I've played Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Sekiro, and I never believed 'FromSoftware' would make a next level hardcore game to top them off, that's until I came across Elden Ring. Having taken most of my time playing the game I wanted to experience everything Elden Ring had to offer from multiple builds, a variety of missions and crazy bosses, this was, so I could get a much broader view of the game.
 
After a load of hours of game time, slaying all major bosses, most of the side quests completed, I believe I’m prepared to have my say on this game. Elden Ring starts off outrageously strong, but as you go on, the consistency of the enemy and boss repetition and a few poor encounter designs later in the game delays it from being FromSoftware’s greatest creation.
 
The first thing that kept me enticed about Elden Ring was how slightly nostalgic it felt. If this was my first encounter playing the game, and you have told me I was playing a Dark Souls game, I would totally believe you, the game mechanics, stat systems, fonts, the gameplay…this game is heavily influenced by Dark Souls. To be honest, It feels like all of FromSoftware’s greatest efforts in to one wholesale package from its previous games, there are definitely some system in place that help put in that distance between Elden Ring and the Souls series.
 
The most noteworthy of these things has to be the new open-world setting, drifting away from the conventional Souls connected level design in favour of a slump map that our stony broke Tarnished can delve into. When you first begin it feels genuinely remarkable, mixing a new-found sense of freedom with FromSoftware’s trademark oblique crafted design to present an open world game where the sense of exploration is perceptible. No waypoints at all, there are a few map markers save for those to place yourself when coming across something you find interesting, a little more than just slight hints on the map itself and your vision guides you towards a new area or encounter. Rather than taking you to the right direction for the next objective for you to take on, they instead take you to the closest major boss, which will definitely give you a hard time, I doubt you’ll be able to beat it first try. Grace trails will lead you to the right location in the long-term, but you’ll often find yourself trying to get stronger, upgrading your gears and go off exploring the land in other locations, it’s really satisfying to be able to have that part of the game.
 
Overall, the game is outstanding, but it feels slightly overwhelming that the game is too big for its own good. It looks amazing considering FromSoftware’s first real take on a world this huge. The combat is just as hefty and satisfying like the previous Souls games, although with a variety of bosses put into one game, this just means that there are that many more fights that aren’t up to par than you would notice in a more limited typical Souls line-up. The sense of exploration and magic as you make your way through this mysterious and adventurous world is really masterful, and while that does take off somewhat by the time you finish the game and have notice that the game has to offer. Elden Ring is most definitely FromSoftware’s doing what they do best, this time crafting its greatest hits on a bigger platform to date.
