Like every FromSoftware game that I’ve purchased, I have the nagging feeling it’ll end up going like this for me with their latest Elden Ring:
1- Buy the game because of gushing praise.
2- Enjoy it for the first few weeks I’m playing and can sink hours in learning the ropes.
3- Become busy and put the game down for a bit because of after work fatigue and forget everything I learned.
4- Come back to the game shortly after gaining more free time and become completely confused due to forgetting things.
5 – Stop playing the game again for good because of obtuse/punishing combat design which is a pain to pick up after time spent away and no clear guiding objectives to pick up on when re-entering the game.
Look, whenever there is a FromSoftware release there is an inevitable wave of ‘why YOU should definitely be playing this game and I’ll educate you on how to enjoy it like you should’ articles. It’s the gaming equivalent of a parent telling a kid to eat their greens. Maybe it’s more like your high school buddy talking about how he got messed up on his dad’s scotch and it totally burned his throat and you should definitely, DEFINITELY try it.
As I write this, Elden Ring is sitting at a 96% score on Metacritic. Generally that indicates an absolute masterpiece, hype or not. I’m so conflicted about this game. I think it’s probably amazeballz if you’re a fan of the company, but for the rest of us I can see this being a tedious slog for the majority of gamers. I play games to have fun, not beat my head against a boss wall.
I tried Dark Souls and put hours into the game. Since then, I’ve dabbled minimally with each release. I wish I had the time and patience to memorize patterns, develop muscle memory, test out builds (and then start over), learn shortcuts and item placement, and die over and over again. I do not. I could do those things, but my time is finite, my patience is strained, and I choose to do other things that I enjoy. Including other games. That’s not a slight of FromSoftware or their games. That’s knowing what you want to do with your time and energy. I’d prefer a mild challenge that I can reasonably finish/enjoy within the time I have available to be alone and in front of a television/monitor.
There are no cut and dry answers about who should or shouldn’t buy a certain game. There are folks who I know would not recommend games that I consider to be some of the best ever made, because I know they would probably be too much of a clash with what they enjoy doing with their time. It doesn’t diminish the game, nor does it mean they’re any way less-than. At the same time, I find it’s often very beneficial to step outside our preferred genres and styles.
However, IMO all games could benefit from letting players tune the difficulty. I wish more developers would do like Super Giant did in Hades. The intended experience is a razor’s edge, where it’s not stupidly hard, but it’s not a cakewalk. Dying and struggling need to be present. If it’s too hard for you, you level up to meet it. You still have to “git gud,” but there’s something there to make that process more manageable. Almost everybody gets much closer to the intended experience.
Video games are the only genre of entertainment that says “No! You can’t see the ending or adventure further if you don’t become better.” WHY?!? With a book I can read the last chapter, a movie skip to the last scene, but video games have gatekeeping that as I get older and don’t have the time, makes me look for shorter games that difficulty isn’t next level obnoxious. I’ll probably end up getting it but I’m certain I’ll never beat it.