It's hard to know to where to start on this one. Elden Ring put me in a three-month-long hole where it was effectively the only piece of media that I consumed or thought about. It only took me about 10-15 hours of play to realize that I was experiencing one of my all-time favorite games. The game spent the remaining 100 or so hours inflicting the Stockholm Syndrome on my critical faculties, so that I started to savor even its most obnoxious (Hero's graves, the Shunning-Grounds) and bland (most caves) elements. Indeed, Elden Ring isn't flawless, but with just an absurd amount of engaging things to see and do and manifold options for building out a character and playstyle, the sheer sense of scale and largesse tends to drown out all but the most egregious flaws. This is a game where the player almost always has innumerable options to pursue the moment their present task becomes the least bit tiresome. Elden Ring doesn't merely resist criticism; it steamrolls it with a wave of nigh-endless choice.
Truthfully, most everything else here is just what we have come to expect from FromSoft at this point. Did anyone really think that this game wasn't going to have dense and layered level design, evocative set pieces, or haunting atmospherics? From Software has been churning this stuff out since Demon's Souls. Their reputation as the best in the business in this regard is well-earned and almost irreproachable, so it's no surprise that Elden Ring continues this streak of excellence.
There are a few refreshing course changes here, though. Count me among the group that thinks that the inclusion of George R.R. Martin was an important boon for this game's narrative. After the dumpster fire of knowing winks and tired retreads that stood in for a narrative in Dark Souls III, From had already started to shift in a more direct and less nebulous direction with Sekiro. Here, the story hits a satisfying balance: there's a lot more exposition than in any Souls game, but there is still room for the ambiguity and oblique inferencing that lore divers eat up. I hadn't felt this engaged by a FromSoft game's narrative since Bloodborne.
More surprising is the turn toward increased accessibility, as From had seemed to be moving in the opposite direction prior to Elden Ring. Bloodborne and (especially) Sekiro are both fairly prescriptive in terms of assigning a quasi-mandatory playstyle (i.e. melee). So I was floored to see that Elden Ring goes so strongly in the opposite direction. Shields work now. Summons are plentiful. Magic is once again a bit overpowered. None of these changes really affected my first playthrough (power-stance twinblades), but their inclusion and viability make me excited to replay this when the inevitable DLC hits down the road.
This game has been talked to death, so I won't go on longer beyond saying that this felt like an apotheosis of the path From Software has been on for the past decade plus. It's a rare and special experience that left me wanting more of what these devs are selling - it might even be the game that finally forces me to overcome my prejudice against mechs and try out Armored Core...
Truthfully, most everything else here is just what we have come to expect from FromSoft at this point. Did anyone really think that this game wasn't going to have dense and layered level design, evocative set pieces, or haunting atmospherics? From Software has been churning this stuff out since Demon's Souls. Their reputation as the best in the business in this regard is well-earned and almost irreproachable, so it's no surprise that Elden Ring continues this streak of excellence.
There are a few refreshing course changes here, though. Count me among the group that thinks that the inclusion of George R.R. Martin was an important boon for this game's narrative. After the dumpster fire of knowing winks and tired retreads that stood in for a narrative in Dark Souls III, From had already started to shift in a more direct and less nebulous direction with Sekiro. Here, the story hits a satisfying balance: there's a lot more exposition than in any Souls game, but there is still room for the ambiguity and oblique inferencing that lore divers eat up. I hadn't felt this engaged by a FromSoft game's narrative since Bloodborne.
More surprising is the turn toward increased accessibility, as From had seemed to be moving in the opposite direction prior to Elden Ring. Bloodborne and (especially) Sekiro are both fairly prescriptive in terms of assigning a quasi-mandatory playstyle (i.e. melee). So I was floored to see that Elden Ring goes so strongly in the opposite direction. Shields work now. Summons are plentiful. Magic is once again a bit overpowered. None of these changes really affected my first playthrough (power-stance twinblades), but their inclusion and viability make me excited to replay this when the inevitable DLC hits down the road.
This game has been talked to death, so I won't go on longer beyond saying that this felt like an apotheosis of the path From Software has been on for the past decade plus. It's a rare and special experience that left me wanting more of what these devs are selling - it might even be the game that finally forces me to overcome my prejudice against mechs and try out Armored Core...