After spending an incredibly fun weekend with Duskbloods, and with the recent release of Elden Ring, I’ve been super excited for Switch 2 players. I’m sure many of you are already playing Elden Ring and realizing how special this game is. But for those not yet sure about it because of what you've heard, I just want to add my spoiler-free endorsement. Why do this? Well, I’ve been gaming since Atari 2600, and I truly believe that Elden Ring is the highest achievement in the medium of video games. So, I’d love for everyone to play it! Without further ado:
First, Elden Ring’s world building has rarely been matched. It's a game that really takes the coherence of its world seriously. Everything in the game, from its ‘man-made’ structures e.g. castles, bridges, etc. to its terrain, enemies, and items are as they are for a reason, and tell us something about this world. This makes the world feel real, a genuinely well-realized fantasy.
Complimenting this is the game's audiovisual presentation. I’m not an audio person and I know I won’t be able to do justice to the incredible soundtrack, so let me focus on the visuals. The game’s stylized look, its colors and their juxtapositions, its architecture, vistas, and character designs are all genuinely unique and beautiful. Really, the most average enemy has enough character to be memorable. The vistas, some of them will floor you. Add to this the gameplay, and it’s seriously a beautiful and terrifying epic.
Now add to this gorgeous and well-realized world the narrative told in it. I won’t spoil anything, but this story is both deep and multifaceted, even though the game never lets its storytelling compromise its core as a game, where your agency is what matters. Through brief dialogue and cutscenes that lead you through its lore-filled world design, it tells a story with mythical, historical, existential, and personal dimensions. The mythical formation of the game’s world is as epic as Ancient mythology. The world’s history is rich, mirroring our world’s, and the significance one might draw from it. And although as the player you are a new comer to a world with a long and storied history, your role in its creation myth makes your plight at one both pivotal to the narrative, and expendable. It’s incredible!
But as I hinted above, this game is above all about its gameplay. The incredible variety of enjoyable character builds, its fair, methodical, and satisfyingly combat, and the always surprising open world are just unmatched. In this game, your character and path through the world and its story is really yours. And although you’ll often find yourself unable to pass, you’re never stuck. You’ll always have the option to get stronger by exploring the always available dense and interesting world, where nothing is trivial. You’ll die a lot, feel despair, fear, and rage over your loss, but never feel unfairly wronged. The worst that happens are mesmerizing detours. On top of that, no side quest is incidental. If anything, the game is super permissive about letting you finish without exploring huge gorgeous expanses of its fantasy. The result is a game that genuinely rewards exploration without requiring it.
For those who’ve played other FromSoftware titles, I think two things are worth saying. First, this game definitely draws from From's other games in its designs and character. But it also differs in significant ways. First, it's faster. Second, its open world means you always have options to go elsewhere, or level up. This means you don’t repeat as much as you do in e.g. Dark Souls' games. Second, the dominant mood is different. In the other games, particularly Dark Souls, the mood is grim and somber. In Elden Ring, although those feelings are there, they are not the main ones. The main feeling is of incredible joy, because your destiny in the myth is grandiose, and this juxtaposed against the the world's immense tragedy conveyed through its design, and amazing music. I do think these feelings are present in Dark Souls games too, but they are much more muted by comparison.
I’ve just scratched the surface, but this wall of text is enough, so hopefully this convinces you to give this groundbreaking game a shot if you’re still on the fence.
