Since coming to acclaim with their 2009 release of ultra-difficult action RPG Demon’s Souls for the PlayStation 3, most of FromSoftware’s attention has been focused on replicating the harrow, challenging experiences through similar games such as the Dark Souls trilogy. But in my opinion, the studio fared much better when they gave themselves freedom from the Souls series. Such successes included Playstation-exclusive Bloodborne, and the incredible Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the latter seeing them walk away with the 2020 Game of the Year Award. Continuing to span out from their most prolific series, they recently published Elden Ring, the next super-hard action RPG created in collaboration with acclaimed author George R.R. Martin. The first game developed with the newest generation of consoles in mind… does Elden Ring indicate bright years ahead, or does it slumber deep within the dank pits you will likely fall down in-game?
Not all games originating as linear experiences do not need to become fully open-world experiences. Unless a game has the time, effort and reasoning behind going open world, they run the risk of being uninspired, bland, and just a hindrance to enjoying the meatiness of the gaming experience. When I first heard that Elden Ring would be offering a fully open world, I was wary. This was given the Soulslike experience favours linear, dark and claustrophobic areas to explore, where branching paths often lead to a disastrous fate but with great returns should you survive. To my delight, FromSoftware manages to strike that balance of giving you the freedom (almost) to explore wherever you want from the beginning but also providing, and in many cases, enhancing what made the Souls games great in the first place.
In Elden Ring, you play the game as a character of your creation, referred to as a ‘Tarnished’, who travels to the Lands Between to lay claim to the all-powerful ‘Elden Ring’ with ambitions to become the ‘Elden Lord’. You begin Elden Ring in the same way you do every Souls game, experiencing a brief tutorial before having the crap bashed out of you by an almost unbeatable boss. From there, while given a general direction of where to go and what you need to do, the game lets go of the player’s hand and lets them roam free within the open world. You can choose to head towards the castle as the game directs you to, and likely fall at the first major boss. Alternatively, you can begin exploring the Lands Between to level up your character via Runes (Elden Ring’s equivalent of Souls), discover new equipment, and discover what sort of playstyle suits you.
In terms of narrative, there is rich, in-depth lore throughout Elden Ring for those looking out for it. The stories of characters, weapons, areas and more are chronicled in-game or via supplementary media, and there are many rabbit holes you can go down if you are so inclined. Even if you do not follow the path you are directed towards, many side-quests, story streams, and more unfold and provide small nuggets of the story as you progress through the game. With long-time Souls director/writer Hidetaka Miyazaki and acclaimed fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin at the helm, they breathed both darkness and evident passion into the world. While not the largest open world by any extent, this is a game where you can run in a random direction for quite some time and, provided you aren’t hammered, will likely encounter something new. Perhaps the only issue narrative wise is that it can be a little too easy to kill off a character or otherwise bring content to a premature end.
Although the open world is a prominent feature of Elden Ring, Souls-style dungeons are scattered throughout the game world, serving as the holding locations of some of the game’s most dangerous beasties and where story-critical bosses reside. None of them explores particularly new territory, with standard dungeons being things like mineshafts or linear outdoor areas and major dungeons fitting the bill of styles like ‘Castle’ or ‘Academy’. However, each is loaded with Souls charm, proving as some of the better laid out and designed areas from FromSoftware to date, rewarding exploration and experimentation, and also making good use of that nifty new jump button the developers were kind enough to provide players. Even with only a few standard enemy types featured in each dungeon, they are creatively scattered throughout the levels, so that even if you are comfortable with taking an enemy down, there will always be a new challenge just around the corner.
On the note of challenge, I cannot emphasize that Elden Ring will not be a game for everyone. While some may be drawn in by its links to a fascinating open-world and the involvement of George R.R. Martin, this is by no means an easy game, to the point it can sometimes feel unfair. Bosses can take dozens of attempts, if not more, to complete; the next corner you turn could throw a curveball, or your cockiness while collecting runes could see half-an-hours work vanish with one bad mistake… or a poorly timed button press -mumbles about losing just shy of 100k runes-. There is no ‘Easy Mode’, it is frighteningly time-consuming to grind levels until you can cheese your way through even low-level bosses, and there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to your stat distribution. Suppose you are not someone who typically enjoys challenges in games, or don’t have the initiative to throw yourself up against a challenge many times in succession. In that case, this will unlikely be an experience for you. On the other hand, for those who know what they are getting into, Elden Ring offers challenges few other games offer.
Before beginning Elden Ring, you have to choose, entirely unaware of what lies ahead, what your starting class archetype will be? Similar to the character creation system offered in the Souls series, you can choose to have your character take on the starting role of one of several types. Do you go with a melee class who can survive the open world a bit longer? Perhaps you join the magic-user train and take down foes from afar. Perhaps you wish just to hold a club and go into battle naked. While only determining your starting stats and skills in the game, they do influence how your first few hours play out. So, for newcomers, I would recommend a class like Samurai or Conservator, which permits a good balance between offence and defence at the start. With the freedom to explore, comes the freedom to craft your character how you see them. You can expand your stats by spending an increasing number of runes, collecting a variety of different weapons with unique risks/rewards on the battlefield which can be upgraded and enhanced to match your stats, learn new skills/spells, and gain access to an increasing variety of new items, features and more. The more you explore the Lands Between, take down bosses in both dungeons and in the overworld, and dabble in quests – the more features get unlocked – ensuring there is always something to obtain rather than throwing everything at you the first couple of hours.
Despite being available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and offering a quality mode for the game, the graphical quality of Elden Ring isn’t too much higher than that of other recent Souls titles. But while the visuals may not look anything special when up-close, there are so many moments where the combination of landscaping, architecture, lighting and all the other bits and bobs in the environment saw me stopping to admire just how beautiful the game was. Those after a robust character creator will not find much of note here, even with its expansion compared to earlier titles, given that the game’s beauty is much more about what lies in the distance than what is directly in front of you.
On the audio side of Elden Ring, the soundtrack perfectly complements the dark and intense moods of the game, consistently adapting to match the scene you are in. There is a diverse range of boss themes for almost every substantial boss, ambient sounds for the different locales, combat themes and more. One of the most memorable moments of the game was taking my first step out into the open world, greeted by a simple, prolonged note in the theme ‘Limgrave’ as my character’s eyes adjusted to the light and the sprawling landscape greeted me. Involving the likes of Yuka Kitamura, Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa and Yoshimi Kudo, there are many hours of music featured in Elden Ring, all of incredible quality. And yes, they are planning to offer vinyl soundtracks for those audiophiles out there.
Marking a positive start to what will hopefully represent a new generation of Souls-like games from the team at FromSoftware, Elden Ring is arguably one of their strongest showings yet. With the level of freedom on offer to players in all facets of the gaming experience (From character playstyles to weapon types), the ample challenges on offer, and proving to be something you can easily immerse yourself in for many hours at a time without it becoming tedious – there are few options out on the market right now that can compare to Elden Ring. Just be warned, though, while rewarding, expect some suffering along the way as your skills as a gamer are tested by beasts several times your size – it will be fun, yes, but expect moments of facepalming and internally screaming.
An Xbox Series X|S Code was provided by Bandai Namco Entertainment Australia for the purpose of this review.
Developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, Elden Ring is now available to purchase on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S both digitally and physically, in addition to the PC in which it is a digital-exclusive.
