(Apologies for the one-day delay. I was caught up in grad class work.)
QS stands for “Quickshot”, a series of short form review/preview/opinion articles.
For those not in the know, Elden Ring came out just last week, and it’s…pretty good. Like, really good. The open world is gigantic and a blast to explore, the combat is the same fun Dark Souls formula you know and love (or hate), the story is suitably mysterious and intriguing, the visuals are beautiful, and the soundtrack is excellent. It’s a solid 9/10 game for sure, though that rating could change as I’m just barely over 20 hours into the game, and have barely scratched the surface of this massive world map. Still, as it stands, this is the 4th best open-world game that I’ve ever played, which is very solid.
It’s also a game with flaws, because no game is ever perfect.
As a quick synopsis, Elden Ring is a game wherein you are Tarnished, a warrior of great strength and renown, seeking to reclaim the power of the shattered Elden Ring. You traverse a sprawling and awe-inspiring fantasy world filled with crumbling ruins, majestic mountain peaks, terrifying abominations, and deadly traps. The mysterious maiden Melina is by your side, as is the spectral steed Torrent, and opposing you is the armies and commanders of the corrupted former Elden Lords. Traditional but engrossing fantasy affair.
Unlike any other Dark Souls game, Elden Ring both heavily encourages exploration even more than the required story path, and provides innumerable opportunities to do so. If there’s a boss giving you trouble, then there’s a million different things you can do instead. Explore mines for rare stones, discover and trade with nomadic merchants, help fellow adventurers with their own quests, and forage for berries and plants to craft new consumable goodies.
Point of fact, I actually just defeated the first story boss last night, at over 20 hours of gameplay. This is because I had instead spent my time scouring the world for glory and treasure, getting distracted over and over again, and loving almost every second of it. I could have put that boss fight off even longer, and could have even taken down bosses four, five, eight, and ten before striking down the opening fight.
None of this exploring would be anywhere near as fun without Torrent by your side. As far as video game horses go, Torrent probably reigns supreme. He handles great (doesn’t quite turn on a dime, but he IS a horse after all), sprints across the fields as blazing speed, can be summoned and dismissed at the touch of a button, and can even utilize magic to double-jump. You can also engage enemies in jousting matches from horseback, encouraging a hit-and-run strategy against Elden Ring‘s most terrifying foes.
The way in rich you grow your character is also vastly expanded, and build variety has never felt more accommodating. Whether you want to use a bow and become the next Hawkeye, rain destructive fire upon your foes with sorcery, flatten the baddies into pancakes with a hammer, or slice-n-dice with a bleed-inflicting katana, Elden Ring allows you to do so and also shows great results. All builds are equally applicable, and all paths to development provide a fun experience.
Not all is right in the world, however. I am (tentatively) giving this game a 9/10 after all.
More than any other Dark Souls game, Elden Ring loves to give its enemies annoyingly long combo attacks, frustratingly minimal openings to counter between attacks, and almost unbreakable hyper armor. From the lowliest skeleton to the tallest knight, it can be infuriating to find the enemies tanking my strikes and smacking me back. This IS Dark Souls, so your player character often dies in a hit or two. It can be exhausting.
And the thing is, it isn’t an inherently “bad” or “wrong” change to the combat formula. It’s just different, and in a way that I’m not a huge fan of. I like to play Dark Souls games like they’re an intricate rhythm game, or a choreographed dance. These games actually become quite easy when you fall into a reflexive and predictive rhythm of dodge, attack, dodge, attack, dodge, attack. Elden Ring often doesn’t work like that, which does put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm for each new fight (the standard enemies, mind you, the bosses themselves are as mostly great as ever).
There are a few other miscellaneous flaws which don’t hinder the whole experience much, but do cause occasional annoyance. Fall damage has been greatly reduced, but it’s still way too easy to misjudge the distance of a cliff and die, losing your precious runes in the process. Long stretches of the open world are sometimes barren and samey. Archer enemies have mind-bogglingly accurate shots from a mile away, and certain other enemies are clearly tracking your movements, making dodges next-to obsolete against them. Also, for as fun as horse combat is, I can’t help but feel like I’m cheating whenever I run circles around a boss without being hit once, but I also know that if I dismount to fight on foot, I’ll have to deal with undodgeable swings and hyper armor.
Still, Elden Ring is a heck of a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have played it for as long as I have (and desire to play it whenever I’m NOT) if it wasn’t fun. If you’re a Dark Souls fan, you’ve probably picked this up already. If not, give it a try! If you aren’t a Dark Souls fan, it might still be worth a shot, but it’s possible you’d be better of with Breath of the Wild or The Witcher 3.
The Contrarian Corner 