Elden Ring is the anti-Ubisoft game – and it’s kicking my ass

techradar.com:

I’ve got a Ubisoft problem. I keep playing its games, even though most of the time they leave me disappointed and unfulfilled.

After getting turned off by Assassin’s Creed Unity’s buggy launch and icon-stuffed map, I returned like the useless worm I am when Assassin's Creed Syndicate launched. A few years later, after completing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s overlong campaign (again filled with an overwhelming map full of icons and unfun side activities because MORE CONTENT = MORE FUN, apparently) I thought I was burned-out and done.

Then I went and got Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, whose campaign was somehow even more bloated. After I was finally done with that, I put down my controller and swore NO MORE UBISOFT OPEN GAMES. 

No more large maps that somehow feel both too full and too empty. No more cut and paste repeated missions where you have to fetch three objects or fist fight a foe. No more pointless crafting, useless mini-games, or identikit enemy bases that you have to clear out for little reward.

Then, Far Cry 6 came out… and I played that. Yep, I hate myself.

The good news is that after I finished Far Cry 6, which came with all those Ubisoft open-world annoyances, natch, Elden Ring launched to shake me out of my complacency and kick my ass.

Elden Ring is the first FromSoftware game I’ve played, but I knew about their fearful reputation for difficulty. Sure enough, one of the first enemies I walked up to swiftly killed me in two blows.

More deaths swiftly followed, and I soon realized the game was punishing me. Not because it was a bad game, or the developers are evil, but because I was playing it wrong. I was approaching it as a Ubisoft open world, and for that insult, it was killing me. Over and over again. I respected