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Elden Ring review: an unmissable journey through the most impressive open world to date"No spoilers here"
“No spoilers here”
Elden Ring’s Open World Is Impossibly Rich | My Fav Thing In… (Elden Ring Review)Watch on YouTube
Elden Ring’s Open World Is Impossibly Rich | My Fav Thing In… (Elden Ring Review)
Enchantress of numbersA quick word on Elden Ring’s character stats. These work in exactly the same way as previous Souls games. As you earn Runes (Souls), you channel them into attributes like Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane to tune your character as you see fit. Veterans will feel immediately at ease with the pop-out spreadsheet, but newcomers may find the incremental upgrades a tad confusing at first.Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco
The game feels like Souls too, from combat to exploration to interacting with NPCs. In the way your character creaks some double doors open or theduhnnsounds when you pick up glinting loot. From the outside looking in, then, it’s easy to misplace Elden Ring in the Dark Souls 4 camp. Isn’t it just Dark Souls, but bigger? No, not at all. The game borrows from Souls past, sure, but it’s remarkably present. Elden Ring is an arrival of sorts, a generational shift away from the mould of old and into something that, well, only Elden Ring could provide.
And that’s an open world that hasn’t buckled under the weight of its ambition. Instead, it never falters, delivering a mind-bending number of caverns to crack and cathedrals to cleanse. FromSoftware have stamped their signature richness on every locale, where even a quiet exploratory trot on your spectral steed seems deliberate, like an orchestrated respite teeing up several options: a towering fortress jutting out of a lake; a procession of undead milling around an encampment; a sequence of giant steps leading to a murky beyond; a sleeping dragon. Choose one, come back to the others later? That is, if you don’t bump into something else.
The game is also home to Pot Boy and his precious Pot Friends.
If you’re in need of some direction, Graces act as glowing checkpoints that produce wispy trails in the breeze. Follow these golden markers and they’ll lead you onto the next story beat. That’s about as much handholding as Elden Ring deigns to offer you. Exploration is your business and your business alone. Despite appearances, though, the game’s open world acts as an extension of support when you need it most. The challenges it sets before you aren’t ever going to be easy, no way! But you have options – look at those Graces again. It’s where theyaren’tblowing that makes the open world so brilliant. No longer are you chained to obstacles in your path. What path? You have many now. Go against the wind and see what’s out there. Go probe other sections of the map and come back stronger and wiser and with a pair of bolt cutters. Then give it another crack.
More than just potsYou’ll meet plenty of characters on your travels, often tucked away in less than obvious spots. Some seek your assistance, others offer aid. Each interaction is precious, and their questlines are yet another reason to explore every nook and cranny. Although I will say that there’s a chance you’ll miss some particularly valuable exchanges if you’re not vigilant.
While Elden Ring’s open world is a blast, it’s also a relentless blowtorch to your patience. You might stumble into the odd gruff NPC with a grudge and a basket on their head, but whatever that is on the hill over there wants to kill you. Rarely are you going to discover a new location with something that doesn’t want to melt your skin into chippy fat. So, don’t expect nice little towns bustling with life and cheery shopkeepers and canned cries of laughter. The only cries of laughter you’ll get here are of the despairing variety, either from yourself or from said NPC with a basket on his head. This can grate if you’re just not in the mood for misery, although the myriad of options helps to offset the pain and makes it the most accessible Souls yet.
Options, options, you’re probably thinking, “This guy bangs on about options, doesn’t he? Get a room.” Seriously, though. It’s not just the open world that hits you with plenty of them. The combat may be very similar to Souls in the way you dodge, block, and swing, but there’s a few new additions that steer you towards experimentation.
Jolly online co-operation isn’t too tricky to set up either, with a process that doesn’t require much from either party. Invading and helping others out becomes available a little later but remains largely unchanged from past Souls. And that’s fine, to be honest.
