Summary
- Elden Ring has seamless storytelling through exploration, making each playthrough personal and lore-rich.
- The open-world design of Elden Ring encourages non-linear discovery through sparse NPCs and foreboding landscapes.
- Elden Ring offers unparalleled freedom with non-linear progression, enabling players to explore vast regions and tackle bosses in any order.
Elden Ring combined all of FromSoftware’s signature elements from the Soulsborne series and packaged them into an experience that is deeply immersive and groundbreaking. Elden Ring shattered conventions and set a new standard for not just FromSoftware games, but what open-world RPGs can be.
Elden Ring or any of the FromSoftware games may not be a top favorite for some gamers, or feel may too challenging or obtuse to play. However, there is a lot that this game does well, providing examples of what makes a good open-world RPG. The following are ways this game innovated the genre and continues to bewitch millions of players.
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Seamless Narrative Integrated Into Exploration
Experiencing The Story Through Gameplay
Elden Ring masters what previous FromSoft games developed in terms of storytelling: stories told through fragments of dialogue, environmental cues, and item descriptions. Everything the player uncovers adds to the lore organically through exploration, and the order of discovery lies in the player’s curiosity. This makes every playthrough feel personal, and the lore accumulates through pieces over time.
Every location in Elden Ring is steeped in stories. From the ruined grandeur of Leyndell to the eerie ruins of Nokstella, the environment acts as a narrative tool, evoking emotion through what is left behind, and revealing the history of the Lands Between without relying on cutscenes or exposition.
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Intentional Mysteriousness
A World Designed For Discovery
Elden Ring is an open world designed for non-linear discovery. It captures the feeling of venturing into the unknown with sparse NPCs, cryptic guidance, and foreboding landscapes that create an atmosphere of both solitude and vulnerability. Not much is said outright. Players only have what a few friendly NPCs have to offer, item descriptions, and environmental storytelling. Most of the important lore unravels due to the player’s decisions, and is narrated by boss cutscenes and their comments during battle.
Like other FromSoft games, most of the lore is hidden behind difficult foes or strange areas off the beaten path. In Elden Ring, NPCs share their perspectives on things and can send players on side quests. Sometimes, these characters have nefarious motives that don’t get revealed until it’s too late.
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Non-Linear Progression
The Freedom Of Choices
Elden Ring offers unparalleled player freedom, especially after obtaining the spectral steed Torrent, who can double-jump. From the beginning, players can tackle bosses in (mostly) any order, exploring vast regions upon Torrent and bypassing some areas entirely.
Players can choose to ignore the game’s subtle guidance, as the open world design allows for every path to branch into more branches or dead ends, resulting in dungeons. With over 300 named locations and more in the DLC, Elden Ring’s detailed world feels endless.
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Open World Combat
Horses And Fields
FromSoft maintained the original style of combat seen in the Dark Souls series, with the ability to jump. In the open-world format, Elden Ring’s version of the Estus Flask, Flask of Crimson/Cerulean Tears, regenerates after each local encounter. This means that instead of running back to a Grace Site to heal, players can continue their journey seamlessly. The exception is in dungeons or evergaols, which resemble the classic difficulty seen in previous games.
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Sometimes, while running across massive swaths of land, players will find massive encounters that require more than just dodging and rolling. Mounted combat allows players to engage in these kinds of encounters or evade enemies if the pressure runs too high. The best part about Elden Ring is that in most open areas, sprinting through or retreating is not punishable, and it is sometimes even encouraged.
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Approachable Yet Unforgiving Gameplay
Quality Of Souls-Life
While maintaining FromSoft’s signature difficulty, Elden Ring introduces quality-of-life features like regenerating healing items, Spirit Summons, Torrent the spectral steed, and tons of checkpoints dotting the map above and below ground. These innovations make the game a bit more inviting to newcomers without compromising the hardcore experience fans love.
Another amazing quality-of-life feature is the ability to re-roll stats. This ability, known as Rebirth, is only accessible after defeating the shardbearer, Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon at the Raya Lucaria Academy. Should players regret their initial choices or want to prepare for a different playstyle, exchanging Larval Tears with Rennala allows players to respec.
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Artistic Design
Surrealism On High
Elden Ring elevates open-world RPGs with its surreal and haunting aesthetic. The game fuses Japanese body-horror and supernatural concepts with Western knights and dragons fantasy. Every location was gorgeously handcrafted and imbued with purpose — the massive crimson Lake of Rot, the mystical Raya Lucaria Academy, and the sunken mangroves of Deeproot Depths, to name a few.
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The theme of corruption of power is echoed through the crimson blood rot. Destiny and free will are represented through the Tarnished’s ascension through the gold-soaked cities. The struggle for identity is seen through symbolism like masks, broken crowns, and shattered bodies. This existential world is unforgettable, especially with the addition of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which features the Land of Shadow, a place obscured by the Erdtree and the twisted creation of Miquella, twin brother of Malenia.
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Ever-Evolving World
Growth, Choices, And Consequences
Elden Ring gives players the agency to shape its world and narrative, as following different quest lines creates different results on the map or changes where some NPCs and items can be found. In a way, this makes the Lands Between a living, breathing place that reacts to player choices. Decisions about alliances or the order in which challenges are tackled can lead to drastically different outcomes.
This approach to changing the world when players defeat bosses or reach new areas makes every journey feel personal. Elden Ring also features weather and day-night cycles that change the atmosphere and reveal different opponents and encounters.
