Elden Ring: A Game 10 Years in the Making
Elden Ring, the highly anticipated new IP from the legendary game company From Software, finally released on February 25. The studio, famous for the Dark Souls series and the creation of the Souls-like genre, first announced Elden Ring back at E3 2019, with George R. R. Martin, the author of the series Game of Thrones, helped to write the story of the game. With such a big name and director Hideo Miyazaki behind the helm, the expectations for the game were high. Having put over 80 hours into the game, this is their most polished and inventive game yet, but this achievement does not come without a lot of trial and error.
In a market continuously being overstocked with sequels, Elden Ring is a breath of fresh air. Elden Ring does everything that made Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro great, and improves upon them. Its world is dark, with monstrosities prowling the earth, yet flora is everywhere to be seen on the surface, giving a sense of this shattered world after the destruction of some god-like power.
This is one of the most vibrant From Software games. For example, the forlorn nature so ingrained in the soul of From Software games can even be found tucked away in its caverns, dungeons, and boss fights. Star-Scourge Ruddan is one of the most climactic and spectacular fights in the game and arguably the whole series, yet his fight starts with a cutscene of this menacing mass of metal and muscle drifting mindlessly on his husk of what once was a horse after riding him for eternity. Spears stick out of his back as he drags the corpses of his comrades and enemies alike next to him, only to then gorge himself on the flesh of those who he once knew. He screams in pain as he is eaten from the inside out by the scarlet rot that plagues his body, driving him insane. He is a shadow of what he once was, he is a broken shell of what he used to be. This adds to the dread you feel fighting him, but it's not because he is the greatest general of the golden order, instead it's because you see a shadow of a once great general turned into a mindless mass, whose only purpose is to to kill. This sense of loss and brokenness really sold to me how broken this world truly was.
This sense of breakage is shared throughout both the world and every boss you fight, who is a tragic shadow of what they once were. This theme is so elegantly woven into the fabric of these aspects, down to the smallest of details. While sure, you can observe the shattered terrain that is prominent throughout the game, the game distracts you with vibrant use of colors and very simplistic storytelling. You are thrown into the game with the knowledge that you must reunite the Elden Ring, which has been shattered, so you, a “tarnished,” this world's weakest being, can become the Elden Lord. You go in with the knowledge of a broken world, but it doesn’t force you to see how far those cracks have spread.
(the Erdtree, placed in the center of the map)
Unsurprisingly, the world, the aspect that George R. R. Martin helped develop, is one of the most unique and memorable places that I have visited. The Erdtree, a massive tree made out of golden light, is a striking piece of imagery, as it contrasts with the dark and decaying world around it. The game also treats the Erdtree as a sense of progression, as you are constantly trying to reach its trunk, to reunite the elden ring to become the next Elden Lord. This really helps to give a sense to the player of how close or far they are from reaching the destination. Each mainline boss is treated like a roadblock for you to kill to collect their part of the Elden Ring. You constantly struggle against the world you are put into, but where this game differs from the rest of the From Software games is the amount of choice you get in the story as a player. Many of the best fights such as Star-Scourge Ruddan and Mohg Lord of Blood are optional and are not needed to progress the story. This gives the player a lot of choice in how little or how much you delve into the world and boss encounters, and how little or how much time they put into a character.
A term that is often used throughout the gaming industry is the idea of “ludonarrative dissonance,” the concept that if the gameplay and narrative do not share the same themes and evoke the same feelings, the overall plot and game is worse for it. For Elden Ring, this is no problem at all. The gameplay gives you a sense of insurmountable odds that you must overcome in order to progress, while the story pits you against opponents, demigods who possess inhuman powers. This comes together into a cohesive narrative, giving the game Ludonarrative harmony. The game really makes you feel like an ant trying to take down the foot that is about to crush your puny existence.
Elden Ring exemplifies what can be done with a passionate development team and a decade of trials and experiments, something that many studios are afraid to do. From Software has consistently tried new things that have always had the potential to fail, yet each time they would succeed. While the success is a byproduct, this experimentation has been key to the success and quality of Elden Ring. With six games under their belt, From Software had innovated seemingly as much as they could on one genre, and yet they still were able to create something that innovated on that genre. For Elden Ring, that innovation was the addition of an open world. From Software was able to incorporate what worked and what didn’t work in past games to create a new game with foundations built upon the past successes of the studio.
Having said that, Elden Ring truly is the pinnacle of From Software’s library. This game is the culmination of the last ten years of experiments, triumphs, and failures that From Software has made, making a game that will be remembered and played for decades to come. The themes, bosses and world design are all here, but made to be the best they can be. This game will be talked about for years to come, and I am so glad I could play this game on the first day of release. The only gripe I have is that some ways of playing have predominance over others, and some ways of playing, like an arcane based character, can make the game a lot easier. But balancing issues can be fixed, so it is but a small, fixable blemish on an otherwise amazing game. 9.5/10.
By Holden Gruel