WHS Publications

A spiritual and mechanical successor to the massively popular Dark Souls series, FromSoftware’s new video game “Elden Ring'' breathes much needed life into the genre of open world games, which is currently suffering from a severe lack of variety. For 13 years, FromSoftware’s games have grown a cult following with their tight and intelligent level design and deceptively simple core gameplay loop of explore, die, repeat. “Elden Ring'' expands on this formula, introducing a detailed sandbox environment for players to explore at their own pace, letting them bounce from place to place and craft their own adventure.

This approach, a drastic departure from FromSoftware’s signature of highly intentional linear level design, renders the game both more and less difficult, as players are encouraged to explore multiple connected areas, all with different challenges and strong enemies, without having to commit to finishing a level to move on.

On the topic of storylines, “Elden Ring” expands on FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s love of environmental storytelling. Instead of a narrator, the game’s atmosphere conveys the mood of each location in painstaking detail. The story becomes a mystery that the player has to uncover, rather than something shoved in their face, and the subtlety of the ex*****on greatly improves the player’s immersion into the world that “Elden Ring” builds.

The combat of “Elden Ring” stays true to the original Dark Souls formula, known for long and somewhat clunky attack animations and a focus on dodging and finding the rhythms of enemy movement patterns. The long windup times of the weapons make them feel powerful, but the damage they do is almost insignificant to the stronger enemies the game has to offer, like area bosses.

“Elden Ring” is a tremendous step forward for the Dark Souls series, and raises the bar for every open world game that is made after it.

By Jason Wu, Staff writer
Photo source: PlayStation.com