Elden Ring mixes tradition with ambition

By Adrian Ovalle

November 15, 2021

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Elden Ring mixes tradition with ambition

The Dark Souls of the open world games

Written by Marcel Early on Monday, November 15, 2021 10:23

The long wait was over this weekend for all the chosen ones who were allowed to participate to the Elden Ring network test. For this beta in disguise, developer FromSoftware only provided a small part of the entire game world, but it turned out to be enough to keep you busy for hours. That promises a lot, although that extra portion of hype also creates high expectations. Let the waiting begin again.

The promise of a Dark Souls game in an open world is quite imaginative. On the other hand, that description is very secrecy. Elden Ring is quite literally Dark Souls in an open world at times; Dark Souls 3 to be exact. A good portion of the weapons, magic spells, animations and even certain enemies are reused. The first moments of Elden Ring are a piece of cake for anyone who plays these kinds of games gray. There is even a spirited boss who makes it even more clear that the DNA of the genre is clearly present.

Cave, cave, cave

If you look a little further and longer, you will notice that everything is different. There is no curtain of fog to stop you from moving forward. You can run past the boss, sneak around it, or walk in a completely different direction. So my eye fell on an island close to the coast. There had to be a way to get there, I thought, so that became my first goal. What followed was a voyage of discovery in which the focus kept shifting a little further. A cave here, a valley there and finally that huge castle that beckons continuously on the horizon. Anyone who has ever played an open world game knows how the tune works. How come it feels so monumental now that FromSoftware is trying?

That probably has to do with the Breath of the Wild effect. When Nintendo announced its first steps into the open world genre, everyone had a certain idea. For example, I envisioned a map full of question marks, but what I got was an innovative, almost primitive approach to the genre. Nintendo got rid of everything superfluous and got to the heart of what makes this type of game so exciting with Breath of the Wild. What if you can really go anywhere and plan your adventure all by yourself? Elden Ring isn’t necessarily going to bring about the same (r)evolution, but the idea of the weighty and weighted gameplay of Dark Souls, combined with that ultimate adventurer feeling? That makes a person go wild.

It is not certain whether Elden Ring will actually make this dream scenario come true. The world of the game stands or falls with what there is to discover, whether it remains varied enough and whether this open design is not at the expense of carefully thought out game moments and mechanics. After all, that’s what made Dark Souls big. After the first few hours I dare to hope for it, albeit with a blow to my arm. In any case, this taste of the entire world felt quite grand, without sacrificing density. There is always a carrot within reach.

This full world taster feels quite grand, without sacrificing density

Elden Ring.torrent

The best supporting role goes to the magical horse that accompanies you: Torrent. With the push of a button you call him and you trot on to your next destination. You also get off just as quickly and easily if you see a group of enemies or a cave, for example. But there is a third option: you can also fight on horseback in Elden Ring. That possibility already feels indispensable, because it keeps the pace going, if you don’t feel like countless interruptions. Those who prefer to take the time to approach each confrontation as safely as possible will be happy with the stealth function that has moved from Sekiro. With Elden Ring, FromSoftware offers more than ever the possibility to choose your own playing style.

It has to be, because without a demarcated path it is necessary that several roads lead to Rome. It should not be the case that you only have a chance with sword fighting, and not with stealth or horseback. At first glance, From Software seems to have learned an important lesson when it comes to freedom of choice. For example, characters who do not specialize in magic can still perform certain magical attacks with their weapon. There is also a crafting system to keep adding to your arsenal, without having to depend on a well-hidden character in the world for that. It has even thought of people who have zero need to participate in the online part. Help is available to them in the form of computerized ghosts that you can summon to fight for you.

Accessibility testing

These changes make Elden Ring more accessible in a way, but still within the confines of the inaccessible. This is not going to suddenly become the game where everyone can just join. The systems, the story, the characters and actually every other aspect remain too obscure for that. A ‘nice’ example of this is multiplayer. This time there is actually an item in the options menu called ‘multiplayer’, but then you have to make sense of eight different items with names like ‘Furlcalling Finger Remedy’ and ‘Tarnished’s Furled Finger’. At this rate, it will be ten more games before FromSoftware introduces revolutionary terms like ‘create online session’ and ‘join online session’.

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I do suspect that Elden Ring will still be able to attract more people, if only because you can go in any direction from the start. Who knows, maybe something will come your way that will make it click this time. That’s better than being flattened to the ground by the first boss as a player, along with that hope. In Elden Ring you just run the other way. Although you always run the risk of suddenly bumping into a fire-breathing dragon there. It’s still the Dark Souls of the open world games.

Elden Ring will be released on February 25, 2022 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and PC.

The long wait was over this weekend for all the chosen ones who were allowed to participate to the Elden Ring network test. For this beta in disguise, developer FromSoftware only provided a small part of the entire game world, but it turned out to be enough to keep you busy for hours. That promises a lot, although that extra portion of hype also creates high expectations. Let the waiting begin again.