Where do I even begin with Elden Ring?

From Software had quite a lot on their plates with making this their biggest game yet and also reaching the immensely high expectations of the fanbase. It's no secret that from the initial teaser trailer where nobody really knew what it was to the extended look people got during the months prior to its release that the whole gaming sphere was holding its breath for Elden Ring to launch. I guess pressure can do wonders cuz ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ God ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ daaaaayyyuuuuuummmmm they knocked it out of the park!

Souls has always excelled with its sense of discovery and progression that further gave weight to the already brilliant combat. Even ditching Dark Souls 1's metroidvania-like layout for more linear world structures in the sequels still felt rewarding to explore with plenty of shortcuts and secrets. Elden Ring merges all these beloved traits with vast landscapes to create my favorite From Software World yet. It's straight up impressive how seamless the transition is going from freely roaming in any direction in the overworld to exploring the tight and branching corridors of a dungeon that delivers classic Dark Souls exploration in spades. Dungeons are among some of the best From Software have ever designed and are meaty enough to feel like fans of both styles will feel fully compensated for. You can also actually jump now and that's pretty cool.

Combat is very similar to the Dark Souls combat were used to, particularly Dark Souls 3 in this instance with the speed and weapon arts taken from that game, though with some bells and whistles such as new weapons/spells and more flexible arts. Boss fights take the aggression from Dark Souls 3's fights and kick it up a notch, providing some of the most intense and flashy fights in the series. Nobody quite makes bosses like From Software with such beautiful weaving of lore, gameplay, music, and challenge and Elden Ring is only there to reinforce their crown.

For as impressive as a game of this scale is and for how great the experience is 95% of the time, tackling a project so big was destined to come with some hiccups. Being an open-world game, there's definitely a lot of copy/pasting. Generic assets are fine since it's the only way a game like this could reasonably be finished and I liked the plentiful bosses as it provided for some great surprises when roaming, but some of what this game pulls in regards to reusing earlier bosses for later duo bosses is downright ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. A lot of the movesets don't complement one another for a balanced challenge and it generally resemble Dark Souls 2 tier ganks in being unfun and annoying. Balance in general is probably the biggest slip up here as they really could have fine tuned it to make more builds feel viable. Some ways of playing are just blatantly more effective even though potential flexibility is better than it has ever been. Early to mid bosses are tuned well enough but late-game suffers an insane damage spike that requires at least 30 vigor to not get one-shot. I had like 45 vigor by the end of the game but I thought "he hit for HOW much damage?!" way more times than should be necessary. Even though the penultimate boss was one of my favorite fights (nogadar) in the series, he shouldn't be doing half my health with every attack. Pair that with the fact that boss combos are some of the longest and most complex in the series and it's no wonder why many resort to busted bleed builds to deal damage reasonably.

For all the gripes and pretty noticeable faults I've noticed in the game's design, I won't ever deny that this still carries one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The atmosphere and storytelling are some of the finest from any triple A developer and the annoying ♥♥♥♥ never trampled over my immersion and enjoyment of the base combat. Definitely a game I can see myself revisiting for years to come alongside the other From Software greats.

Where do I even begin with Elden Ring? From Software had quite a lot on their plates with making this their biggest game yet and also reaching the immensely high expectations of the fanbase. It's no secret that from the initial teaser trailer where nobody really knew what it was to the extended look people got during the months prior to its release that the whole gaming sphere was holding its breath for Elden Ring to launch. I guess pressure can do wonders cuz holy shit God muthafuckin daaaaayyyuuuuuummmmm they knocked it out of the park! Souls has always excelled with its sense of discovery and progression that further gave weight to the already brilliant combat. Even ditching Dark Souls 1's metroidvania-like layout for more linear world structures in the sequels still felt rewarding to explore with plenty of shortcuts and secrets. Elden Ring merges all these beloved traits with vast landscapes to create my favorite From Software World yet. It's straight up impressive how seamless the transition is going from freely roaming in any direction in the overworld to exploring the tight and branching corridors of a dungeon that delivers classic Dark Souls exploration in spades. Dungeons are among some of the best From Software have ever designed and are meaty enough to feel like fans of both styles will feel fully compensated for. You can also actually jump now and that's pretty cool. Combat is very similar to the Dark Souls combat were used to, particularly Dark Souls 3 in this instance with the speed and weapon arts taken from that game, though with some bells and whistles such as new weapons/spells and more flexible arts. Boss fights take the aggression from Dark Souls 3's fights and kick it up a notch, providing some of the most intense and flashy fights in the series. Nobody quite makes bosses like From Software with such beautiful weaving of lore, gameplay, music, and challenge and Elden Ring is only there to reinforce their crown. For as impressive as a game of this scale is and for how great the experience is 95% of the time, tackling a project so big was destined to come with some hiccups. Being an open-world game, there's definitely a lot of copy/pasting. Generic assets are fine since it's the only way a game like this could reasonably be finished and I liked the plentiful bosses as it provided for some great surprises when roaming, but some of what this game pulls in regards to reusing earlier bosses for later duo bosses is downright bullshit. A lot of the movesets don't complement one another for a balanced challenge and it generally resemble Dark Souls 2 tier ganks in being unfun and annoying. Balance in general is probably the biggest slip up here as they really could have fine tuned it to make more builds feel viable. Some ways of playing are just blatantly more effective even though potential flexibility is better than it has ever been. Early to mid bosses are tuned well enough but late-game suffers an insane damage spike that requires at least 30 vigor to not get one-shot. I had like 45 vigor by the end of the game but I thought "he hit for HOW much damage?!" way more times than should be necessary. Even though the penultimate boss was one of my favorite fights (nogadar) in the series, he shouldn't be doing half my health with every attack. Pair that with the fact that boss combos are some of the longest and most complex in the series and it's no wonder why many resort to busted bleed builds to deal damage reasonably. For all the gripes and pretty noticeable faults I've noticed in the game's design, I won't ever deny that this still carries one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The atmosphere and storytelling are some of the finest from any triple A developer and the annoying shit never trampled over my immersion and enjoyment of the base combat. Definitely a game I can see myself revisiting for years to come alongside the other From Software greats.