A culmination of every From Soft game you've ever played in one arduous journey that continues to wow at every corner. Elden Ring is a testament to the objective of refining a formula rather than reinventing, and nearly 2 decades of refinement led to a journey that will now lead to other games reconsidering the open world approach.
Though not a perfect game, Elden Ring finds itself struggling to properly scale and thus ends up hurting some of the satisfaction in a series so vetted in its difficulty. My first playthrough tends to be a typical strength no magic run and as I did every little boss available I felt I started to outpace the intended scaling of the game. There is very much an intended route of the open world as you get a sense of the difficulty in each respective area. Yet, by doing all content laid ahead you tend to make the game even easier than I personally feel was intended.
Outside of the scaling, Elden Ring is able to show off a multidue of gorgeous and harrowing evironements that are packed with awe and intrigue. Secrets are plentiful, danger is constant, but there is a calming serenity in playing a game so jam packed of high quality in content. If past soulsbourne games did not intrigue you in the past, this may still not be the game for you. But, if you understand or have appreciated what came before this, Elden Ring will end up setting the bar so incredibly high, it may take time to acclimate going back to their older titles.
Though not a perfect game, Elden Ring finds itself struggling to properly scale and thus ends up hurting some of the satisfaction in a series so vetted in its difficulty. My first playthrough tends to be a typical strength no magic run and as I did every little boss available I felt I started to outpace the intended scaling of the game. There is very much an intended route of the open world as you get a sense of the difficulty in each respective area. Yet, by doing all content laid ahead you tend to make the game even easier than I personally feel was intended.
Outside of the scaling, Elden Ring is able to show off a multidue of gorgeous and harrowing evironements that are packed with awe and intrigue. Secrets are plentiful, danger is constant, but there is a calming serenity in playing a game so jam packed of high quality in content. If past soulsbourne games did not intrigue you in the past, this may still not be the game for you. But, if you understand or have appreciated what came before this, Elden Ring will end up setting the bar so incredibly high, it may take time to acclimate going back to their older titles.