Fromsoft games have a reputation for being incredibly difficult. Having played through the Dark Souls trilogy, I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate. I soloed Dark Souls, only beating the game because I turned my character into a brick shithouse complete with a fully upgraded Great Log and Havel the Rock's impervious armor. In Dark Souls 2 I increasingly relied on online Summons, which teleport a human player into your game to help with a boss. In the final game of the trilogy, I think I only beat about four bosses without coop. So the game is only as difficult as you make it, really. Fromsoft games aren't Bioware titles--there's no opportunity for conversational role playing--but the freedom to make a character rivals tabletop RPGs. That's the appeal for me--playing Elden Ring is like playing DnD in that I never know what I'm going to find out in its fantastical world. Add in combat mechanics that From have been refining for decades, and you have the recipe for one addictive game.
Let's go over some of the changes from Dark Souls. From have added Spirit Ash Summons, which are upgradeable ghost npcs that you can call to help with most bosses. This greatly decreases the difficulty, in my opinion, which is a good thing. You don't have to use Spirit Ashes, but they're available and prevent one from grinding their head against a particularly difficult boss. And believe me, there are some ridiculously hard bosses in this game, with movesets that you'll struggle to memorize, just because of the shear number of enemies. From also let you change the scaling and special move of your weapon penalty free at bonfires (Sites of Grace in Elden Ring). Have you been rocking a bloody katana and find yourself up against an enemy immune to hemorrhage? Switch its scaling to Quality (dexterity) or Magic if you have the intelligence points. Also new is Torrent, a goat-horse capable of double-jumping who you'll use to make your way across the vast expanses of Limgrave and its surrounding lands. Did I add that From have included a jump button?
Despite the changes, Elden Ring is still fundamentally Dark Souls. Patience is rewarded, and most enemies have to be defeated with a careful back and forth. My character so far is a knight wielding a plus ten blood uchigatana and the beast crest hunter shield, with a bit of pyromancy on the side. Fun times, although the inventory could be tweaked (it's a pain to have to switch between four or five items just to find the right flask). The fact that you're not being constantly directed with quest markers is awesome, but Elden Ring could stand a little more direction. Quests (or what passes for quests in Elden Ring) are very easy to miss. This is a game that requires a little internet investigation, in my opinion, in order that you don't miss some things.
I stayed away from Elden Ring for a couple months after hearing about the numerous technical issues that plagued the game upon release. Despite featuring technology that looks decidedly last gen (the game's art style is amazing, but it looks like a higher definition Dark Souls), Elden Ring has problems maintaining 60 frames per second on the newer consoles (did I mention that it's locked at 60 on pc?). On pc, shader compilation stutters often result in one second pauses. These issues were replicated across many different systems and occurred on high-end hardware as well as lower end systems. However, I haven't encounter many stutters at all, and the game has maintained a frame rate of between 50 and 60 fps 99 percent of time (except for the forest around the Bellum Highway where it inexplicably cratered). I think this is because I'm running the game on a pcie 4.0 drive (albeit in a 3.0 slot) and Windows 11. I initially installed Elden Ring on my sata ssd with Windows 10, and I encountered frequent stutters. So having a fast hard drive and the newest version of Windows will greatly improve your experience.
Elden Ring is recommend to those who enjoy action RPGS and expansive worlds that are meant to be explored with little direction. Screenshots below:
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