Words can't sum up how much I adore this game and FromSoftware. As a developer, FromSoft are lightyears ahead of anyone else in the game right now, and Elden Ring is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else released in 2022.

We riot if Elden Ring doesn't cop GotY.

5/5 holy smackaroonies

PS. Elden Ring totally deserves it's nomination for 'Best Narrative' too; dialogue is far from the only thing that contributes to a narrative!! I'm rooting for it to win in all of it's nominated categories tbh.

This was a pretty fun time, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at, but I much preferred 2018's entry.

I wanted to like Ragnarök a whole lot more than I did, but the issues I had with the overall experience (leaning from minor to substantial) stopped me from doing so.

Some of my main issues with the game include the overall experience and narrative feeling less focused in comparison to GoW 2018, the writing often coming across very "Marvel-like" (this is not to my taste at all and I only felt emotional at a couple of points throughout my 28-hour playthrough) and the game being far too repetitive at times. People are complaining about the amount of walking and talking in this game, but I wasn't so frustrated by these elements. In fact, I enjoyed a lot of the non-cutscene/open world dialogue between Kratos, Atreus and Mimir, and instead, was far more frustrated by GoW 2018's rehashed (albeit, more fleshed out) combat being thrown in round every corner for no good reason.

The father-son dynamic is what saved this game for me, and I can't help but appreciate the artistry on display here... Oh, and despite the traversal still feeling monotonous, it's a decent upgrade over GoW 2018.

Even when I consider all of my issues with this game, I can almost guarantee that it will sit comfortably in my Top 10 Games of 2022!

3/5