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Without even the faintest sliver of a doubt, Elden Ring is going to be one of the best games of the year. There was the general sense of that being the case before, but now? With early reviews raving about the game? Yeah, no, it's the RPG to play in 2022. But, having said all that, the crux of every discussion online is Elden Ring's gameplay, specifically.
The general consensus is that the early expectations were almost entirely correct. This is an open-world Dark Souls game in all but name, and reviewers have warned players already: if you don't enjoy FromSoftware's Soulslike formula, odds are good that you won't enjoy Elden Ring, either.
That much, however, was obvious. In much the same way that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bloodborne are derived from Dark Souls (which is, in turn, derived from Demon Souls), so too is Elden Ring. But, you might be wondering - how does this classic Soulslike formula work in an open-world game?
Understanding Elden Ring's Gameplay: What it is, What it isn't
It's not a big stretch to say that Elden Ring is, easily, one of the most widely-covered games here at 2Game. We've had a whole array of articles published. Some discuss the gameplay mechanics, others talk about the strange PC system requirements. Overall, though, they're just scratching the surface of our Elden Ring coverage.
Since the game is coming out in less than a day, now's the time for a final round of context. Here, we'll explain the nuances of the game's classic Soulslike gameplay mechanics, and how they mesh with its open-world promises.
"It's the kind of thing you dream about..."
In his review of Elden Ring, PC Gamer's Tyler Colp talks about the core promise that FromSoftware made when they first announced Elden Ring. Namely, it's about them "spreading the mysteries and challenges of Dark Souls across an open world in the conventional sense," he said. "Castles to infiltrate from many angles, swamps to ride through on horse, and beasts to chase you down—is the kind of thing you dream about."
Indeed, the sentiment is fairly widespread. It was in the early 2010s that the original Dark Souls was just beginning to eke out a niche for itself on the multiplatform market, where even the legendarily shoddy PC "Prepare to Die" edition couldn't stop its quest for glory.
Had someone told us back then that, in less than a decade, FromSoftware would be working on an open-world Dark Souls equivalent, we'd have scoffed. Yet, here we are.
The majority of PC reviews for Elden Ring cite an almost 1:1 transition of Dark Souls' gameplay loop into the world of Elden Ring. Sure, its starting overworld can lull players into a false sense of safety, but you'd be wrong to believe that it's an easier game than any of its predecessors.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Many reviewers agree: this may be FromSoftware's most challenging game yet.
The Combat of Elden Ring Will Be Familiar to Dark Souls Fans
In a practical sense, FromSoftware is very clever with its appropriation of work done on older games. Possibly more so than any other major AAA game developer, FromSoftware understands the importance of building upon what you know, and Elden Ring is the clearest example of this being the case.
The bob and weave, the movement, the interaction? If you've ever had any experience with a FromSoftware Souls title before, you know precisely what to expect out of Elden Ring.
Really, the goal for this game was always to take the baseline Souls experience that everyone loves and put it in a different context. The context of Elden Ring, then, is that it takes away most of the boundaries that players had come to expect out of a FromSoft game.
What sets Elden Ring apart, though, is that it's welcoming a number of entirely new features never before seen in a true Souls game. The open-world exploration is obvious enough, yes, but there's the mount, too, with its own set of combat moves and accessibility options. Stealth - similar to Sekiro's mechanics - will prove downright invaluable in certain encounters.
The end result will be an experience that feels both entirely novel and oddly familiar at the same time. Fascinating stuff, really.
A New Layer of Exploration, But Not Without Classic Gameplay Beats
There's an impressive sense of variety present here, and that's owed mainly to the fact that Elden Ring features both open-world gameplay and classic Metroidvania-esque sequences. These so-called "Legacy" dungeons wouldn't feel out of place in an older FromSoft classic.
In the open world, there's an almost frivolous sense of freedom present. Elden Ring presents its players with incredible vistas of a world that, improbably enough, just keeps getting bigger as more progress is made. We'd call FromSoftware's ability to pack content into their titles impressive, but with Elden Ring, that'd be a downright understatement.
"Even the most straightforward overworld dungeons house hidden boss rooms and treasures." said GameInformer's Daniel Tack. "However, the legacy dungeons are the stuff of legend, often connecting to the outside from multiple points. These curated sprawls are a dream to dissect, and Elden Ring often offers different ways to maneuver through these areas."
It would've been so easy for FromSoftware to phone in Elden Ring's open world. They could've easily used it as a simple staging and farming ground for the game's actual content (i.e. dungeons, Legacy or otherwise). But they didn't. Instead, what's present here is a duality of sorts, where players shift between classic Dark Souls mechanics and a more modernized, almost Zelda-like gameplay loop.
While other Soulslikes handle their gameplay well enough in most cases, FromSoftware is the undisputed king of this niche. Better yet, they've not proved that they can pull this off in an open-world setting as well.
Closing Thoughts
Considering all of the above, the conclusion is easily made. Elden Ring delivers on all of its pre-release promises, and then some. As ridiculous as that might sound, what we've got at hand today is one of the best games of all time. Certainly FromSoftware's finest work yet.
With hands-on experience, it's hard to come to a conclusion that claims anything but absolute superiority in this genre and its specific niche. Every ARPG moving forward will have Elden Ring for players to compare it to, and it's not too big of a stretch to call this game industry-defining in a way.
Of course, it's still way too early to tell what the consequences of such a monumental release might be. What we can tell you, though, is that this is the game we've all been waiting for. FromSoftware's magnum opus is almost upon us, and if the developers can smooth out potential problems with the game's PC port, it is a dream come true for FromSoft and Soulslike fans across the board.
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