Elden Ring Review
There has been a lot of praise for this title since it came out. Also a lot of click bait out there of people who hate this title and genre of game. I say click bait because in a lot of cases people are making reviews and giving opinions without playing the game, which is just plain stupid.
I haven’t beaten Elden ring but i have put a ton of hours into it and I can confidently say this is my favorite Souls Borne type of game. Souls Borne games have been a growing genre of games that are known for their high difficulty but high reward when overcoming the challenges the game presents you. The great thing about this new entry is that its is the most approachable for new comers than pervious titles. You just need to know what you are signing up for.
Elden ring is hard and you will fail and you will die repeatedly. That is the point of the game, for you learn from your mistakes and overcome.
You have probably heard from many reviewers that this game is not for everyone, and have heard from the haters, that because it isn’t for everyone it should be considered a failure. But that logic doesn’t stand, video games are art, and liking art is subjective to think something is only good if everyone likes it is a foolish way to review things. For me there are tons of things to like about Elden ring and Soul Borne games.
My main attraction to these games is not the challenge but the art design. Elden ring has some of the most creative creature design in all gaming, as well as the other Dark Soul games, Blood Borne, and Sekiro. Some of these creature and monsters you fight are straight from your childhood nightmares. Grotesque abominations that you can’t stop staring at but are ruthless in their attempts to kill you. I also find a sense of realism in these adventure games in the way that if you were thrusted into this unknown world you would probably be killed immediately as you are not a skilled warrior. You are basically an undead character that is cursed to come back to life over and over again, but you become the badass warrior, or mage, or rogue as you experience the world and teach yourself how to fight.
This game has been accused of not explaining itself very clearly and that the story isn’t very good as you have to hunt for storyline and keep track of what you want to do yourself instead have a quest log. This again is another sense of realism that the game presents. You can go through the entire story of the game without completing one side mission or side story line that’s, because as you progress those side stories do as well with our without your interaction. Now hunting down these story threads usually rewards players with armor great weapons or skills that are helpful but you need to be invested enough to complete them not just check a task off a quest list.
Out of all the Soul Borne games out there Elden Ring really lets the magic users shine. Using a magic build is probably the closest thing you will have to an easy mode, but its going to be a struggle at first until you build up your skills and find the powerful spells, but that’s the fun, you have to explore and find the items. They are not just going to be marked on your map from the get go. In fact you have to venture into the unknown to find markers to unlock your map.
The other great thing about Elden ring is truly how free you are as a player to play it your way. You can create the Berserk Guts Swordsman and kill monsters and men with a giant sword wielded one handed or two handed, you could be power wizard that throws devastating spells from a distance or you can be that quick and sneaky rogue that kills from the shadows. Elden ring lets you be successful in all these roles where other games may only favor one style of game play over other.
The playing field here is completely equal though. Just about anything you can do there will be an enemy in the game that has that ability as well. That’s the charm of the game you can become an overpowered god but you have to work for it and the open world format of Elden Ring makes that grind for it more enjoyable. You don’t have to keep killing low level enemies to save up to level up when you hit that difficulty wall just go explore else where and you will find enemies that you can handle and you will gain more experience and skill from killing.
The only wrong way to play this game is to jump in thinking that you can hack and slash your way to victory. The game purposely forces you not to do that and this is where the frustrations come from.
Elden Ring was given 10/10 by just about every publication out there and all the fans that love this genre but to be realistic this game can’t get a perfect score because its not a game anyone can just pick up and have a good time with. Fans will love it, those that know what they are getting into will learn to love it. But those that need detail long cut scenes of story and major character motivation will not find it here. This game is exactly what it presents to you. You are trapped in this loop of rebirth in a land where just about everyone and everything wants to kill you. You have to explore with caution as when you go to new land there is no special move that only you have, or some special power that makes you a god amongst the creatures of the land. You earn your power through struggle.
Rating: Full Price for existing fans. Rental for new comers.
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