Elden Ring finally made me understand Dark Souls
polygon.comMy FromSoftware fandom has always been uneven.
Like many, I unsuccessfully tried to battle through the grim dungeons of Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 before finding a home in Bloodborne’s gothic alleyways. Later, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice proved that my newfound FromSoftware love wasn’t just a fluke. But I was still deeply divided. On one hand, FromSoftware’s one-offs are some of my favorite games ever made. On the other, I’ve never finished a game in the “Souls-like” genre’s namesake franchise.
My early hours withElden Ring, From’s sprawling new epic, were reminiscent of my first tepid forays into Dark Souls. But now, 60 hours into Elden Ring, I think I finally get it — not just the thrill of Elden Ring, but that of Dark Souls as well.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers forElden Ring.]
My initial trepidation with Elden Ring was entirely due to its size. FromSoftware’s past titles intentionally obfuscated where to go next, but at least you only had so many options. With Elden Ring’s open world, however, I was able to go in every direction from the start. I was quickly wracked with indecision. Even the guiding lights on the Sites of Grace — which just pointed me toward a boss that I was too underleveled to take on — couldn’t help me. When I’d stumble into a catacomb, I’d eventually leave victorious, but annoyed that all I got was a bow I’ll never use.
As a player who typically doesn’t like the loose and free structure of modern open world games — even those filled with icons telling you what to do — I feared that I’d never click with Elden Ring. And so I decided to mainline the game as much as I could. With some decent FromSoftware experience under my belt, I felt confident enough in my skill level that I wouldn’t need
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