Elden Ring has a tutorial problem

eurogamer.net:

FromSoftware's Souls games have a bit of a thing for holes.

They're everywhere, often hidden in the depths of caves or on the edge of boss arenas, and if not surrounded by red splodges of doom, then littered with messages from other players daring you to jump.

It's disconcerting, then, that at the start of Elden Ring you're met with a gaping hole. A ghostly figure sits watch, while your eye is drawn up to a friendly door — clearly the right way to go.

«Nope, I won't be fooled. Not jumping down there,» I thought.

Turns out, that hole is the game's tutorial. It's entirely missable.

It's in that hole you learn the basics of attacking, backstabbing, and stealth. I had no idea that guard counters were a thing until I watched someone else play through the tutorial where the new move is detailed in a cheeky boss encounter.

I suspect many players, like I did, sauntered past it, venturing into the Lands Between without a grasp of the controls.

this is probably the funniest level design of the year to me pic.twitter.com/HqZ9rAUarV

Elden Ring is a tricky little game, but it's all too easy to set off on the wrong foot. Surely you'd want players to understand the basics of the game before letting them loose in such a punishing world?

On the one hand, an optional tutorial does mean Souls veterans don't need to go through the basics again — though some of us can still miss important details. On the other, it's a remarkable bit of trolling from FromSoftware, especially when so many games hand-hold in their opening hours.

It's also an accessibility nightmare. Elden Ring has been rightly celebrated as the most approachable Souls game yet — despite its lack of any accessibility features — due to its array of combat options and the ability