Hadrian_VII
2020
Not without flaws (specifically the clunky interface and camera movement), and still easily one of the best games I have ever played in my life.
Does not reinvent the wheel. It copies a bit from the Metroidvania genre, borrows heavily from Soulsborne games and adds a bit of the cinematic flair of an Uncharted. The separate aspects of this game have all been done better by other games of the aforementioned genres. However, the mix does work quite well in the end. The gameplay is fun and engaging, albeit not very deep.
Overall, the mechanics could have used a bit more polish. The controls are not very precise, the sometimes erratic camera movements did cause more than one in-game-death for me, and I encountered a few glitches, quite often mid-fight. This is still an EA game after all, so that was mostly to be expected.
In the end, when picking up a Star Wars game, I don't do it because I expect a revolutionary or perfectly polished gaming experience - I do it for the Star Wars atmosphere. And on this front, this game really delivers. It feels like Star Wars through and through. In this regard in my opinion this game can even compete with the very best of the Star Wars games, and does not need to hide from e.g. a Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.
Overall, the mechanics could have used a bit more polish. The controls are not very precise, the sometimes erratic camera movements did cause more than one in-game-death for me, and I encountered a few glitches, quite often mid-fight. This is still an EA game after all, so that was mostly to be expected.
In the end, when picking up a Star Wars game, I don't do it because I expect a revolutionary or perfectly polished gaming experience - I do it for the Star Wars atmosphere. And on this front, this game really delivers. It feels like Star Wars through and through. In this regard in my opinion this game can even compete with the very best of the Star Wars games, and does not need to hide from e.g. a Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.
2022
This game is an awe inspiring experience. The open world is breathtaking, full of mystery and content - and thereby I mean content that feels meaningful and unique and that is not simply 'copy and paste'-content. The story itself is beyond reproach. The storytelling is done in the cryptic manner that we are used to from FromSoftware, which is certainly not for everyone, but is something I enjoy a lot, especially with all of the brilliant environmental storytelling.
Playing FromSoftware-Games I feel respected as a player. I feel as if the developers have confidence in my capability to 'get' the game, that I can manage in the world I'm thrown into
without the game holding my hand at every opportunity, whereas with a lot of other games it feels as if the developers are 'talking down' on me through the game as if I were a child. This is a very significant reason for why I love these games.
That said, I don't think that this game is the "ultimate" FromSoftware game so far, as some others have put it. As an open world game, it's first class. But from a more gameplay-focused perspective, in my opinion this one isn't quite on par with Bloodborne or Dark Souls. If I take a step back and try to answer for myself honestly which parts of the game were the most fun, my answer would be those that were basically classic, linear Soulsborne levels, basically all of the 'Legacy Dungeons'. This is where FromSoftwares otherworldly skills in leveldesign and pacing can really shine. The open world was a nice change to the usual formula, but overall I believe I prefer the tighter and perfectly paced gameplay-experience of the previous titles. Naturally, you can't pace an open-world game quite as precisely as a game in which the players path is mostly predetermined. That's why I kinda hope FromSoft will take a step back with future titles and go back to a somewhat semi-open-world approach - similar to Dark Souls 1, which I think is the best title in this regard.
The aforementioned factors also somewhat diminish the replay-value of the game, at least from my perspective. Dark Souls or Bloodborne I can play over and over again, and it always stays challenging with me being able to constantly optimize my play-style. Not only regarding the bossfights but also in getting more efficient at beating the levels themselves, making each new replay feel rewarding. I didn't feel this same urge to 'get better' in Elden Ring after beating the final boss for the first time, since beating the levels isn't as central to the gameplay-experience. With Elden Ring, the vast majority of the playtime consists of exploration. This only really works well as long as there is still some sense of novelty and mystery to the world. Once one has explored the world in the first playthrough, the incentive to do so again in a second one is rather low. In my second playthrough on NG+, knowing where everything is and what I have to do to progress, I mostly just rushed through the open-world and arrived at the final boss in (I believe) under 15 hours with not much of the first playthrough's magic left. There is not much room to get better in beating levels, since once you know where to go you can mostly just walk straight past the enemies and obstacles and ignore everything else.
Additionally, I can't quite put my finger on it but felt that the quality and balancing of the boss fights was somewhat less consistent compared to those of Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 - and also a bit repetitive towards the end.
Overall, one can justifiedly call this a masterpiece. But for me personally, my favourite FromSoftware-game still is Bloodborne, followed very closely by Dark Souls (it's a tie between DS 1 and 3).
Playing FromSoftware-Games I feel respected as a player. I feel as if the developers have confidence in my capability to 'get' the game, that I can manage in the world I'm thrown into
without the game holding my hand at every opportunity, whereas with a lot of other games it feels as if the developers are 'talking down' on me through the game as if I were a child. This is a very significant reason for why I love these games.
That said, I don't think that this game is the "ultimate" FromSoftware game so far, as some others have put it. As an open world game, it's first class. But from a more gameplay-focused perspective, in my opinion this one isn't quite on par with Bloodborne or Dark Souls. If I take a step back and try to answer for myself honestly which parts of the game were the most fun, my answer would be those that were basically classic, linear Soulsborne levels, basically all of the 'Legacy Dungeons'. This is where FromSoftwares otherworldly skills in leveldesign and pacing can really shine. The open world was a nice change to the usual formula, but overall I believe I prefer the tighter and perfectly paced gameplay-experience of the previous titles. Naturally, you can't pace an open-world game quite as precisely as a game in which the players path is mostly predetermined. That's why I kinda hope FromSoft will take a step back with future titles and go back to a somewhat semi-open-world approach - similar to Dark Souls 1, which I think is the best title in this regard.
The aforementioned factors also somewhat diminish the replay-value of the game, at least from my perspective. Dark Souls or Bloodborne I can play over and over again, and it always stays challenging with me being able to constantly optimize my play-style. Not only regarding the bossfights but also in getting more efficient at beating the levels themselves, making each new replay feel rewarding. I didn't feel this same urge to 'get better' in Elden Ring after beating the final boss for the first time, since beating the levels isn't as central to the gameplay-experience. With Elden Ring, the vast majority of the playtime consists of exploration. This only really works well as long as there is still some sense of novelty and mystery to the world. Once one has explored the world in the first playthrough, the incentive to do so again in a second one is rather low. In my second playthrough on NG+, knowing where everything is and what I have to do to progress, I mostly just rushed through the open-world and arrived at the final boss in (I believe) under 15 hours with not much of the first playthrough's magic left. There is not much room to get better in beating levels, since once you know where to go you can mostly just walk straight past the enemies and obstacles and ignore everything else.
Additionally, I can't quite put my finger on it but felt that the quality and balancing of the boss fights was somewhat less consistent compared to those of Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 - and also a bit repetitive towards the end.
Overall, one can justifiedly call this a masterpiece. But for me personally, my favourite FromSoftware-game still is Bloodborne, followed very closely by Dark Souls (it's a tie between DS 1 and 3).
2019
What a ride. Easily one of the best gaming-experiences I've had in my entire life - and definitely the most intense. It manages to vastly improve upon it's (already brilliant) predecessor in every aspect. It's a game that really takes you to your limits and actually makes you reflect upon the choices you make.
Not only that, but the world it creates is strange and beautiful. The soundtrack is masterful and does its part in creating an unforgettable experience.
However, I do have to subtract half a star because of some technical difficulties. Despite playing on a high-end PC, the game had frequent framerate-drops for me, especially when opening a menu or map, which can be rather unnerving. This used to happen to me quite a few times while I was being attacked or in some other similarly tense situation. I also got stuck by a bug a few times, forcing me to reload a previous savegame, which can be really frustrating considering how high the stakes in this game are basically all the time.
The technical aspects aside, this game is - in my opinion - perfect.
Not only that, but the world it creates is strange and beautiful. The soundtrack is masterful and does its part in creating an unforgettable experience.
However, I do have to subtract half a star because of some technical difficulties. Despite playing on a high-end PC, the game had frequent framerate-drops for me, especially when opening a menu or map, which can be rather unnerving. This used to happen to me quite a few times while I was being attacked or in some other similarly tense situation. I also got stuck by a bug a few times, forcing me to reload a previous savegame, which can be really frustrating considering how high the stakes in this game are basically all the time.
The technical aspects aside, this game is - in my opinion - perfect.
2021
This was fairly fun for the most part. Obviously, this is a clone of the original Resident Evil games, with a (very tiny) bit of Silent Hill thrown into the mix. Overall, it did a decent job at recapturing the feeling of those titles. Storywise, this was even more cheesy than Resident Evil, but in a kinda fun way. In terms of gameplay and playability, there were a few minor improvements, with no major changes to the formula, but also some changes for the worse. E.g. this game actually managed to have worse controls than old school Resident Evil and the static camera angles did not bother me as much in Resident Evil as they did in this one. I also encountered a few bugs. Overall, I feel like this could have been significantly better if only the execution would have been less sloppy.