elden ring is a once in a generation achievement of fantasy world-building and a tight, responsive action sandbox. it also indulges the worst impulses of fromsoft's design team with its over-reused (new word) bosses with little to no lore or emotional impact and its dungeons filled with half-baked encounters with enemies that you've long been sick of. mainstream gaming picked the wrong Miyazaki title to fixate on, but it's really no wonder when you consider the creative efforts the team put toward elden ring's accessibility, avoiding the trap of a difficulty slider. difficulty sliders fucking suck, as illustrated by their mainstay status in bethesda titles. instead, elden ring opts toward a "choose your own path" approach and provides more tools than ever for everyone to get over the finish line regardless of their skill. that's what this title should be remembered for.

friend of mine put it best when she said “ on the one hand, the extremely tight narrative of the missions clashes aggressively with the open-world design, punishing you for straying from the path while the rest of the game encourages you to do just that. On the other, those tightly choreographed sequences allows RDR2 to tell a surprisingly mature and thoughtful story unlike any other in the entire interactive medium”

story was very very good, especially toward the end. epilogue felt like 10 more hours of pulling teeth we really didn’t need that. gameplay really was not fun but i did like running around on my horse following raccoons around

I've honestly lost count of how many hours I put into this. Putting aside the gargantuan and awe-inspiring open world and the epic story, the reason why this game became my favorite game of all time is because of Arthur Morgan, who is the greatest protagonist I've ever seen in a video game. I loved playing as him and his redemption is so powerful. I've rarely cried in a video game, but everytime I play this, I cry my eyes out. Rockstar made a masterpiece and for me it's going to be hard to top this one.

While I did this run as a modded playthrough under Reforged, Elden Ring at its core is still the best fundamental gaming experience I've had from this decade. Just such a monumental achievement in every facet of game design that can be imagined. Shit, even when I was frustrated (and it happened often), I still don't think I can ever get an experienced like this from any other developer. Packed to the brim with content in a world so dense & rich that it puts most fully-fleshed narrative titles to shame. On a re-run with a stronger understanding of the lore, the experience of walking through the endgame areas and understanding the circumstances of the world itself and your purpose made these grand, cinematic moments feel all the more moving. With Shadow of the Erdtree on the horizon, I already know that FromSoft will once again prove why they're the best developers in the business. Just real, real gaming.

It is rare for a game to meet it's high expectations. It is another thing entirely to be better than anyone imagined possible. Elden Ring proves FromSoftware's mastery over creating the feeling of overcoming challenge. It allows one to express their own creativity in playing the game in so many ways, yet the system mechanics are so strong and refined that everyone in every scenario can succeed. It builds a dark fantasy world of gods and misery, knowing it has provided you, the player, with all the tools to overcome and succeed in this miserable world, whiles simultaneous allowing that success to be dictated and tailored to the way you prefer to express it.