Elden Ring’s world is full of mystery, but I’d rather wait for a guide

theverge.com:

It seems like everyone, even people who don’t usually partake in FromSoftware games, is playing Elden Ring. It’s currently the seventh most played game on Steam based on number of concurrent players and has a score of 97 on Metacritic, putting it on track to be this year’s highest rated game.

And while I have enjoyed the bits of Elden Ring I’ve played, I’m not too keen on joining the rest of my Tarnished colleagues in the Lands Between just yet. I’m gonna wait for the guide writers, speedrunners, and wiki editors to catch up, because from my dabblings in FromSoftware games, I know that in order to truly enjoy Elden Ring, I’m gonna need a lot of help that just doesn’t exist yet.

Elden Ring is a game that’s meant to be mysterious. The real fun isn’t just in defeating the challenging bosses, but also from the wonder of accidental discovery. So I understand how using guides and explainers might seem antithetical to the way Elden Ring is meant to be experienced.

But I don’t want to be surprised in Elden Ring. With how punishing these games are, surprises usually mean instant death and instant death in FromSoftware games also means a loss of progress. Hours of work and meticulous rune accumulation suddenly wiped out because of something I wasn’t prepared for, like a teleporting treasure chest or a surprise bear-skeleton?

Nah.

I understand why some players absolutely love that kind of troll, but that’s the kind of stuff that will make me put down a game and never pick it up again. Having a guide helps iron out all the less glamorous bits of gameplay that might turn Elden Ring from an otherwise enjoyable experience into one that makes me want to curse my existence. I also don’t believe going into something fully armed, with