Yesterday, I posted a fairly general review of Elden Ring, not wanting to give too much away in terms of plot and content. But, considering just how expansive the game is, I thought a deeper analysis was needed to really sum up my thoughts. So, with that in mind...
The beginning...
The opening of the game demonstrated great promise - after an admittedly quite contrived and underwhelming opening boss in the grafted scion, you are free to explore Limgrave, the area most heavily marketed. I have to admit, it was beautiful and daunting to step out into the world, from a tough boss in the form of the Tree Sentinel, to the guarded gate up to Stormhill. You can even find secret routes to Caelid, as I found in one of my first actions in the game, where I opened a chest only to find myself in a cystal cave, emerging out into a red wasteland of fumes and giant outgrowths of fungi, putting me in mind of Mordor from Lord of the Rings. This was in my first hour, you have to understand, and with such a vast expanse to explore, you couldn't help but marvel, especially as a long-time fan of the series. The sheer variety and quantity of locations, enemies, characters and quests in a dynamic fantasy landscape was nothing short of breath-taking.
When I eventually returned to the main path after a good five hours exploring, I fought Margit, the Fell Omen, who proved a challenge by varying his attack speeds and windups more so than most bosses I'd seen at this point, teaching me that I would have to adapt accordingly in this game, employing jumping to avoid attacks and exploit openings. I shortly defeated him, and moved up the castle, which proved larger than most Dark Souls levels, partially due to its size, but also its new dimensions of running across rooftops, battlements and ramparts in a way you could never do before.
Godrick the Grafted, the Lord of Limgrave, was a natural conclusion to the place, a horrifying demi-god who attaches the limbs of Tarnished to his now hulking body in the vein hope of gaining the strength of his better ancestors, before cutting off his arm and replacing it with the head of a dragon, creating a fight that perfectly encapsulates what you have learnt so far, and promising greater challenges ahead. While such a level wouldn't be anything new to veteran Souls players, its execution shows just how far the developers have come since the breakout hits of Demon Souls and Dark Souls on a technical level. The combat is generally similar to Dark Souls III, but improved and made visually distinct through bright colours and greater depth. As for world traversal, it is completely revolutionised. If it was this far in the game, I would gladly give a 10 out of 10. However, this was only the beginning, and the rest of the game proves just how small Godrick's influence is over the realm.
The next steps...
After Stormveil Castle comes Liurnia of the Lakes, the sorcery based realm. Initially, the geography of the land is similar to Limgrave, but lowers down into a giant Lake for the player to explore, the Raya Lucaria Academy raised high in the centre and blocked by magical seals. Inside has the best magical level I've seen in, with bright blue colours contrasting with churches, hallways, courtyards and parlours, filled with scholars, traps and other surprises. The fight at the end in Rennala rounds this off, the first phase essentially being an improvement on the Deacons of the Deep fight in Dark Souls III, but the second showing the glass cannon tactics of sorcery tactics in a fight that will end quickly, with either you or her defeated.
Unfortunately, this point of the game demonstrates a recurring gripe I have in the game, and that is the repeating of enemies out in the world, making each region a bit too homogenised. Souls games have repeated enemies before, with the one of the worst examples coming from the Demons in the original Dark Souls, but generally speaking, the enemy types always made sense with where they were, and they always contrasted with those from the last location. Now, crabs, skeletions, Elden Ring's approach was to add dozens of enemy types and throw them into every region, which becomes increasingly frustrating the further through the game you get - especially with recurring bosses like the Erdtree Avatars, the Tree Spirits, the Deathbirds and the Burial Watchdogs, weighing down the enjoyment you could otherwise get out of the plentiful optional content the game has to offer.
Caelid is a region I generally quite like, the oppressive atmosphere and variety in locations makes it diverge from the issues of other areas. The boss fight of Radahn is tremendous - an epic tournament in which you can summon half a dozen other characters, including Patches (who naturally runs away in the first minute) and Alexander, the Warrior Jar. This happens fairly early in the game in the grand scheme of things, but feels like a culmination of all the characters you've met thus far, a perfect set-piece battle that still poses a challenge.
Completing this opens up the city of Nokron deep underground. I think all the underground sections can tap into the strengths of this game, and that being large areas, but with specific purposes behind them, like the beacons needing to be lit, or the long path through cities to reach an item for the Ranni quest. Rather than finding the same things over and over, a curveball is thrown at the player, and I hope you find it as satisfying as I did.
Volcano Manor is another area I have to commend, its progression masterful between a small town and keep jutting across two ridges, a river of lava flowing between them, and a boss fight that does what Yhorm the giant failed to do six years ago - giving the player a specific weapon to fight a set-piece boss. This time, the fight is fair, and the image of a giant serpent with a face on its back darkening the sky and raining ghostly red skulls is stunning.
The Home of the gods...
The Altus Plateau is generally underwhelming, with the exception of the capital city Leyndell, which manages to achieve the sort of scale that Anor Londo could only convey in Dark Souls. It actually has two phases - the initial one, and a more apocalyptic variant at the end of the game, but in both you can be promised awesome bosses that reflect the weight of how far you've travelled and the ambitions you harbour of becoming the Elden Lord, from Margott, the Omen King as a rematch with Margit, improving his moves for much more than a repeat fight, to Gideon Offnir's betrayal, halting your progress as "no man can kill a God", and Godfrey, who puts himself as the living feat of strength that must be overcome for your Lordship to be justified, even disregarding his armour and axe in his final phase to instead punt you across the arena with his bare hands.
Another Journey...
The Land of the Giants and Crumbling Faram Azula are good areas, but it can get frustrating when you feel you've achieved your goal, only to be sent on a new quest with an even greater open world environment and repeat encounters, even if they unlock some of the greatest fights and locations in the game - Miquella's Haligtree and Malenia, the Fire Giant and Dragonlord Placidusax.
Miquella's Haligtree feels like an area straight out of Dark Souls III for all the best reasons, making for a memorable decent with contrasting regions of the tree canopy and the city below, eventually leading to Malenia, the hardest fight in the game, and possibly the whole series, due to her ability to heal each time she lands a blow, some unflinching attacks that can't be broken and a move so treacherous you have only a small chance of surviving it - and that is only her first phase.
The second adds moves that build up Scarlet Rot (a toxin effect that eats away at your health) and even more unforgiving combos. It feels like a legendary spirit summon is almost required to even stand a chance against her (something that itself is an issue considering how using them can trivialise many other fights), making her feel quite unfair, unlike the other Souls bosses that qualify as most difficult. But you can be sure to feel great when you eventually defeat her and be consoled in the fact that you vanquished the greatest warrior the lands had seen.
But the man of the match goes to...
The standout fight for me is Mohg, Lord of Blood, who combines a disturbing story of kidnapping Miquella in the hopes of building a new dynasty for himself, with incredible attacks in which he opens portals into another realm and pulls out blood magics, making him both visually unique but alo incredibly unpredictable. He is tough, imposing and unnerving, but gives what feels like one of the most balanced experiences in terms of the "tough but fair" attitude to boss designs that made the other games so addictive. Combine this with an incredible score, and he takes top spot as the most memorable and enjoyable encounter in my eyes.
The Final Battle...
The last task you must face is to slay and take the place of a God - Queen Marika. Or more specifically Radagon. It's confusing, but to sum it up quickly and broadly, he acts as her opposite - while she shattered the Elden Ring to weaken the influence of the Greater Will, he works to preserve it, making him the embodiment of the divine force that created the Lands Between as we know it, but also the one that prevents any other from allowing it to grow and change in a new direction - hence he fights you to stop your rise. The fight is epic, using the iconic music of Elden Ring but somehow ramping it up even further, as the great hammer used to shatter the Elden Ring is used beat you into the ground and summon divine power to stop you.
Taking him out has you confront the Greater Will itself in a creature know as the Elden Beast, made of stars and constellations as it fights you in a giant lake, the music becoming sad and reflective. While this final form isn't as fast paced as the Radagon phase, it lets you look back on the colossal journey you made to get there, and the finality your actions will have on the old world. In my playthrough, I sided with Ranni as she sought to create a radically different order of the stars and the moon, the consequences of which are left for you to speculate on as the credits roll.
Other bits and bobs...
I felt the inclusion of factions involving beasts and undead were derivative of previous entries in the series, and while I stand by that, the execution of these ideas does become noticeably different by the end, with the story tying Maliketh, the shadow of Marika, to Destined Death, making Gurranq's quest to weed out deathroot relevant, and Fia's mission to birth a new life from Godwyn's infectious corpse contrasts greatly from Dark Souls, which has a main theme of an undead curse and the fire of the gods that keeps it going. It wasn't radically different, but different enough, and I can live with that, especially with the inclusion of Bladid and Alexander, who show the more fantastical side of the character in the world while somehow being totally unique at the same time.
I am unhappy that no covenant system was put in place, instead allowing every quest to be played out at almost any point without conflict. The systems were by no means perfect in prior entries, but hit the right notes for an rpg, giving you a choice as to who you would dedicate yourself to for exclusive quests, rewards and multiplayer factions. Here, that nuance is removed almost entirely when the opposing groups in the Lands Between already exist and are ripe for this sort of treatment - just put covenants at Godwyn's Corpse, The Two Fingers, Miquella's Egg and Ranni and you have a more developed system. Of all the things to remove from prior entries, I don't think this was necessary.
My final thoughts on Elden Ring
To conclude, I did thoroughly enjoy this game, despite quite a few gripes I needed to get off my chest. If you take each legacy dungeon and comprehensive level, you have a solid contender for a fantastic Souls game among the best of them. The open world sadly hinders this experience as much as it helps, and with a few tweaks here and there for NPCs, factions and the inclusion of a covenant system, this game could have been raised higher than it was. Although it does rightly deserve the praise it is getting, I could never put it on the same calibre as Bloodborne. I give it an 9 out of 10.
9 OUT OF 10
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