I've started this first sentence about 6 or 7 times but have found myself completely incapable to give a strong introduction. I find that giving introductions complaining about giving introductions is a way to just put words onto a page to give me enough time to get a cognizant, half decent point together.

Writing something cognizant and half decent of Elden Ring is difficult due to the fact that, in its already brief release window, people far smarter, far dumber, far more skilled, and far worse than me at this game have already smattered the internet with their 'takes' and 'opinions'. What is my take? If you want to condense it down into its smallest form, it is that this game is great! I loved it. I really did. It consumed my life in a way few pieces of media can. I had not felt so enamored by a game since, funny enough, when I first tried Bloodborne around 15 months ago. Since then, I tried Dark Souls, but fell off after getting lost. That’s roughly the extent of my soulsborne experience. A complete run of Bloodborne, a failed run of Dark Souls, and credits seen on Elden Ring.

When I said before I became enraptured in this video game, there is another side to that coin. In the week since I have beaten it, I have felt nothing but hollow since seeing the credits. Despite that, I have not gone back to try and finish loose ends. I am done with Elden Ring, at least for the time being. I do not need it anymore. I purposefully ejected the game from my PS5 upon completion. I wanted closure, finality. What a strange feeling, so sad it was over, and despite completely being able to return on my own terms, I opt not to. I want to do something else, something lower investment, yet still distracting to fulfill my need for escapism. Why did I choose to be this way? I’m not sure.

The word complete rings so hollow in this game’s context. There is so much I have not done. Bosses I tried, and failed, only to never return to. Roughly around the time I beat Morgot, I essentially rushed through the rest of the game. I was not exploring. I was not stopping to smell the roses. I was trying to finish the game. I was ready to be done. Is that the game’s fault? I’m not entirely sure. I’m reminded of a bountiful Thanksgiving feast at a family gathering. There are foods you love, and the foods you tolerate. The beginning of the meal is always the best. You have purposely saved your appetite for this meal, and you start right away loving almost every bite. The mashed potatoes are better than they have ever been, the corn casserole is once again fantastic, and each bite is better than the last. There is even some food you hate, but it’s the one that your really nice aunt brought, so you get a small-but-not-too-small portion on your plate and eat it, just because you knew it would make her happy. Despite having a delightful meal with your family, you reach a point in which you are ready to be done. The green beans, lovingly created by your grandmother, have gone uneaten. Not because of dislike, but because you simply could not have another bite. I’m sorry grandma. Maybe next year.

It feels obvious to me that Elden ring will stand as one of the most important video games to be created, certainly will be heralded as a highlight of the 2020 decade in gaming and will influence countless games in the future. As Dark Souls defined the 2010s in video games, so too will Elden Ring. Probably. I do not make video games, and can make claims such as this from the outside looking in. This perhaps could well be the most impossible video game of all time. This unicorn of an experience, one that we can only be graced with once FromSoftware inevitably decides to add a 2 on the end. Such as Zelda revolutionized the open world (which FromSoftware obviously took certain levels of inspiration), yet nobody has ever created a true piece to rival it in its depth and excitement, perhaps Elden Ring will stand atop a similar platform. Alone, cold, and constantly shunning shallow imitators. Perhaps I will be wrong. And that’s okay. Making predictions is stupid. Perhaps I should cut this entire paragraph.
I realize now that I have talked around the video game itself. I have not discussed builds, play mechanics, how I thought it felt. Do you care? You, reading this, probably played it already. You had your cool Strength Faith build in which you used sick incantations. You really struggled on Mohg in particular. That’s really cool, and I’m glad you had a positive experience playing this game. Conversations like that are best left to discords and people who get paid to write about video games for a corporation. I have no interest in that.

I’m writing this in the middle but am putting it at the end. I’ve decided not to score whatever this is. It is not a review. I prefer to think of it as a diary, a look into how I feel surrounding this game at this particular moment roughly 1 week since I beat it. I generally like scoring because it gives me an outlook later on for how I felt about a game in the moment. A score is too simple, too commercial. Elden Ring is a game I beat. One I will very likely return to someday. A game that I have spent countless hours discussing and ruminating on. Good night, Elden Ring.