Elden's Ring's Flasks Encourage Exploration Like Never Before

thegamer.com:

I’m a big FromSoftware fan. The worlds it creates are enthralling, hostile, and unbelievably rewarding to explore and overcome. The problem is, they often fall victim to their own harsh formula. There’s so much mystery and something to uncover around every corner, but it all comes at the risk of losing souls/blood echoes/runes/whatever they were called in Sekiro. Let’s just go with souls for simplicity's sake.

Soulsborne games typically feature gauntlets of enemies between bonfires - again, for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to stick to this rather than switching between lantern, site of grace etc. In the developer’s previous titles, you’d venture out from a bonfire in search of the next, a small flickering symbol of hope in their ever dark and oppressive worlds. The challenge lay in trying to get from one to the next with all of your precious souls intact, while also taking out everyone on your way. Of course, you could often just run past huge groups of foes, but where’s the fun in that?

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The problem with this is once you run out of flask charges and ways to heal, there’s very little incentive to keep pushing on beyond morbid curiosity. Sure, you could slink into that hallway, or sneak a peek around that corner, but then if you die you’ve got quite the task ahead of you if you want those precious experience points back. You’re far better off just going back to the bonfire you came from, levelling up and buying new items, and then trying again, hopefully getting further before you run out of healing this time.

That’s still fun. There’s a real sense of satisfaction when you effortlessly clear an area that was giving you grief before, but with Elden Ring, the emphasis is on