A glittering tarnish.

From Software have built up a reputation over the years as “that developer that makes those really difficult games”.

However, those who have experienced their games know that they’re so much more than that. They often craft worlds that are begging to be explored with monstrous foes to vanquish and stories waiting to be unraveled for those who are brave enough to take up the challenge.

In that way, despite being their first true open world adventure, Elden Ring isn’t too much of a departure from the developer’s wheelhouse.

Welcome to the Lands Between.

Risen in an unforgiving world on the cusp of a great change, the Tarnished is tasked by the graces that be to collect the fragments of the shattered Elden Ring held by powerful demi-gods.

Despite the big reveal that famed writer George R. R. Martin would help pen the story featured in Elden Ring, the storytelling style remains consistent with the previous Souls titles meaning much of it is hidden from view except to those who really go digging around for it. However, that is not to say that it is bad or uninteresting as I felt the opposite with many characters feeling memorable and the setting itself providing a compelling backdrop for events to unfold. Even though I have completed the game in full, there were many different endings I could have gotten depending on my actions throughout the course of the adventure. Based on my impressions, it is absolutely ripe for the hundreds of lore videos that will be created after release and I’m looking forward to watching some of them.

Lands Between is a massive world that encourages players to search every nook and cranny.

When Elden Ring was announced to be an open world game, my biggest concern was that it was going to ruin the pace of the game and add a bunch of filler content. In a way, that turned out to be true. Early to mid game, I was happy to delve into every discovered side dungeon eager to explore every part of the map thoroughly but I started to notice that many of the dungeons and even bosses that were waiting for me in the depths were blending together.

I should give them due credit for at least giving a good deal of variety in some of the optional areas but by the end, it crumbled down to repetition. Luckily, the allure of what rewards might be waiting for me was enough to get me going as finding new weapons, armors, accessories, skills and more was a powerful motivator.

Traversing the open area on my trusty spectral mount fared better and unexpected encounters were abound all over the world and even a few friendly faces that didn’t immediately try to kill me on sight. Intricate level designs have been a strong suite for From Soft for a long time and it also shines through here as well in the open world and in the big legacy dungeons which are required to complete to progress the story.

The ability to jump at any time also changes up the possibilities for exploration quite a bit, although it led to quite a number of deaths after me uttering the words, “I think I can make that.” It can also be used in combat as well in closing the gap on an unsuspecting enemy, but as it left me open for a counter attack if it missed, I had to carefully consider when to use it.

CRAB BATTLE!

As for the combat in large itself, it should be familiar to anyone that has played Dark Souls 3 with strict stamina management and a focus meter that governs the use of magic and weapon arts. Mounted combat is a great addition which allowed me to adapt a hit and run technique but offered a fair bit of risk as being unmounted by a series of attacks left me reeling on the ground, vulnerable to finishers.

In some areas, I could summon AI controlled allies on the fly by ringing a bell, ranging from a group of poultry skeletons that serve as a distraction more than anything else to a legendary warrior with immensely powerful attacks. One in particular that I used throughout most of my playthrough was a magical archer with impeccable aim and range with the downside being that she could not move from the place she was summoned.

I took the enemy head on with my sword and shield while my archer provided covering fire and after leveling her up (spirits can be leveled up just like weapons), I found that she was contributing quite a lot to my overall damage,

What Elden Ring does best compared to the Souls titles is offer more variety in weapons, skills, magic and spirits that are just ripe for experimentation. In fact, I spent hours re-specing my character after a certain point just to test out different types of builds. I started out as a humble samurai wielding a katana to ultimately become a powerful wizard, wielding a greatsword and shooting lasers to kill bosses in a matter of seconds.

It’s not about being optimal, it’s about looking good while you’re doing it.

Another downfall to being an open world game is that it became difficult to tell what power level I should be to handle a certain area. One maddening situation in particular was where I was missing an upgrade component for my weapon and I started to find the ones above the one I needed, this went on for about 8 Hours where I was specifically searching for that one thing so I could massively increase my damage and it was infuriating to say the least.

The same could be said for boss encounters which had me scratching my head wondering if I should just give up and come back later but being the stubborn idiot that I am, I often just went for it resulting in more deaths than from any other game in recent memory. Suffice to say, I was hitting the boss with what amounts to be a wet noodle and the boss was one shotting me constantly. The satisfaction of actually defeating the boss after over an hour of attempts was immense but I wouldn’t recommend it to most sane people.

During the review period, I could not find any co-op signs to summon so the entirety of the game was completed solo. Much of the difficulty of the game stemmed from not knowing and not having the ability to look things up when it would have been prudent to do so and I expect a more balanced experience for those that will have those luxuries available to them after release.

Sometimes avoiding combat is not only viable, it’s recommended.

Stepping away from the actual game itself, my biggest contention with this release is actually the barebones porting of the PC version. Not only does it not offer any advanced PC options like Ultrawide resolution, DLSS and FSR support, it didn’t even have basic settings like frame rate caps and Vertical Sync which seems to be defaulted to being on, not allowing me to use Adaptive Sync and when I tried to do so using graphics settings of my desktop, it would not work properly in fullscreen mode.

There is also the inclusion of the anti-cheat client that was enabled whether I was playing online or offline mode which made it so I couldn’t use simple hex edits to enable some options like ultrawide.

However, the worst offender was the performance issues where there were frequent stutters in the game where everything would momentarily freeze and this could happen at any point from a heated boss fight where one hit could mean death to me simply sitting in the corner going through my inventory. I went through extensive troubleshooting with my actual professional grade skills and know-how and nothing came of it. I also recorded four hard crashes during my playthrough as well.

I reached out to the PR company for a response in regards to these technical issues and have not heard back from the development team.

Dying sucks but can be learning experience, dying because the game froze up me is an aggravating waste of time.

While the technical issues of the barebones PC port and the familiar trappings of the open world formula substantially soured my experience, Elden Ring is still an impressive achievement of fusing compelling world design, exploration and combat.

Fun Tidbit: There is one optional superboss that I have yet to defeat despite over 50 attempts so far, I think I will remember her name in my nightmares.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.