In about 2 weeks, the latest game from developer FromSoftware, Elden Ring, will be released. Our author Tarek, a veteran of the Soulsborne games, got to check out this action RPG from the creators of Dark Souls and shares how it plays.
Just 15 more sleeps until Elden Ring comes out. This calculation of how many days are left has become one of my first thoughts when I wake up in the morning. Well, it’s not that bad yet. But after all this long wait, Elden Ring is finally at the door. It will be released on February 25th as the open-world RPG from FromSoftware.
Then came the opportunity to try Elden Ring in advance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play the closed network test myself, as it only took place on consoles and left PC out.
However, back then, MeinMMO author Max Handwerk, who is a complete Souls newbie, was able to participate. If you are also new, I recommend reading his impression report.
Here, you’ll mostly get the perspective of a long-time Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro player. A heads up: Unfortunately, we cannot show you our own gameplay from the preview. We have only new screenshots available.
The first 6 hours in Elden Ring
What exactly could I play? Unlike the network test, our preview build was an early version of the game that you could play indefinitely.
However, I only had 6 hours to try out Elden Ring myself. Therefore, I didn’t get beyond the starting area of Limgrave. The actual game world is significantly larger. If you have already thoroughly investigated the contents of the network test, you should not expect any major revelations.
I can also only provide a limited impression of the technical performance, as I played via Remote Play, effectively only able to play a streamed version.
That’s why I focus on gameplay elements like the combat system. Given the tight timeframe, I didn’t even try to progress as fast as possible, but rather wanted to engage with the mechanics.
Nevertheless, in these 6 hours, I managed to complete the tutorial, explore a good portion of the first area, and take down a mini-boss.
I’ll start with the combat system because that is the core of the gameplay and motivation. How does it perform?
Combat System Mixes the Best of Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne
At first, it can be said that not much has changed in the fundamental mechanics you know from Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
Elden Ring features light and heavy attacks, you can dodge, and you can block attacks with weapons and shields to varying degrees. Counterattacks are also included.
From the first moment, you feel right at home. However, there are subtle and also larger changes that, in my view, give the combat system even more depth.
Firstly, the most significant change for me: Elden Ring finally makes heavy attacks useful.
What was the problem? Heavy attacks (using R2/RT) were mostly rarely used in Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The reason: The animations are significantly slower than for light attacks, which means you take a higher risk of being interrupted.
Moreover, the increased risk was hardly rewarded with higher damage. Heavy attacks deal more damage, but not enough to justify the disadvantages. This made them rather situational options often used just for style.
Elden Ring fixes this at last.
- Heavy attacks not only deal significantly more damage, but they can also break an opponent’s posture.
- This mechanic was introduced in Sekiro and is also partially present in Elden Ring.
- If you’ve broken an opponent’s posture, you can perform a critical attack that deals massive damage.
- Often, an opponent’s posture cannot be broken with normal attacks, especially with bosses.
- So, you rely on the proper use of heavy attacks if you want to deal significantly more damage.
The risk of these attacks remains, but in Elden Ring, it is rewarded much more substantially. This brings more depth to the combat system and allows for additional approaches. Thanks to the new jumping mechanic, you can even initiate heavy jump attacks at any time.
Elden Ring thus offers the basic combat system of Dark Souls while adding in posture and jump mechanics.
Ultimately, it feels like a natural evolution that began with Demon’s Souls, expanded with Dark Souls and Bloodborne, gained new facets with Sekiro, and now culminates in Elden Ring by bringing together all the good aspects.
Significantly More Freedom with Weapon Skills
One element from Elden Ring that reminded me of Bloodborne is the handling of weapon skills. In Dark Souls, they were often more nice than really useful, whereas Elden Ring offers a much larger number of abilities that are also useful.
Additionally, weapon skills can be found and even purchased. Then you can attach them to certain weapons of the right category and shape your attack patterns.
This frequently reminded me while playing of the trick weapons from Bloodborne, where each weapon had two different modes with different attack patterns.
Some of the weapon skills in Elden Ring have similar effects; for example, a long sword suddenly becomes a ranged weapon.
How exactly does this work?
- If you’ve found a weapon skill, it will be added to your repertoire.
- You can then equip it on a suitable weapon at a checkpoint.
- You can undo this at any time and distribute and try out your skills as you see fit.
- Some weapons already come with their own abilities.
In Elden Ring, you also fight on the back of a spirit horse
This is what it’s about: One of the biggest innovations is your spirit horse “Torrent”. You receive it shortly after the beginning of the story and it serves you not only as a means of transportation but is also very useful in combat.
Because besides the high speed at which you move, you can also launch attacks from Torrent’s back. This is especially useful against large and heavy opponents that can hardly hit you if you’re quick enough.
But you can also accomplish quite a bit against groups of enemies from your horse’s back. Just be careful not to take too much damage. Otherwise, you’ll fall off Torrent’s back and be exposed to attacks for a while.
Indeed, my careless approach while on horseback probably cost me my life the most during the preview. After some adjustment, it quickly becomes second nature, and I think I wouldn’t want to go without a horse in Dark Souls 3 in the future.
How hard is Elden Ring still?
Some veterans might be worried about how hard the game will actually be. The developers have repeatedly emphasized that they are doing everything to make the game more accessible.
After the preview, I can clearly say: More accessible does not mean easier. While Elden Ring explains more and partially guides you more than before,
this is rather due to the newly added massive open world. The actual difficulty level was just right for me. I died a few times due to typical foolishness or because I engaged enemies that were still too strong or simply outnumbered me.
It also felt to me while playing that the enemy AI was significantly smarter than in previous games. Especially in groups, they behave much more intelligently and even sometimes take tactical approaches.
So, you should avoid large groups as much as possible if you don’t want to be overwhelmed. It remains to be seen how it will play in coop, but at first glance, Elden Ring will once again provide a challenge.
Elden Ring will become more accessible in other areas. For example, you can craft useful items with easily found materials that will help you in combat.
By the way, I didn’t try the multiplayer at all. However, if you want to know how coop and PvP work in Elden Ring, you can find an overview on the topic with us.
The game world of Elden Ring is already a dream
What does the game world of Elden Ring bring? The most enjoyable part of the preview was exploring the Lands Between. The first area is called Limgrave and many may already be familiar with it from the network test.
Although I had seen much material on it beforehand, I had a lot of fun on my exploration tour. This is partly because you are not bombarded with quest markers and POIs but must find your way on your own. Only a small golden veil in the air indicates where you need to go if you want to continue the story.
Besides that, there is so much to discover that I was sometimes amazed. Although the first area is already expansive, something to do or discover can be found at almost every corner. So, if you’ve always dreamed of a real open-world Dark Souls: Here it is.
Fortunately, FromSoftware has only slightly drawn inspiration from other games here and has rather transferred its known level design into the open world. Limgrave felt like a Dark Souls level but on a significantly larger scale.
Hidden treasures, skills, as well as sneaky boss enemies and other threats await you everywhere. I also came across some of the weirdest enemies known from Elden Ring during my tour.
Additionally, there’s once again the fantastic art style of the FromSoftware game. The Lands Between emanates the flair of the anime Berserk and already stands out from many other similar game worlds.
For me, the concept and the transition work perfectly, and I can hardly wait to further explore this game world. I had previously expressed some concerns about the open world.
Conclusion after the preview: Even now, I am fully hyped about Elden Ring. If anything, it’s precisely because I enjoyed the preview so much. While I was optimistic before, the 6 hours with the game ultimately completely convinced me.
Elden Ring expands on some mechanics from previous FromSoftware games, mixes elements, and combines them into something new. Looking at the story of their games and how they evolved, Elden Ring is likely the product of all these previous successes.
I am curious to see what the rest of the game looks like, how the multiplayer works, which areas we will be able to explore later, what cool weapons and armors we can acquire, and which great monsters I will later get to slay. Until I burn the Elden Ring in the fire of the mountain of fate… ah no, stop, that was something else.
But all jokes aside: Elden Ring is likely going to be my game of the year, and I am quite sure that every veteran of the previous games will also be thrilled, as long as they liked them.
If you wished for major innovations, you also get them with the spirit horse and the crafting system. In everything else, it’s more of an evolution of the strengths of previous games.
I am excited to see what else the game has to offer. Because so far, we only know a small part of the game world, and there may be some surprises and new features waiting for us.
Tarek Zehrer
Freelance author at MeinMMO
Let’s hope that by release, the issues surrounding the Dark Souls multiplayer will be resolved and that they won’t affect Elden Ring.
Recently, there have been some issues regarding the servers. Hackers discovered a massive exploit that could have given users control over other players’ PCs.
Since the end of January, the servers of Dark Souls 1-3 have been offline, and players are concerned that the problem might also be present in Elden Ring.
