Elden Ring Has Too Much Combat
Elden Ring is a gorgeous game. It has a simple yet complex combat system that just feels great to play. It’s arguably the best open world game ever made with intricately designed sandbox environments full of unique details that everyone needs to experience. It’s a game that’s a joy to explore, full of mystery and danger in ways that surpass most fantasy media. It’s a game that’s always hiding something intriguing and beautiful behind the many fortresses, mountains, lakes, walls, swamps and valleys that are populated by the ruins of ancient kingdoms lost many ages ago.
Elden Ring improves and fixes upon all the previous open world games that have preceded it. Unlike Breath of the Wild, it has a truly intriguing world full of fascinating lore and characters. Unlike the million Ubisoft games under the sun, the world map isn’t littered with countless icons pointing towards inane activities. Unlike Skyrim, the combat system is skill-based and challenges you constantly. Unlike The Witcher 3, the story is told through gameplay rather than through boring and poorly directed cutscenes. Unlike Minecraft, the game is actually finished.
Elden Ring is clearly the game that From Software always wanted to make. It’s the game that they have been working on since the company was created. Exploring the labyrinth of dungeons, caves and castles is immediately reminiscent of the first game the company ever made: King’s Field for the original PlayStation, and it’s clear that even back then they were trying to make Elden Ring, but the technology just wasn’t there.
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s first entry into the Souls series was an accident. Demon’s Souls’ development started as a revival of the King’s Field series and was meant to be From Software’s response to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and yet the final product was completely different. Rather than an open world game Miyazaki twisted the project into something stranger: a somewhat linear dark fantasy game featuring an unique setting and a very good combat system, taking inspiration from games like Ico, Monster Hunter and The Legend of Zelda.
The focus on tactical hack and slash combat was also reminiscent of one of its more obvious influences, which was Berserk from the late Kentaro Miura (now resting in peace). His legendary manga is a beautifully drawn fantasy story featuring a extremely dark setting marked by existentialist themes and a big cast of diverse characters. Yet, the main focus of Beserk was always in its brutal and fast paced combat scenes; although, Guts’ super-fast combat style is actually more reminiscent of the Devil May Cry series, rather than the more methodical combat of the Souls games, which are more about slower attacks, careful dodges and devastating critical hits.
Tight and satisfying combat was not something new for From Software as they were previously known for the Armored Core series, which has had a hardcore 3D combat system since its first entry. What Miyazaki introduced was a hyperfocus on carefully crafted levels that were built in a way that lead to all sorts of difficult and memorable challenges. Demon’s Souls’ is a parade of unique combat encounters set in complex levels painted with haunting gothic architecture, and so naturally it became a cult hit that spawned one of the most influential series in gaming.
The Souls games managed to be more and more successful with each new entry, and other From Software games like Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice have also been notable for their challenging combat systems, amazing visual design, extremely memorable music, and narrative mechanics that rely mostly on environmental storytelling rather than overlong cutscenes and dialogue dumps. Elden Ring builds upon this legacy to create something unique and amazing: an eerie and epic fantasy world full of wonders that are breathtaking to behold.
And yet, From Software’s magnus opus misses one thing from the previous games, which was the carefully pacing of their previous games, which had more linear world design inspired by Metroidvania games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The influence from Metroid and Castlevania was especially obvious in Dark Souls, which was full of levels that connected with each other in a non-linear fashion, even though player progression was very much directed by the hidden hand of the level designer, funneling players into specific paths.
Elden Ring was made by the same hands, which can be appreciated in how the design of the game world encourages the player to follow specific routes. Also, in how this huge world is fragmented into several “hubs” that act like mini-open worlds that are somewhat separated from each other, and often can only be accessed from specific portals. Becuase of this the game can astonish players with incredible sights whenever they enter a new area.
Such a beautiful, mysterious and daunting world design is very reminiscent of a classic game that can also be regarded as one of the best open world games of all time, and yet it’s a game that doesn’t feature any combat as you explore it. It’s not a pacifist game either, but rather it features combat against massive monsters that tower over the player across massive landscapes that depict a long-gone gone civilization, but unlike Elden Ring, where only a few embers and ashes of life remain, everything is gone, the world is almost completely empty and barren.
Shadow of the Colossus is very much the opposite of all mainstream open world games, as it focuses on calm and contemplative exploration, while most modern sandbox games feature side activities and enemy camps everywhere. There are a few optional activities, but they are not necessary and most players wouldn’t even know about them since it involves stuff like shooting at small lizards, which are pretty easy to miss.
This unique take on the open world genre was the product of Fumito Ueda’s penchant for minimalistic design, which led to a unique experience that still feels great to play. This classic PS2 game was only about finding and defeating the sixteen colossi that Wander is tasked with defeating, and so exploration of the open world is a lonely and wondrous adventure across a mystifying landscape full of natural beauty and ancient ruins.
Elden Ring shares this wondrous quality with Shadow of the Colossus, especially given how the visual design of the world is so alluring and uncanny, while its atmosphere and music are just mystifying. And yet, a lot of the mystique is lost whenever you find yet another enemy camp of easily defeatable enemies across the open world, and there are certainly a lot of those across the Lands Between.
Elden Ring shares much of its DNA with The Elder Scrolls, Assassin’s Creed, and Breath of the Wild. And From Software was able to massively improve upon the formula established in those games, as it managed to have a massive amount of carefully crafted and imaginative content, making for one of the best open world exploration experiences ever. And yet, it didn’t manage to escape the curse of filler content and recycled boss battles.
Elden Ring is an amazing game, maybe one of the best games ever made. The overabundance of content and combat encounters has probably been good for its popular appeal, but there is something lost when the game has such a focus on endless and mind-numbing violence. After all, From Software clearly knows that beauty and grace is a reward on its own, and that endless combat will always come to an end, which is why bonfires have always been at the center of Miyazaki’s fantasy games.
Peace is a stream from the heart of a man
Peace is a man whose breadth is the dawn
Peace is a dawn on a day without end
Peace is the end, like death of the war
