I swagger into the boss’ lair… where what can only be described as a colossal undead tree drops from the ceiling and scuttles towards me, all snarling roots and rotting bark. After what I just went through, I can handle anything. Several attempts and 32 minutes later, I finally reach the bottom to discover a green fog door shimmering and swirling at the end of the corridor. Before I could react, they’d cut me to pieces and sent me back to the beginning. That’s when a giant set of spinning blades came thundering through the darkness towards me. It seemed easy enough at first glance a series of narrow corridors all leading straight down. For the last half-hour, I’ve been attempting to find my way to the bottom of this ancient ruin. Bitter experience has taught me to be ready for anything. I hug the wall as I creep down the cold stone stairs into the tomb, dagger in hand. Whether that be for the Rune currency that allows you to level up, materials that let you level up your healing flasks/weapons or to collect one of the many weapons that could be a game changer to your chosen character build. What is most significant is that all of this content is worth engaging with. This non-exhaustive list includes townships that have cellars leading to a boss, NPC’s that can offer boons to the player enabling them to use new magic, mini dungeons hidden in caves, invading NPC’s and far-far more. From Software instead have taken the approach to include areas that have something new to discover and earn every time. Rather than pepper the map with quest markers and seemingly endless objectives with busywork and non-rewards. The world of Elden Ring is an absolutely joy to explore and discover. However, what we get is something genuinely amazing and seemingly impossible as a result. The scepticism came from the possibility that From Soft would take a similar approach, this would have been after all the easy way to achieve this. We have seen so many games come before this one, that were assembled using copied assets, with a sea of map markers that lead you to expected outcomes. So, the scepticism was born out of the shift to a larger open world. Every element of their worlds felt like they were sculpted by hand, carefully designed to provide a unique and stylistic look, while managing to keep everything feeling like it belonged in the same world. Dark Souls and Bloodborne had such an intricately connected world that it was almost impossible to not be impressed by it. One of the truly great aspects of their titles is in the world design. I had a great deal of scepticism when approaching Elden Ring. After all, while people would cite challenging games as From Software’s core appeal, their games are really all about overcoming it. It’s a game that offers a ton of options to the player, encouraging them to see more of the world, rather than to beat their heads against a wall until they defeat a certain boss. When it comes to From Software’s latest, this is an anecdote to keep in mind, as the game is full of these moments. It’s an organic way of doing things and is designed to ensure that players are corralled down a pathway to success, without punishing the player for wanting to push the challenge or to explore further. However, if you have the mettle and the skills to get around it, the skeletons are merely a dangerous nuisance and a reminder that nowhere is off limits to a player that knows how to play by the game’s rules. Now, for those that have played and understood Dark Souls, they know that this is the game trying to tell you something. This is Dark Souls’ creator Hidetaka Miyazaki’s eldritch baby through-and-through all decaying kingdoms, unsettling NPCs, and towering, twisted bosses with names like Margit The Fell Omen and Beastman Of Farum Azula. If publisher Bandai Namco hadn’t mentioned Martin was a part of Elden Ring, I’m not sure I would ever have noticed. ELDEN RING Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack Martin’s involvement, I’d assumed the Game Of Thrones’ scribe had been enlisted to ground things, inasmuch as a fantasy story can be grounded. Given the amount of noise that was made around George R.R. Like the vast majority of FromSoftware games, Elden Ring’s story and lore will no doubt prove borderline impenetrable to all but the most dedicated of scholars. It’s also, I am delighted to report, FromSoftware’s best game to date a modern masterpiece that will surely go down as one of the greats. The ambitious open-world successor to the Dark Souls series is maddeningly punishing, impossibly vast, and endlessly rewarding. This is Elden Ring, and I am utterly besotted. And when I return? I will wreck that f****ng tree. But I make a silent vow to myself: I will leave this cursed tomb and get stronger.
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