I’ll start this by prefacing that I’m a soulsborne veteran and I’ve beaten every single one of their games except for Dark Souls II.

This is one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever had with anticipation of a new game. There’s so much potential here that is genuinely realized with the exploration, interconnected feel, and beautiful landscapes. It genuinely feels great in that aspect, but otherwise…

The bosses are completely unfair. It’s not that most of them are the most difficult in the series or anything (except for the final boss) but they’re just genuinely poorly designed. Spammy nonsense that doesn’t give you any chance to evade/summon/heal isn’t natural difficulty, it’s just poor game design.

Furthermore, the world is thoroughly empty, which has me really confused about the reviews saying it’s more dense than base game? Yes, the catacombs are better and bigger, but as a result, there isn’t much to see in this world, leading to a lot of disinterest.

As a Soulsborne Veteran, I honestly think this is my least favorite experience they’ve put out there aside from Dark Souls II, and that really disappoints me because Elden Ring is one of, if not my favorite experience they’ve put out there. I really hope they get their heads back together for the next game because the philosophy they’ve adopted for this game is not the Fromsoftware I know and love.

It's honestly surprising how good MGS transitioned the 2D gameplay from the original games into 3D. There is definitely some jank in the controls (especially in the CQC and some bossfights) that made for some frustrating moments, but overall this game did impress me with all the different mechanics & creative boss ideas. I also really like how this was more streamlined in its level design as I never really felt like I had to use a guide.

The story and characters are definitely the reason why I played this tho since the storytelling is incredible. They really flesh out all of these characters and make them feel real and grounded in this world. The story starts of with what seems like a simple mission but you slowly realize that there's something wrong here & something doesn't make sense. Which makes it really satisfying and interesting to see the game uncover all the different conspiracies going on until it all comes together in the end.