Elden Ring Would Be Better If Kicking Wasn't Locked Behind Weapon Arts

thegamer.com:

I love kicking. I loved booting partygoers off cliffs in Deathloop and I loved knocking hollows into the abyss in Dark Souls. You could lure the catacomb skeletons to Framp’s little cubbyhole and boot them down to meet the Dreadfather. Kicking is a gaming staple. One of Garry’s Mod's most popular add-ons was the Spartan Kick from 300, letting you shoot Barney right up to the Citadel to rustle Dr Breen’s little white jimmies. But Elden Ring locks kicking behind weapon arts! I just want to shove my boot up Margit’s backside, From.

Elden Ring is Dark Souls 4, but it’s also Dark Souls II 2. So when I dove in, my muscle memory took the wheel. That’s how I got my first death. Right outside Stormveil Castle, there’s a little camp of crusty knights guarding some decrepit ruins and treasure, a few of whom are holding shields. Here’s where that pesky muscle memory got me killed. I tried to kick ‘em because, in older Dark Souls games, that’s how you broke a shield guard. Here, I just sort of moved forward and swung into an immovable wall. Ow. But I thought I cocked it up so I kept trying. Ow. I died.

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Later, I find out that you can kick, but only if you use a specific weapon. That’s absurd! Imagine jumping being tied to daggers or dashing being limited to curved swords. It’s as much a part of the Dark Souls feel as those things, but it’s arbitrarily locked off. Elden Ring’s combat is better in nearly every conceivable way, too, even adding horseback fighting into the mix, so it feels weird to step back in this one way.

I was a skeptic. I thought Souls-like on a horse would be clunky and counterintuitive, but I love rushing down hordes of enemies and slicing my