Elden Ring (2023 Past GOTY)

9.5/10 – 102 hours at the time of review
Story finished on 3/13/23, 107 hours

Review as written on 2/4/2023

Souls PERFECTED.

The biggest time vampire i’ve ever played, these 100 hours at the time of the review were gathered in the span of one month, and is the only time i’ve been baffled with how much I played a game. It didn’t feel like 100 hours, and that’s the sign of something brilliant.

Open world has done the souls formula an insane favor, allowing it to expand on all the aspects of gameplay that made the series strong, while adding new additions and refinements to make this an accessible and approachable game without taking away the challenge. There is more to the gameplay; easier ways to get what you want, accomplish what you want, go where you want, and become the Tarnished you want. The souls formula already provided immensely memorable experiences, and to expand it over a masterfully crafted open world leads to one of the best video game experiences you can find. Truly.

Like with Xenoblade 3, I have so many specific things to discuss that i’m just gonna divide my thoughts into bullets under some umbrella categories. Call me lazy, because you’d be right.

Exploration – Amazing open world, tied with BOTW with favorite world ever. Would be better than Zelda if you could climb surfaces or paraglide like in that game. But, there are TWO WHOLE MAPS to explore: the surface and the underground, each with their secret areas.

Incredible amount of mini bosses, items, towns, caves and dungeons to find outside of main areas. I never felt bored or lost; there is always something to do, fight and earn. Rare items are spread out across the map but are more numerous in total since the world is so big, alleviating the stress of running out of them. (flask upgrades and and stat reroll items)

The game gives you just enough resources to have something to seek, but doesn’t clutter you with UI or messages. The map’s style and the site of grace pointers are amazing at this. Due to how truly open this game is, no two players’ experiences will be the same, you can just go wherever you want. Even with this, all locations and experiences are memorable, and watching a clip of gameplay makes you go “ohh they’re at that part” without fail. The gameplay loop is so engaging and the addition of an open world just multiplies the value tenfold.

Combat and Gameplay loop- Openness allows for so much potential: eases up tension by letting you escape bosses and see pretty vistas, gain enough runes to level up as much as you want and be as flexible as you want with stats, finding more bosses to hone your skills, find incredibly cool weapons etc

Spirits help ease new players into bosses, help make swarms of enemies more fair to fight, and provide for longevity of the game. Older entries have dwindling online presence in game, but these allow for help even if the game becomes long dead.

Ashes of war help customize a weapon to your exact playstyle. Put buffs on disposable weapons, make a simple longsword broken, it’s all up to you.

Minor bosses drop their gear almost always, which allows for more reward from toughing out an encounter and gives you more tools to play with. I used so many different weapons, and my build was a lot more diverse, since the added leveling opportunities let me try spells and incantations. Therefore, I was able to create some unique boss encounter experiences, such as having a magic greatbow stand off in the Tower of Liurnia.

I love the weapons in this game too: Rosus’ Axe, Sword of Night and Flame, Dark Moon Greatsword, Twinblades, Nox Curved Sword, Blasphemous Blade, Moonveil katana, and the Ghiza’s Wheel. So many weapons with really cool skills, I tried so many during my playthrough and it was fun to switch things up

(BLOODBORNE REFERENCES IN THIS GAME TOO)

The little things

Absolutely GORGEOUS! tied with Destiny 2 for my favorite skybox ever, and some of the sickest arenas in all of gaming (Morgott, Rykard, Renalla, Astels, Mohg). The Erdtree makes the entire world have a gorgeous backdrop, and Altus, Mountaintop, Volcano Manor, Farum Azura, and the underground are jaw droppingly beautiful
Actually has characters to get attached to, Ranni and her goons, Melina (sadge), Alexander the warrior jar, Roderika, Hewg, TURTLE POPE
Game likes to honor your time for once. Stakes of marika, flask refills when killing groups of enemies, site of grace functionalities (flask business, ash of war equipping, fast travel, quest progression, objective pointing), no stamina consumption outside of combat.
Torrent is badass, having a double jumping horse appear whenever you want is awesome. (except when he doesn’t run you off a cliff or into a group of enemies)
Guard counters are cool as hell, adds more flexibility and options to sword and shield combat, makes staggering more accessible
Open world lets messages accompany you even better, a lot are hilarious and cheesy. Really feels like a community
Runs surprisingly well on ps4, runs up to 60fps in some places. (Inverse pokemon lol)

The combination of lore and gameplay is really good, love how crystal darts take over stone enemies as an example
Lots of drip in this game too, s/o to Radahn’s helmet and Mohg’s cloak

Flaws and Sadge –

Sensitive controllers often make you accidentally crouch when in combat, ruining your flow. You also accidentally dismount on your horse a lot which makes me scream
I hate how the horse turns around so slowly; he goes opposite of the direction you want when doing so, often throwing you off cliffs or into attacks. Torrent’s hitstun is also way too long. The latter game just disrespects him a ton too, dying instantly to most attacks, and barely letting you use him in the late game areas

Getting carried away with exploring is fun, but the story bosses end up being too easy if you do this. Godrick and Radahn were super easy, thats mostly my fault though
Enemies still hit you through walls, why?
Poison and Scarlet Rot swamps are an L, but i was most disappointed with the mountaintops of the giants. Barely any stakes of marika, and many of the game’s worst enemies live here in buffed form. The Haligtree was also pretty stupid in some areas, especially the beginning section and the area leading up to Loretta. Felt like bullying
Openness also gives ample opportunity for more enemies, which means there are quite a few lame ones to come across: Abductors, invisible assassins, grabby Albanaurics, Albanauric archers, giant hands, spiked albanauric frogs, unstoppable tomb chariots, harpies, zamor heroes, revenants, marionettes, gargoyles, Godskin Duo, and any spirit enemy.

Item crafting takes a loooong time to become worth your while. Its easy to forget its even there if your build doesn’t revolve around consumable items. I hardly crafted anything besides raisins for Torrent, throwing pots for cheesing, and crystal darts to mess with the imps in the catacombs
ADDENDUM AFTER BEATING THE GAME:
- Elden Beast is dumb. Too much damage and teleports across the whole stage. Success comes down to him not using his giant attacks and just swinging his easy to dodge sword.
- Love the mimic tear but i don’t like how it basically makes all other summons meaningless by comparison