Elden Ring O, Elden Ring, quite possibly my most anticipated game this year. Having just recently completing the game, my thoughts are still forming about everything, but I want to share what I think so far.
Elden Ring is a masterful execution of the open world genre. There is always something interesting on every inch of the map. From bosses, landmarks, and just general points of interest, Elden Ring never stopped impressing and surprising me at how full the world felt with things to do.
Fromsoft also added music to most of the game, not just bosses. Elevating the atmosphere and presentation so much more than their usual quiet ambiance while traversing. I was delighted to feel each of these tracks felt powerful and hammered themselves into me. They're iconic, and stick with you, just like when Dark Souls decides to add music for an area, you will always remember it, and it's no different here. Boss music has also been leveled up considerably, using everything they used from their previous games, it all culminates here into a single OST, and it's brilliant. You've got epic choir, sinister instrumentation, beautiful traditional pieces as well. All harkening back to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro.
Gameplay is so fine-tuned. One mention specifically being the horseback combat, it's the best I've ever felt in a video game ever. General combat is diverse in approach and execution as well. It tends to lean more in Dark Souls territory for sure, but with the refined controls, and a lot more options added to make combat feel even more creative and unique per person besides light attack spam and dodge rolling everywhere.
Graphically stunning. Not the most advanced and detailed 4k textures in the world, but visuals serve very well in this game. Vibrant and beautiful colors, but very contained and simple environment colors and visual effects. I think it works very well, as spells and other unique attacks and points of interest stand out way more in the environment and blends together seamlessly. Nothing very distracting, or out of place, everything looked as it should with a dash of that glorious whimsical backdrop that reminds you of the world you're in at every turn.
Last thing I'll mention are my personal gripes with the game. First thing I need to address is the bosses themselves. I think the bosses are all incredible and spectacles of this brilliant world they've crafted, but sometimes I think they forgot they were making a video game. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome, however some bosses are just so aggressive and some have very wild gimmicks that sometimes it gets a little insane. I never felt anything was super unfair in the game, but I do think some attacks and opportunity windows for some could've been tuned a bit more. Certain gimmicks some bosses have are... under baked a bit. I do believe in concept these gimmick fights are great, but from a strictly gameplay perspective, it can leave a lot of people frustrated, including me.
My other gripes is the difficulty, and no, not general difficulty, more akin to the range of difficulty different people will have. Elden Ring has some absolutely busted items that make the game trivial, I came across many of these. Because of this, some people will think the game is too easy, others will think it's way too difficult because they either don't know about them, or just never found them. I do understand that every Soulsborne has this to an extent, but I just wanted to make a note of it because of how many new people are coming into the scene, and how I think it's especially prevalent in Elden Ring. On the flipside, I believe some character builds are going to struggle a lot, especially in the later areas. I won't spoil anything of course, but for me, I used a melee build with a Great sword, and some fights felt impossible due to the small windows of opportunity some bosses give you to damage them. Not to say others with my kind of build will experience the same, that's just how it went for me.
With my gripes out of the way, I think the game is absolutely spectacular. I immensely enjoyed my journey from start to finish, hitting a few snags on the way, which is exactly what I want. Everything was so captivating, and will stay on my mind for many years to come. Truly a masterpiece, and I recommend all fantasy fans to play this game, and anyone out there who wants a challenge but can make it easier on yourself with some very strong and cool items. I played the PS5 version for this review, and only experienced major lag in one particular area, so I recommend it over the others.
Update: After letting my initial thoughts on the game settle for a bit, I've come to the personal conclusion of Elden Ring still being a great game. However, as someone who held Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne in such high regards, I keep finding myself thinking Eden Ring to just not be in the same tier. Personally, I think Elden Ring took some major steps forward for future games from FromSoftware. I also believe Elden Ring took a lot of steps backwards with some of the level design and a few other mechanics here and there.
Still not to say the game isn't worth playing, it definitely is, and I stand by my original assessment that it's the best open-world game I've ever played and has captured a large audience that it deserves to have for its high quality craft. But as someone who's been a long-time fan, I feel like it could've been better.
Elden Ring is a masterful execution of the open world genre. There is always something interesting on every inch of the map. From bosses, landmarks, and just general points of interest, Elden Ring never stopped impressing and surprising me at how full the world felt with things to do.
Fromsoft also added music to most of the game, not just bosses. Elevating the atmosphere and presentation so much more than their usual quiet ambiance while traversing. I was delighted to feel each of these tracks felt powerful and hammered themselves into me. They're iconic, and stick with you, just like when Dark Souls decides to add music for an area, you will always remember it, and it's no different here. Boss music has also been leveled up considerably, using everything they used from their previous games, it all culminates here into a single OST, and it's brilliant. You've got epic choir, sinister instrumentation, beautiful traditional pieces as well. All harkening back to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro.
Gameplay is so fine-tuned. One mention specifically being the horseback combat, it's the best I've ever felt in a video game ever. General combat is diverse in approach and execution as well. It tends to lean more in Dark Souls territory for sure, but with the refined controls, and a lot more options added to make combat feel even more creative and unique per person besides light attack spam and dodge rolling everywhere.
Graphically stunning. Not the most advanced and detailed 4k textures in the world, but visuals serve very well in this game. Vibrant and beautiful colors, but very contained and simple environment colors and visual effects. I think it works very well, as spells and other unique attacks and points of interest stand out way more in the environment and blends together seamlessly. Nothing very distracting, or out of place, everything looked as it should with a dash of that glorious whimsical backdrop that reminds you of the world you're in at every turn.
Last thing I'll mention are my personal gripes with the game. First thing I need to address is the bosses themselves. I think the bosses are all incredible and spectacles of this brilliant world they've crafted, but sometimes I think they forgot they were making a video game. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome, however some bosses are just so aggressive and some have very wild gimmicks that sometimes it gets a little insane. I never felt anything was super unfair in the game, but I do think some attacks and opportunity windows for some could've been tuned a bit more. Certain gimmicks some bosses have are... under baked a bit. I do believe in concept these gimmick fights are great, but from a strictly gameplay perspective, it can leave a lot of people frustrated, including me.
My other gripes is the difficulty, and no, not general difficulty, more akin to the range of difficulty different people will have. Elden Ring has some absolutely busted items that make the game trivial, I came across many of these. Because of this, some people will think the game is too easy, others will think it's way too difficult because they either don't know about them, or just never found them. I do understand that every Soulsborne has this to an extent, but I just wanted to make a note of it because of how many new people are coming into the scene, and how I think it's especially prevalent in Elden Ring. On the flipside, I believe some character builds are going to struggle a lot, especially in the later areas. I won't spoil anything of course, but for me, I used a melee build with a Great sword, and some fights felt impossible due to the small windows of opportunity some bosses give you to damage them. Not to say others with my kind of build will experience the same, that's just how it went for me.
With my gripes out of the way, I think the game is absolutely spectacular. I immensely enjoyed my journey from start to finish, hitting a few snags on the way, which is exactly what I want. Everything was so captivating, and will stay on my mind for many years to come. Truly a masterpiece, and I recommend all fantasy fans to play this game, and anyone out there who wants a challenge but can make it easier on yourself with some very strong and cool items. I played the PS5 version for this review, and only experienced major lag in one particular area, so I recommend it over the others.
Update: After letting my initial thoughts on the game settle for a bit, I've come to the personal conclusion of Elden Ring still being a great game. However, as someone who held Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne in such high regards, I keep finding myself thinking Eden Ring to just not be in the same tier. Personally, I think Elden Ring took some major steps forward for future games from FromSoftware. I also believe Elden Ring took a lot of steps backwards with some of the level design and a few other mechanics here and there.
Still not to say the game isn't worth playing, it definitely is, and I stand by my original assessment that it's the best open-world game I've ever played and has captured a large audience that it deserves to have for its high quality craft. But as someone who's been a long-time fan, I feel like it could've been better.