ELDEN RING WON GAME OF THE YEAR 2022 and as someone who has never touched a 'Souls' style game I was apprehensive about the prospect of such a notoriously difficult game. About a week ago, almost a full year after its release, I bit the bullet and bought the game. I was greeted by a stylised menu screen (pictured above) and epic music akin to The Elder Scrolls games. I felt right at home. I loaded up my first new game and once I'd picked my class and customised my character; I was ready.
I plunged into the game not really understanding the world I was in and in what relation, if any, it had to the other games. Almost immediately, I was killed by a boss and introduced to the tutorial section of the game. The game does a relatively good job of running you through the mechanics and places you against your first proper boss. Once you have felled this boss, you're able to progress to the open world. As soon as I got out of the tutorial area; I was greeted by a 'Tree Sentinel', a boss I thought I could best; boy was I wrong. I was cut down almost immediately and the reality set in of how difficult this game could be.
This is a point where I feel Elden Ring may lose people. The start of the game (unless you're incredibly well versed) you fall to the first boss, then you're able to defeat a relatively easy boss; and lastly the first boss in the open world is also quite difficult. This steep learning curve I feel could seriously turn people away because it almost deterred me - I started to think "is this the game for me?".
Buoyed by the knowledge this game had won 'Game of the Year 2022', I progressed on - soon finding a few wandering knights which I dealt with relatively easily which gave me a good amount of runes to level up and buy new gear from the local trader. I then progressed to a camp with these knights and the sheer amount of them overwhelmed me and I died again. After coming to terms with the fact death was inevitable, I tried different strategies to clear this camp and when I did, the sense of satisfaction was like a rush. I've rarely felt it - it's something similar to getting a win on a battle royale game or scoring a 90th minute winner on FIFA. Now I understand the hype with this game. For the next 3 hours, I died many times exploring the open world; tackling a couple bosses and higher tier enemies and getting more and more invested in both my character and the world. There were a few criticisms that sprung to mind during this time however.
My biggest problem is the seeming 'lack of story' in the traditional sense. I'm under the impression the value of these types of games is the emphasis on hard combat and big rewards for grinding through to get results. However, after the first few interactions with 'The Maiden', (I think that's her name, if she has a proper name, I didn't catch it) I was aimlessly running around exploring everything that I could. Luckily for me I enjoy that kind of thing but I can't help but think someone of a mind that is more inclined to direct storytelling may feel a bit disconnected from the world. The only story beat I could absolutely pickup on was that your character wants to claim the Elden Ring for themselves - beyond that, I don't know much else about the world. This criticism may be expunged if all is explained upon completion but as it stands with me playing 5-6 hours; things are a little hazy at the moment.
The only other criticism is closely linked to the previous point about the world. Whilst it's diverse, lush and great to look at; I almost feel like i'm an outsider coming into this world with most creatures and humans being hostile from the jump. Hub areas like towns and cities with a friendly populace are a welcome sight in most action-RPGs. As stated before, this criticism could be removed should I happen upon one after playing more but I've explored a good portion of the world and am yet to find one.
Overall, I believe Elden Ring should be played beyond the first 5 hours. The initial hour or so can be a bit dicey - particularly if you've arrived like I had from less intense RPGs like Skyrim. But with patience; a willingness to learn and understand the systems of the game will yield progressively better results and make the early game struggle all the more worthwhile. I can see areas and points in the game where it may turn you off but it ultimately comes down to how much you are willing to commit to improving and adapting. If you don't have a lot of time to game for good chunks consistently; then I'd be concerned for you with regards to this game and getting better. However, if you have ample time to play and are able to make those improvements - you'll have a blast (or you've already bought the game).
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