ELDEN RING

As someone who absolutely hates open-world games, I have to say that Elden Ring is a masterpiece. The exploration in this game was beautifully done, with every little corner or hidden dungeon you explore rewarding your for your efforts. The combat is amazing as well, it has a massive amount of different weapons and spell for the player to play however they want. What to say of the art direction and the music, both are absolutele masterpieces. Honestly, I wish I had enough free time so I could spend another 10,000 hours in this game.

I received the base game as a gift from a friend. As a long‑time fan of *Dark Souls 3* and *Bloodborne*, I was full of anticipation when I got my hands on *Elden Ring*.  **Pros** Boasting stunning artistic presentation, the game carries on the series’ signature European‑style high‑fantasy aesthetic. Compared with earlier titles, it features brighter tones alongside grand and exquisitely rendered landscapes. It offers substantial content volume and stays true to its core loop of pure combat and exploration. Combat feels intense and thrilling, with enemies sporting intricate, fluid move‑sets. The map maintains FromSoftware’s consistently high design standards. The Ash of War system stands out as a major highlight: freely interchangeable weapon arts greatly expand build possibilities.  True to the Souls‑style fragmented environmental storytelling, worldbuilding unfolds through environments, item descriptions and NPCs. The narrative reaches a grander scale with rich, nuanced details. The map achieves an impressive level of “what you see is what you get”; nearly every distant landmark can be physically reached.  **Cons** The game merges classic Souls‑style metroidvania‑style boxed levels with extensive open‑world design. Unfortunately, the vast open fields outside dungeons fail to match the quality found within those instances. While travelling across wide‑open stretches, there is little meaningful combat or interaction. Most overworld traversal consists of hunting for crafting notes and smithing materials. Occasional rewards such as new weapons or small dungeons bring moments of excitement, yet such highlights are infrequent. Long journeys between locations can feel tedious and redundant.  Dungeons such as castles, palaces, ruins and caves mostly feature only one primary entry point. Though portals and spirit springs grant fast access to different sections inside dungeons, these solutions lack ingenuity. I had hoped for more expanded overworld gameplay mechanics — for instance, carriage travel with crossbow counterattacks against roving raiders — as well as stronger incentives to revisit open‑world areas. The open‑world structure also creates an awkward progression curve. Players must deliberately select dungeons matching their power level, which somewhat limits the joy of free‑form exploration.  Turning to combat: PvP feels janky. There are noticeable input‑buffering issues. Many attacks suffer from heavy post‑attack recovery delay, locking the player in stiff animations that prevent immediate rolls, weapon‑art cancels or repositioning. Fluid combos mixing normal attacks and weapon arts seen in *Dark Souls 3* are diminished. The removal of the “two‑hit trade escape” mechanic from *Dark Souls 3* means most weapons grant ample windows for follow‑up strikes after landing a hit. Even with the new jump mechanic, overall PvP depth and room for mind‑games are reduced.  In PvE, numerous elite enemies possess extremely high poise during their attack animations. Despite lengthy wind‑ups, player strikes rarely stagger them. Old reliable pressure tactics such as ultra-greatsword charged heavy attacks have lost much of their effectiveness. High damage and versatile weapon arts turn many weapons into mere “Weapon-art spammers”. Though the total weapon count has increased, many feel similar in practice, resulting in limited differentiation; overall weapon variety does not compare favourably to *Bloodborne*. Sorcery receives more new spells and performs well mechanically, yet casting still cannot be instantly cancelled mid‑wind‑up the way it could in *Dark Souls 3*.  All things considered, despite its flaws in open‑world execution and combat mechanics, *Elden Ring* remains an artistic work well worth experiencing.