Skyrim and Breath of the Wild fans should consider Elden Ring

So you’ve heard about FromSoftware’s video games. Many players describe them as unbearably difficult. Others, like you really, describe them as an exercise in patience rather than anything else. Maybe you’re someone who hasn’t bothered to try one of these games, or maybe you’ve strayed from it – and now you want to know if Elden ring is the game that will change your mind. After all, it was written in part by best-selling fantasy author George RR Martin, and our own review describes it as the “most accessible” and “most difficult” of the FromSoftware series.

As an alumni Dark Souls Skeptics, I think you should give it a try.

is Elden ring the next Skyrim or the next breath of the wild that you’ve been waiting for? Or will it frustrate you as hell and make you wish you hadn’t spent your money on it? I can tell you this much: Elden ring has a lot in common with those games, but it also has some undeniable FromSoftware elements that might put you off.

Although FromSoftware likes games Dark Souls and bloodborne sold many copies, they definitely don’t have the same reputation breath of the wild and Skyrim do. They instead have a connection, fair or not, with a certain breed of elite gamers who love to take pleasure in the amount of punishment they endure from playing these supposedly super-tough games.

I don’t know about you, readers, but that’s what put me off these games for years. Of course I gave them a chance. I tried it Dark Souls and dark souls 2, although I didn’t get very far in either. The reputation of the games put me off. I knew they would get hard later, so I assumed I wouldn’t enjoy them and gave up. But then, after learning how to meditate and experiencing significant depression during the pandemic, I went back to the first Dark Souls and was surprised. It wasn’t about raw skill. I didn’t have to increase my reaction time. Dark Souls is actually quite slow, methodical and considered. As I said, it takes patience. There was a point in my life when I didn’t have that patience, but now I have it, and reader, you might have it yourself.

in so many ways Elden ring is just like Dark Souls, but with more modern graphics and far more sections of its world to explore. I still spend most of my playthrough with a massive ax and shield in my hands, just like I did Dark Souls. I still face bosses who scare and confuse me, forcing me to take stock of my own mental toughness – and more importantly, my own patience to recognize their attack patterns and follow my own tactical responses. The bosses’ health bars Elden ring are damn huge and rather remind me of bloodborne as Dark Soulsso it takes quite a bit of patience to reduce them – at least if I don’t have help from a co-op partner or one of the available helper NPCs, two Elden ring Mechanics also present in previous FromSoftware games to make them easier.

but Elden ring contains many mechanics that no previous FromSoftware game had. The first Dark Souls feels like an open world, but certain areas are fenced off for story reasons, sometimes behind difficult bosses. There are limited fast travel options and no horse to ride Dark Souls. If you want to visit the Blacksmith to get your weapons fixed (and they break, just like in breath of the wild), you have to go all the way there. Elden ring solves this problem immediately and gives the player fast travel and a horse to ride.

It’s also easier to keep track of your health meter. Out in the open world, defeating enemies will regenerate some of your health, so you don’t have to go all the way back to a campfire to refuel. There are even small checkpoints between the bonfires, thanks to small statues scattered around the world. If you’re in the middle of a dungeon crawl and not in the open world, some of these quality of life improvements will go away, but you can always exit a dungeon or boss fight and explore more and keep leveling up before returning to the challenge.

That’s the other big advantage of Elden ring: Almost nothing was hidden against you, as was the case in other FromSoftware games. You’re sealed off from the fact that some enemies you encounter are too strong for you to fight, but you can run away from these until you’re ready to face them. There are tons of little discoveries and miniature dungeons to explore, as well as puzzles to solve and mini-bosses to defeat that will reward you with gear to make the rest of your journey easier. Elden ring encourages and rewards you for running away and trying again when you’re feeling stronger and more capable, just like FromSoftware games always have – but it feels even more explicit here.

But these bosses! They will really frustrate you, especially when you are confronted with health bars of this size for the first time. There will always be tricks and ways to cheat any boss, and these tips will pop up from other players over time. In addition, you can always call in a companion to help you. Bosses are going to be the hardest part of the game for most people, and it’s up to you if you think you’ll be able to tolerate that.

I myself love playing a game that feels like this Dark Souls but with fast travel and the option to gather herbs and use a crafting system. It has the same dark sense of humor as Dark Souls. The world is full of total lunatics who are both terrifying and endearing. It’s an open-world game with an extensive character class system that allows you to fight in a variety of ways, each of which still seems pretty effective and compelling.

I personally think you can do it. There were some really tough passages breath of the wild, to. And you know what? Don’t be too put off by all the hype about the supposed difficulty of this game or other FromSoftware games. You end up having a shield or something similarly useful in your toolset, depending on your character build. You have a button that you can use to scroll across the battlefield. Every enemy has something to worry about your Health bars, just like you have to worry about theirs. Hold yours up and bring hers down. You can do it.