holy shit

this game is the type of experience you could show to an english teacher / poetry class, and they would go to great lengths studying the significance of each individual talisman or weapon. its a game that requires genuine abstract thinking and interpretation to get anything out of the plot. each boss fight is a unique experience that can feel extremely heavy depending on the backstory or lore significance of each boss. the difficulty perfectly lines up with the lore. you're supposed to be vulnerable and unimportant, only gaining power by persevering. also, somehow, fromsoftware was able to make the combat just as deep as the story. on the surface its simple. normal attack, strong attack, block, parry, dodge, and roll. but certain items and spells can benefit at specific times during fights and knowing when to use these items an their importance is half of the combat, especially near the end of the game.

this is fromsoftwares magnum opus. their masterpiece. they will likely never top this game (although bloodborne came pretty damn close. hallelujah.

there has always been an argument against videogames saying they cant be true art.

if there was one game that i could force those dickbags (rip roger ebert) to it down and play start to finish, it would be bioshock (and dark souls one).

this game is perfection in every way. deep combat, deep story, compelling character, and ESPECIALLY art style.

so sad that 2K only makes shitty sports games now.

ive had to sit on reviewing this game, for a few reasons. one of those being that soulsborne is one of my favorite, if not my favorite genre. and this game was one of the more divisive as of recently, but thats another topic.

i really liked elden ring. fromsoft’s jump from linear to open world couldnt have gone much smoother. Elden Ring is a game that defies most aspects of game designs yet does it so wonderfully. one wrong move, and you stumble into a giant golden knight who kills you with an axe. but this never takes away from the game, if anything it adds to it. it also has some of my favorite weapons in the series and issues from old fromsoft games are nearly gone.

obviously this isnt all. if it was, i wouldnt have docked a star. there are some repetitive bosses and movesets, and some parts of the games can be quite annoying at times. but other than that i thoroughly enjoyed elden ring.