its artistic values. Because the world around the Erdtree is so massive, there’s an opportunity for the developers to unleash their creative prowess, and they do just that. There’s a huge variety of zones to travel between, from the traditional medieval terrain to a rot-infested swap which has infected the world around it and scorched the sky. There are awe-inspiring sceneries that will leave players speechless, and others that will leave them with a sense of disgust (in the best way possible). We can’t end without talking about the sound design. FromSoftware is known for producing memorable and atmospheric soundtracks, but Elden Ring substantially steps it up, having musical beats that perfectly instill fear and dread. Bosses have also been done magnificently, with even a track that feels straight out of Nier’s catalogue. The presentation in Elden Ring is exceptional, and will leave players immersed in this dreary and unforgiving world.
Closing Comments:
Elden Ring is one of the best games in years, with a breathtaking vast world to explore, and one of the most satisfying combat systems in an RPG. This is the accumulation of FromSoftware’s work over the last thirteen years and an evolution on its inspiring formula. Despite its name, this is still very much a Souls title, containing familiar mechanics and aesthetics, but reworked in a way to work perfectly in an open-world setting. There are numerous varying options to choose from, not only in how a character is built, but how to approach a situation. Players can brute force their way through the story or find clever ways around obstacles through adventuring. This on top of a creative day and night cycle that will change locations to make them more hostile and in some cases add new hidden boss fights. The amount of times we were taken aback, be it just looking at the map expanding far beyond our expectations or respawning in a location we were not familiar with, there’s never been a better game to explore. The systems are far more accessible, but don’t misconstrue that as Elden Ring being easy, as it’s quite the opposite. Enemies still have the means to strike players down in a single blow, making the well-designed boss encounters overly gratifying. The exquisite presentation values with the artistic variety and musical scores will also have you immersed in this dreadful world. Elden Ring is a spectacular triumph that excels well beyond anything we could’ve hoped for.
