I deeply appreciate elden ring, but, by the 40 hour mark it ran out of ways to keep me engaged outside of its core, punishing, combat loop.

elden ring marks fromsoft's first foray into the open world genre, and it largely is a success. the audio-visual presentation is brilliant, and the landscapes are striking. but here, unlike the open vistas of say, Breath of the Wild, each step further into the expanse is met with dread. my favorite moment, stepping into a seemingly bottomless well to reach the underworld for the first time, seemed to mark a change in tempo. there was a (simple) puzzle, a beautiful, almost tragic, boss, and an inviting beauty to a dark sky, starlit by the glimmer of cave rocks.

that type of exploration is the exception, not the rule. for most of the journey, you are a hammer, and the world is an excuse to present a series of nails. this singular focus on combat works in more poetic expanses, such as Shadow of the Colossus, but its unerring violence chewed away at the sense of discovery that so enthralled me during its opening hours.

my favorite open world games are ones that encourage discovery and engagement in ways beyond combat. here, the occasional fetch quests and story moments are so obfuscated by wonky design, that it's almost impossible to track unless you're playing with a wikia or a pen and paper in hand. this type of discovery works well in the more staged worlds of Dark Souls and Sekiro, but feels less at home in the massive world of Elden Ring.