After years of desperate waiting, “Elden Ring,” the spiritual successor to the “Dark Souls” series, is finally out. I already have 50 hours of play time on my belt, but I’m still nowhere close to finishing the singleplayer. Even so, I’m tempted to say that this is the best game I’ve ever played. It has taken over my life at this point. When I’m not playing, I’m either thinking about it or watching my friends play, so I’m very angry that I have to write this article right now instead of playing some more.
Staying true to its “Dark Souls” roots, “Elden Ring” is a third-person role-playing game (RPG) developed by From Software with an emphasis on difficult combat and exploration. But it is notably different from past entries in that it features a full open-world, which is something I usually despise in video games. But now I realized this might be the game’s greatest strength, and is actually a perfect addition to the “Souls” formula.
There are two potential pitfalls for open worlds. One: The amount of content available can feel overwhelming and exhausting. Many open worlds have big exclamation marks everywhere a side quest is available, and their game maps are filled with markers and arrows that tell you where the points of interest are. The result is that you feel compelled to take on all these different tasks just because they’re there, and now you feel overwhelmed with so many quest logs on your screen. Two: The quality of the content becomes diluted because there is now so much space to fill. I think this one’s pretty self-explanatory.
“Elden Ring” has neither of these problems. It has a ton of amazing content for the player to chew through but doesn’t feel overwhelming at all. Like previous installments, the game only gives you the bare minimum to get you going and lets you figure out everything else by yourself. You even have to pick up map pieces to fill out the map. The result is an exciting, organic experience. Instead of just mindlessly hunting down the quest markers and points of interests on the map, now you actually have to go somewhere yourself to see if there’s anything hidden somewhere for you to conquer and explore, and you can do things at your own pace. I also found that the quality of the places you can go to are just so consistently good considering that the game world is enormous. Every major area has its own intricate lore, interconnected level design, smartly hidden loot, not to mention fantastic scenery that will blow your mind. For instance, right at the start of the game, you will be greeted with an open expanse with an impossibly gigantic golden tree in the distance—-truly a sight to behold. Even the small points of interests and lesser dungeons have incredible rewards waiting for you to uncover like awesome weapons and fashionable (or god-ugly) armor. The exploration is so addicting, and it alleviates a lot of the frustration players might have with the game’s difficulty. Stuck on a boss? Just go out and explore and come back stronger!
The original “Dark Souls” is often praised for its interconnected and non-linear level design. There are so many places you can already go to right at the start of the game and thus have a variety of options for tackling the campaign (and potentially become overpowered early on in the game by optimizing the perfect route). “Elden Ring” is exactly like this but infinitely better because of the open world. I’m playing this game alongside a few friends, and I’m constantly amazed by all the different things they have encountered but I have somehow missed or haven’t seen.
I always mention how freedom of movement makes open worlds fun, and “Elden Ring” achieves this by giving you a horse and a real jump button (jumping functions in previous installments were pretty awkward to use)! This may not sound like much to the average gamer, but it was such a huge step forward compared to what I’m accustomed to in the previous installments that I think “Souls” fans will absolutely love these additions.
The game improves upon the methodical, one-on-one style combat system that fans all know and love by having so many more options and variety. You are now able to fight while on horseback, whether with a physical weapon or spell, which can be useful for kiting faster enemies, and your strong attack allows you to drag your sword on the ground to cut through enemies as if you’re an unstoppable force. There is a huge collection of spectacular weapon skills compared to what was available in “Dark Souls 3.” Back then, weapon skills were mostly quite genetic and repetitive, with many weapons having the same basic skills. Now, there are so many unique weapons that have their own defining skill—they’re just so cool that I can’t wait to try them all out. I use a curved sword called “Wing of Astel” that creates an aura in front of you that explodes with magical energy. I also plan to get a sword called the “Sword of Night and Flame” that can shoot out a huge beam of energy and conjure a ring of fire, and I hear it’s insanely good for PVE (Player Versus Environment) content. In addition, you can even change the skills for most weapons so there’s lots of room for customization.
Sorceries have also been substantially improved in “Elden Ring.” There are so many more spells you can collect right as you start the game, making the early-game experience so much better. You can even rapid-fire some spells that greatly boosts your damage output and makes the mage gameplay a lot more action-packed. In general, there’s a ton more flavor compared to what we had before, which was mostly just shooting magical missiles at things. Now you can call down meteors, wield a magical greatbow and slam down a big hammer. Sorcerer has always been my favorite class in these games and I’m having such a good time cheesing bosses with overpowered spells.
The most notable addition of “Elden Ring,” however, are “Spirit Ashes.” These items allow you to summon NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that will assist you in difficult fights. Initially, I wanted to avoid using them out of pride—I’m just too good at these games to ever need help. However, they are just so fun to use that I couldn’t help but use them whenever I can now. At high levels, they get a ton of health and good damage, and you can watch them almost solo certain bosses. My favorite summon has to be the “Mimic Tear,” which summons a copy of your player character. It can use the weapon and all the spells you have equipped and seems to deal the same damage that you do. It’s so good and fun to play with, and I think it fits my class identity perfectly. I think this is a great addition that is not only incredibly interesting but also makes the game a lot more accessible to new players.
I’ve been so preoccupied with the single-player content that I haven’t had a chance to even touch the PVP (Player Versus Player) stuff yet. But from what I’ve seen, it feels exactly like “Dark Souls 3” PVP but with substantial improvements and more content , and that’s everything I’ve ever wanted for PVP. I cannot wait to sink another 1000 hours into dueling and invasions like I did before, maybe I’ll write a follow up when I actually get into them. But for now, even though I have only just experienced the single-player content, which I haven’t even finished, I already think “Elden Ring” is the best game I’ve ever played. It’s a hell of an addictive substance that will destroy my life and I’m so, so happy for that.
