When fighting large enemies up close, it’s extremely difficult to see what’s going on. The third-person camera is most notably a mess. In many of the fights that gave me the most trouble, I felt like I was fighting around sloppy design rather than dueling a powerful boss. Elden Ring is as guilty of that as ever, which is annoying considering that this is the studio’s jump to a more capable console generation. The real issue is that FromSoftware’s games can often feel too archaic for their own good, adding technical complications on top of gameplay that already requires high skill. If that’s never sounded fun, it still won’t be here.Ī lot has been made about whether or not these games are “too hard,” but that conversation is a distraction. Even with helpful new features, this is still a tough game that required me to bang my head against individual bosses for hours on end.
If you hate Dark Souls …įor those who have never understood the appeal of Dark Souls, Elden Ring’s action is a different story. Elden Ring only amplifies that strength, giving players more tools to toy with and an army of delightfully deranged monsters to use them against. Souls games are immensely challenging, but make the struggle worthwhile for curious players. What fresh hell awaited me on the other side? I always needed to know, even if I knew I wasn’t prepared for the beating that would ensue.įor people who love FromSoftware, none of this is new information. Even in my most exhausting play sessions, I got a hit of excitement every time I was about to enter a cloudy, green boss portal. Much of the fun comes from the sense of surprise and discovery each new boss presents. From fire-spouting dog statues to grotesque flesh gods that roll around like Sonic, each encounter feels entirely different and pushes players to try new strategies. In terms of what you’ll actually be fighting, Elden Ring has no shortage of fantastic boss fights. New players can essentially create their own set of training wheels through magic, while veterans can ignore the systems entirely and focus on traditional slashing and parrying. Between spells, summons, and special “Ashes” that can be attached to weapons to give them powerful attacks, there’s a lot to experiment with. While Elden Ring doesn’t have difficulty options, spellcasting gives players more flexibility when tackling tough fights. Magic plays a bigger role here than previous Souls games, and it’s a smart move. By the end, I was summoning an army of spectral soldiers to distract bosses while I performed magic-consuming, whirlwind slashes with a gigantic sword from behind my enemy. At the start of my journey, I was carefully prodding enemies at a distance with a lance and casting fire spells. What stands out this time is just how many options players have when it comes to creating a combat build. Like any Souls game, battles are all about evading an enemy’s ferocious attack patterns and waiting for the precise moment to strike. Naturally, combat is the heart of Elden Ring. It’s a dark, high-fantasy action-RPG tightly packed with challenging boss fights - a whole lot of them. It takes the ethos of Dark Souls and puts it into a more expansive package without throwing out FromSoftware’s signature ideas. If you love Dark Souls …Įlden Ring is going to make a lot of people happy. Even the haters will find something to love here. Despite its lack of finesse, Elden Ring is an all-enveloping adventure filled with incredible landscapes, fantastic enemy design, and deep RPG customization. But to give the detractors their due, it’s also a game that demands perfection from players while refusing to clean up the series’ sloppiest quirks.ĭon’t let that last part scare you off, though. The action RPG is frequently mesmerizing, offering the hands down best open-world experience since, you guessed it, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. On one hand, it’s an astonishing achievement. There’s a good reason that Souls games are so polarizing, and Elden Ring brings the divide into focus.
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