Elden Ring (PS4) Review

A deadly adventure.

 Probably the most anticipated game of the year, Elden Ring comes to us from Dark Souls developer FromSoftware and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. A brand new adventure following a lone hero out to repair a bleak world, it's by far the most ambitious game the studio has developed. As a fan of their games, I've been excited to play Elden Ring after seeing the trailers and hearing all of the good praises. Now that I did, I can say that it's my favorite game of the year. 

 In a place called the "Lands Between", we follow a lone "Tarnished" warrior out to collect fragments of the Elden Ring in order to repair it and claim the throne of "Elden Lord"-- restoring order to the chaos-filled land. Along the way, you'll meet some colorful characters who'll either aid you on your journey or stand in your way. Each had their own stories to share in story-quests that you can partake in. Characters such as spirit-tuner Roderika, Ranni the witch, smithy Hewg, Sorceress Sellen, Iron Fist Alexander, and cheeky merchant Patches were the ones I liked the most. Typical of Fromsoft's games, story events are scarce with the most exposition being given in story-related boss fights and few key cut-scenes. That said, the story managed to hook me into the world but can become confusing the more you progress in it. It's one of those stories where you'll often be piecing things together for it to make sense.

Explore the Lands Between and face some deadly creatures.

 Elden Ring is an action-RPG where you create a character by choosing a starting class like a knight, samurai, or magic-based mage and explore the game's bleak world. The goal is to find and slay the Elden Lords to receive their runes and enter the Erdtree, where you'll become the next Elden Lord. Unlike previous Souls games, Elden Ring thrusts you into a giant open-world from the opening where you're free to explore it using the ghost horse Torrent. Slaying enemies will give "Runes", the game's currency, that you'll need to buy items from merchants and level up your attributes like strength, health, and stamina. 

The gameplay's challenging nature added
some fun risk-and-reward moments .

 You'll often come across "Sites of Grace" during exploration, which are checkpoints where you spend your runes to level up, equip magic abilities, pass the time, and increase your flask capacity. Resting at these sites will also respawn enemies you've killed except for bosses, so you'll need to keep that in mind. Make no mistake, the game is hard as enemies, bosses, and even the environments can easily kill you if you lack the necessary equipment or levels to beat them. That said, I did enjoy the challenge in figuring out the right strategy for a certain boss and searching for good places to level up.

The scope of the boss fights was incredible. 

 There are lots of collectables when exploring like herbs, bones, bugs that you can craft to make daggers and stat-boosting items. Enemies also drop other valuables like weapons and pieces of armor that'll come in handy. Speaking of said enemies, they come in all varieties which made exploring new areas all the more interesting. Many of the boss fights were memorable and as the likes of Starscourge Radahn, Astel, Rennala, Fire Giant, and Elden Beast ended up being my favorites. The boss fights were hard, especially Radahn's but thankfully you can summon spirits that can aid you in battle at the cost of your magic meter. There are optional caves that you can explore, which pack tough enemies and traps to navigate. They're neat places for levelling up for boss fights since the runes and enemy drops are worthwhile. Other new mechanics are the ability to jump and crouch, which are helpful when trying to sneak past enemies.

The sheer amount of content and replay-value
here is worthwhile.

 The game took me around 87 hours to beat at level 173. Yeah, that's a lot of time and I still haven't explored everything in terms of bosses and levels yet. So needless to say, Elden Ring is high on replay-value after beating the main story as a New Game+ is unlockable too. That said, the game isn't flawless as the lack of guidance with side-quests like marking NPCs on the map can make quests easy to fail or miss. There were some difficulty spikes mid-game with hard bosses and areas that will force you to level up for a while, which can be tedious for some. Also, the caves got repetitive after a while with you seeing the same enemies, traps, and bosses. 

 Elden Ring is a great-looking game with an awe-inspiring sense of scale that manages to make you feel tiny compared to the rest of the world. The backgrounds were enormous and detailed as well as the cut-scenes, which were fun to watch. It ran well on PS4 Pro at 30fps despite some dips, but thankfully the experience was a smooth one from start to finish. The voicework was great, featuring lots of commendable performances and the soundtrack nailed the grand scale of the game. Tracks like the Opening theme, Roundtable Hold, Liurnia of the Lakes, Volcano Manor, Starscourge Radahn, Final Battle and ending themes.

The game looks phenomenal,
even on last-gen systems. 

 Elden Ring was a lengthy but fun experience that was amazing from start to end. I loved the challenging gameplay, distinct boss fights, and the huge open-world waiting to be explored. I even enjoyed the story despite it being told in small bits. It's rare when a game hooks me for hours on end without making me feel bored and Elden Ring did just that. Fans of FromSoft's works should definitely check it out and even newcomers will find a lot to enjoy in Elden Ring given some patience.