FromSoftware's first foray into the sixth console generation is a frustrating disaster; I can't confidently say it's their worst game given how deep their back catalog goes, but Eternal Ring is far and away their worst RPG — a staggeringly bad follow-up to the King's Field PS1 trilogy and Shadow Tower before it. The level design is some of the worst I've ever experienced: every area is a gigantic, linear slog with repetitive texture work and no interesting landmarks. The atmospheric soundtrack of the King's Field games (or deliberate silence of Shadow Tower) is gone; an orchestra of stock MIDI instruments provide an ill-fittingly chipper set of tunes instead. The magic ring crafting system, while initially an interesting iteration on the King's Field formula, isn't enough to keep the gameplay engaging, and the obtuse mechanics make experimentation more time-consuming rather than rewarding. I will give Eternal Ring the faintest bit of praise: the brainrot-inducing final turns in the story, paired with some of the most questionable child voice acting ever pressed to disc, almost make the rest of the game and its amateurish storytelling worth suffering through to experience. Really though, I found the entire experience to be an unpleasant fever dream that made me wish I was playing any other game in the King's Field (spiritual) series instead.