Marking this replay down as finished for now since I just needed to get the DLC-essential boss fights - Radahn and Mohg - done, and I managed that so I'm happy.

I didn't have that many brand new revelations about this game while I was playing it, to be honest. I thought I would have more to say but I ended up just relearning how good Elden Ring is, and that's about it.

I suppose I summoned more this time around. Actually, in my original playthrough of the game, I wasn't really able to summon at all due to my university wi-fi being dogshit, so it was a feature I got to enjoy for the first time and I like it! It made certain fights, especially duo battles, a lot less frustrating, and I wasn't required nearly as much to dedicate an entire day of my life to learning the ins and outs of a fight in order to beat it, which was a relief. Don't get me wrong, I love the dick-flattening carousel as much as the next girl, but I have a full time job now and nowhere near the same kind of free time to play it that way. I appreciated the extra support. It didn't even make the fights less engaging; it simply shifted the balance a little.

On top of that, I've gotten to play certain parts of the game with my flatmate using the multiplayer, which has been a treat. I'm not someone who plays multiplayer games particularly often, but I can quite easily get into a game like Elden Ring in this way. It's been so fun to basically breeze through the experience and help each other out where we can. We managed to beat Mohg together which was a trip, because that fight is insanely difficult and we ended up winning by killing him before he could activate his second phase. Absolute scenes were had in our little Glasgow flat at 2am on a Monday lol.

Elden Ring is just a really special game. It's a delight to play a game so willing - and eager - to be mean to you. It speaks to an untainted vision that the game expects you to meet it on its terms, rather than bend to yours. That being said, the many methods of approach to any given situation certainly make this a really accessible game, so I hope more people continue to play it into the future. It's a peach!

(hey, i wrote about this game for my blog. it wasn't really a review so i've written one of those here instead, but i think it's still a good read so check it out if you wanna!)

You know, I think this game has left a bigger impact on me than I'd realised. Going in, I had certain expectations; I knew it was going to depict psychosis, and I knew the story was about the protagonist looking to revive her dead lover, but that was about it. I had no idea the directions it would go, or how the game would develop its concepts.

It's a masterpiece, simply put. An exceptional melding of compelling narrative, arresting visuals, and gameplay that, while light, facilitates the core of the story through the emotions it evokes. Combat is oftentimes gruelling and frustrating and scary, like it realistically should be. It isn't fun in the traditional video-gamey sense, but it is effective.

Senua's Sacrifice is full of these strange but impactful stylistic choices which I adore. It makes for a very unique play experience. There are certain moments, like the first time Senua stares directly into the camera, or the moment I learned how to use the mechanic which slows time during fights because a voice in my head told me to "focus". The game uses live-action video of actors rather than in-game models, presumably due to budgetary issues, but it makes for a game whose look is entirely its own.

I don't think I'm going to play a game like Hellblade again. Even the sequel will likely never capture the specific vibes of its predecessor. That's okay though; this game is just one step in the journey that is the rest of our lives.