Elden Ring Review—A review from the perspective of someone who does not like Souls games
Hours played: 80 hours, completed main story and approximately 60%~70% of optional content
Some background: I’ve dabbled in a couple of Soulslike games here and there, but they are almost never to my tastes. Bloodborne is a notable exception, and is a game I played to completion and actually enjoyed a fair bit. But apart from this sole outlier (which, frankly, may not even be replicated if I were to play it again for the first time today), I’ve never managed to put more than a few hours into any of the Soulslike games I’ve played—this includes Dark Souls 3, Nioh, as well as Sekiro, all of which I grew extremely frustrated by within several hours of game time and eventually dropped entirely. Given my largely unpleasant experiences with Souls games, I had no intention of trying Elden Ring at all, though I ended up giving into the hype and purchasing a copy for myself. I suppose the mere fact that I sank 80 hours into this game should sufficiently clue you into the eventual tone of this review, though I will still say that my first ten hours playing the game were largely filled with regret: why did I make the foolish mistake of giving into FOMO and jumping into a game I knew wasn’t for me?
The game has an immensely steep learning curve that newcomers to these games will undoubtedly struggle with. In fact, unless you’re experienced in these games or extremely patient, I will go as far as to say that this game is virtually impossible to play without at least occasionally checking a guide here and there. Other than introducing you to the barest basics, the game more or less leaves you to figure everything out yourself. If you’re like me, you’ll no doubt find this task to be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. What am I supposed to do with my attribute points? Am I making a mistake? Where should I go next? Have I messed up completely, which is why I’m completely failing at the game? These were just some of the thoughts that ran through my head as I stumbled about the opening sections of the game, Limgrave. A devastating string of non-stop defeats at the hands of Margit, the Fell Omen had me even further convinced that I must have messed up my character irrecoverably, and at that point I made the decision to spend some more time exploring the open world and to make one more attempt at Margit before dropping the game completely. When I made that decision, I had expected to spend only a couple of hours messing about the open world. Instead, I involuntarily ended up spending over 15 hours exploring Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula, and even parts of Caelid. “I’ll just explore this next corner before stopping,” I told myself. But each corner I explored struck me with so many surprises, so many fantastical and mystical vistas, and so much awe that I kept wanting to see more of the world—and so I did. I kept going, and in so doing, I levelled up quite substantially. When I finally returned to Margit—which is where I was going to drop the game had I failed—I made the miraculous and unthinkable happen: I felled Margit, the Fell Omen. And so I kept going. As one boss after another fell, Elden Ring clicked for me. At some point, I began to know what I was doing, and I began to truly enjoy the experience, and so I kept on playing.
It is clear that I only got this far because of how exceedingly phenomenal Elden Ring’s open world is, which compelled me to keep on going, against all odds. I find the contemporary design ethos of making increasingly large Ubisoft-style open worlds that function as glorified checklists to pad out game length deeply unfortunate, and for this reason, I have a tendency to despise open worlds given that they just feel like a chore to complete. Deprived of any such checklists and markers, however, exploring Elden Ring is a breath of fresh air unlike any other open worlds I’ve played. Exploration in this game feels truly genuine and organic, and rarely ever feels like work. There are constant surprises to be found, and each new biome that you venture into persistently ignites such a powerful spark of wonder that you cannot help but wish to explore more—not because of a checklist that you compulsively feel the need to clear off, but because of a genuine desire to see more of this utterly mysterious, magnificent, and wonderous fantasy world. Elden Ring’s world is simply one of the most gorgeous, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking open worlds ever created—I don’t necessarily mean this in terms of graphical fidelity (though this too is by no means bad), but the diversity and sheer wonder of the game’s landscapes and its flora and fauna is simply incredible. Part of this is also down to how effectively the game weaponizes the fear of the unknown, and turns this into intrigue—make no mistake, Elden Ring is oftentimes absolutely terrifying. Not all the wonders of its world are of beauty—many of these wonders are grotesque horrors that make you churn with disgust or fear. But the awe-striking terrors of Elden Ring make it all the more diverse, all the more fantastical, and all the more captivating—this truly feels like a fully-realized fantasy world, rich with both beauty and horrors that keep you charmed and immersed. This, I believe, is Elden Ring’s single greatest accomplishment—one that dwarves virtually everything that has come before it. All open worlds simply feel mediocre in contrast to this one, and the industry has a tremendous amount it could learn from Elden Ring’s execution of an open world.
As for combat, I have both praise and criticism. Coming into Elden Ring as someone who isn’t well-versed in Soulslike combat, I found combat to be slow and clunky and difficult to appreciate for a very large portion of Elden Ring. I got more accustomed to it after many hours of playtime, and it became more functional and more fun. Minimally, I suspect that combat will take a lot of getting used to for those who aren’t used to it, and for some, the combat in this game may well be completely unappealing. However, given how customizable the game’s combat is, it isn’t impossible for many to eventually find a style that suits them, though it is less clear whether newcomers will invest sufficient amounts of time and trial and error to do so. Different melee weapons play differently for example, and there is further customizability in whether you may choose to use them one-handed with a shield, or two-handed with no shield, or even dual-wield weapons. There is also incredible diversity in ranged combat—there are bows and arrows (I did not use these even once in the game, and hence I can’t comment on them), there are powerful sorceries that are cast using staffs and which rely primarily on the Intelligence attribute, and there are also incantations which are cast using seals and which rely primarily on the Faith attribute. I played a character which used offensive incantations such as fire and lightning spells, and I found these to be exhilarating to use. Elden Ring awards you a tremendous amount of freedom (and in turn also replayability) in changing the way combat works, which means there’s a higher chance that something out there might appeal to your style, though finding it may not prove to be easy, given the game’s steep learning curve. Once you do find a style that suits you, however, combat can be very satisfying in this game.
Part of what makes combat satisfying no doubt comes down to the immense satisfaction of surmounting boss fights, which is the defining signature of the genre that fans of such games would already be familiar with. The vast majority of bosses in Elden Ring are exceedingly well-designed, helped in large part by their diverse and consistently marvellous visual designs that range from the mystifying to the terrifying. Effective audio design also contributes very extensively to making these bosses feel real and immersive, with deafening roars or eerie voices helping to set the ambience of various boss fights. In practice, many of these bosses pose a tremendous challenge, but crucially, without feeling unfair—in this manner, Elden Ring straddles the line between frustration and determination with great finesse, and kept me wanting to try again and again in order to conquer the unconquerable. The adrenaline of engaging in bloodcurdling combat against a menacing and horrifying boss so terrifying that it should well have been impossible to defeat and the tremendous reward of eventually emerging victorious against such an enemy is truly an indescribable experience. However, there are occasional bosses which do begin to feel somewhat unfair, and these do tend to feel largely frustrating and are not particularly fun to fight against, which is a shame. Some boss designs do also get repeated—this largely did not stick out to me too much, though it was occasionally a dampener to be confronted with something that was merely a variation of something I had already fought in the game before.
I have two further substantive criticisms to level at Elden Ring before I conclude this review. The first is its narrative, or rather the lack thereof. I am well aware that fanatics of the genre will ferociously defend the minimalistic and obscure narrative style of these games, with mere hints to its lore in item descriptions and in vague dialogues. On a conceptual level, the lore of Elden Ring does seem highly fascinating and intriguing, and its many characters do have very interesting backgrounds. However, I’m really not a fan of this narrative style which leaves you barely understanding the game’s plot (at least without referring to some explanation video on YouTube), and it’s extremely difficult to feel any sort of emotional attachment to the game given its vague and opaque narrative and characters. The second criticism I have is that I somewhat disagree with the perspective that the game remains equally strong throughout. Though I was indeed extremely captivated by how constantly surprising, awe-striking, and rewarding the game was, this sense of surprise and reward began to dwindle in the second half of the game for me. That is to say, the novelty began to wore off, and the latter sections of the game weren’t quite as fresh and surprising to me as it was at first. The game eventually also felt a little bit repetitive and the exploration began to feel formulaic, which led me to feel as if I was simply going through the motions.
Will someone who does not like Dark Souls like Elden Ring?
For my final word, I’ll like to weigh in on this question that is likely to be on the minds of many who are curious about Elden Ring, given its overwhelmingly positive critical reception. I’ve seen many say that this is the most accessible and approachable Souls game ever made, and I’ve also seen many say that this game won’t change your mind if you didn’t like previous Souls games. Coming into Elden Ring as someone who does not like Souls games, I believe I can provide a somewhat more nuanced take. Elden Ring is indeed a much more approachable game than many other Souls games. Its open world means that anyone who is stuck on a boss can simply venture elsewhere and spend some time on open world exploration before returning to the boss, which in turn also has the advantage of allowing one to gain more experience, level up, upgrade their equipment, and also generally become better at playing the game. It also offers an extremely rich amount of game-play options that allows trial and error and experimentation, which means that there’s a much higher likelihood that someone can eventually discover a fighting style that suits them.
At the same time, none of this is necessarily easy to accomplish. The steep learning curve and the opaque nature of the game’s narrative means that many newcomers may give up before ever reaching that stage (I personally strongly recommend checking some guides as well as reddit posts giving advice, since these helped me tremendously). Elden Ring also very much remains a Souls game, which means it is still a very difficult game that can test your patience and that can prove to be frustrating. It can be very gruelling, both in terms of the difficulty of its combat and how harrowing some of the exploration can be as it takes you to dark and horrifying and foreboding places. There is also likely to be substantial time investment required to grind in order to gain enough runes (the in-game currency) to level up, or to obtain the necessary items for equipment upgrades. I definitely think Elden Ring has a higher chance of appealing to you even if you didn’t like previous Souls games, but I also think there’s no guarantee of this, since many aspects of Souls games that could be a turn-off are nevertheless present here, and the extent to which those things are repulsive to you could well be a determining factor. Do also consider your external circumstances if you’re curious about the game: if finances are tight or time is limited, it may not be a risk worth taking, at least until the game is on sale. If you’re willing or able to take the small risk, though, I do think there’s a tremendous amount in Elden Ring that is utterly excellent and worth experiencing for yourself.
Overall, though Elden Ring can be unwelcoming and can be extremely gruelling or even frustrating at times, it is also one of the most rewarding, and intriguing games I have played. While I do not think Elden Ring is quite as perfect as many others have claimed it to be, I nevertheless wholeheartedly applaud its myriad accomplishments, especially in its realization of an immersive, compelling, and fantastical open world. The fact that someone like myself who isn’t much a fan of Souls games and is also not a fan of open worlds in general has so much praise for it and even played it to completion should speak volumes about how stellar the game is. Elden Ring has completely decimated all previous standards for open worlds in videogames, and I sincerely believe that its majestic open world should serve as an exemplar for the entire gaming industry to take some lessons from.
Gameplay score: A
Storyline score: B
Characters score: B+
Aesthetics score: A+
Enjoyment score: A
Overall Elden Ring score: 90/100
