The wait is finally coming to an end. Lonely for 6 years now, fans of Dark Souls are waiting like Deadflames for FromSoftware to rekindle their embers. But Elden Ring is he the chosen one? After two exciting previews, and judging by recent interviews with Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of the game, it looks like it. What we didn't see coming, however, was the degree of mastery the Tokyo studio had achieved in such a short time.
It's stressful, the hype. For months we dissect, we imagine sometimes eccentric, even surreal things about a game. And, more often than not, reality catches up with us. It disappoints us or satisfies us, it depends.
It's stressful, but also infinitely less disconcerting than realizing that we were way off the mark. That even the craziest things we had imagined were only the tip of the iceberg.
So yes, I had a pretty good idea of āāElden Ring, especially after playing it for almost 20 hours during the beta. However, I still had nothing, but then saw nothing of what FromSoftware was preparing behind the scenes.
10
View PriceRead ConclusionElden Ring
- A fascinating and coherent universe
- Unforgettable Art Direction
- Deeper than ever gameplay
- The open world, a welcome breath
- An interface from another age
- Multiplayer still very confusing
- A very significant difficulty peak at the end of the game
- No accessibility options
Test carried out on PC thanks to a code provided by the publisher, and after 60 hours of play.
FromSoftware: the game
In his interview with Edge magazine last December, Hidetaka Miyazaki had these words which, I think, already allow us to understand what Elden Ring represents for his studio. āElden Ring is the culmination of everything we've done with the Dark Souls series [ā¦] It's the culmination of all that knowledge and experience. Ā»
Now in confidence, I can only confirm that Elden Ring is nothing less than the pinnacle of the Japanese studio's career. And that is an absolutely perfect balance betweenā¦ drum rollsā¦ tradition and modernity.
Tradition because, yes, Elden Ring is still this "difficult" game (the purists-relous say "demanding"), with a rather cryptic scenario and a game design that could not be further from what is usually done in the big tote. everything that the "action-RPG" genre is.
Modernity because FromSoftware became aware that certain frictions, certain barriers no longer had any place and only dragged down the pleasure of the game. A desire for openness, therefore, which is materialized in particular by an absolutely open world fascinating.
In the shadow of the World Tree
Be aware: Elden Ring is not linear. We can jump! Ride on horseback! Crouch to sneak forward behind enemy lines. Nothing that makes anyone dream of having touched an action video game in the last 10 years, but which, in the context of a FromSoftware game, is revolutionary.
It is as many archaisms as the Japanese studio raises, which invites us to try these new flavors in the resolutely fantasy world of the Entre-Terre.
Shrouded in the light of the World Tree, the Underworld is governed by a sacred order represented by the Circle of Elden, of which Queen Marika is the guardian. But all is not rosy in the kingdom of the Gods, and internal wars are raging to seize power. Consequently broken, the Circle of Elden gives way to the most total chaos.
In a world in disrepair, on the still smoking ashes of wars that have been useless, you embody a Dull. A simple human guided by Grace who, too, wants to quench his thirst for power and become Lord of Elden.
A fairly classic scenario in the FromSoftware repertoire, but this time leaning against a lore made by Mr. George RR Martin, the author of the Iron Throne saga (Game of Thrones). The latter thus brings a depth, and a history that were absent from the studio's previous games. We arrive less like a hair in the soup, and we are constantly reminded of humility by surveying these lands where countless things have already happened. And upon which countless other Shinless have perished before us.
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Each his way, each his way
The openness of this world implies a freedom never before seen in a Souls. Elden Ring offers no "quest log" and only suggests the direction to take with a ray of light escaping from the sites of grace - the new campfires, which act as a checkpoint, fast travel point and interface to level up.
Don't want to follow her? Very good. Go on an adventure! Walk the verdant yet melancholic plains of Necrolimbo, and let your instincts guide you.
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Hmmm, rather strange that grove over there. Lets go see. Butā¦ there is a door in the cliff here?! A hidden crypt! I sink in, thwart a few traps and defeat a few enemies before coming face to face with a boss. After a few tries, I emerge victorious, arms full of treasures, and with enough runes (XP points, also serving as currency) to go up a few levels and offer me a crafting manual from the merchant.
This kind of scenario, you will experience it dozens of times in Elden Ring. And in very different proportions. Crypts, mines, graveyards guarded by a vengeful nocher, and even hidden cliffside locations that will test your agility to avoid a bad fall.
A map is at your disposal, but it will be up to you to place points and markers to find your way around. FromSoftware declines the invitation of the industry, which wants to inundate us with additional content, and spangle our games with copy-pasted and tasteless side quests. His approach obviously evokes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, and rewards our curiosity ā in addition to feasting on panoramas to die for.
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Granted, Elden Ring certainly doesn't have the same graphical refinements as the Demon's Souls remake released in late 2020 on PS5. But FromSoftware's art teams have pushed their creativity to the limit to give us some of the most majestic environments ever seen in a video game.
It's simple: I've never felt so small in a game. The scale of the environments is dizzying, and the topography of certain areas simply invites contemplation. Of course, and in the great tradition of the studio's games, everything that can be seen is accessible. Perhaps not as simply as a Link, an expert rock climber by trade, but by looking for hidden passages or simply by progressing in the scenario.
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The Dark Souls of Dark Souls
I wrote above that Elden Ring broke down certain barriers. And in my opinion, these are exactly the right ones to work on making the game more welcoming for newcomers.
First, and this is obvious, the open world allows everyone to level up and equip themselves without too much stress, at their own pace. Of course, you still risk losing all your runes if you die twice in a row, but this is much less common than in the studio's previous games.
But things take a turn for the worse when you enter what FromSoftware calls a "legacy dungeon." These are end-of-zone instances, guarded by a particularly strong boss (demi-gods, just that), which contrast radically with the ābenevolenceā (we exaggerate) of the open world.
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Here, we are 200% in a Dark Souls. The mount is not allowed, and we move quietly, shield brandished, paying attention to the smallest detail of our environment so as not to fall into a trap or an ambush.
Also the deaths are counted in tens when one ventures for the first time in one of these dungeons. But FromSoftware's magnanimity prompted them to multiply the number of pardon sites, and therefore potential respawn points in the event of death. In other words, we hike a lot less between two attempts on a boss than in the past ā and that's good.
Moreover, in addition to these sites of grace in profusion, the game inaugurates the "effigies of Marika", which also serve as a respawn point but do not allow you to level up or access your chest. Sometimes they are placed right in front of a boss arena, and therefore allow us to chain the tests without too much frustration. But let the purists be reassured, their presence is not systematic.
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No, what can radically change the situation during confrontations is the possibility of summoning āspiritsā. Against a boss for example, we can bring in a pack of wolves, a wizard or a very strong mercenary to support us in combat. A welcome novelty, which allows you to feel a little more confident against a difficult boss. But that's all you will have at your disposal to get closer to a semblance of "easy mode", which does not exist and will never exist in the vocabulary of FromSoftware.
Even accompanied, the duels are difficult and will sometimes put your nerves to the test. As such, the end of the game is simply diabolical, and will have you facing tougher bosses than any other in the studio's bestiary.
We touch a rather sensitive chord. Because if the first two zones offer a very gradual rise in power, the end of the game shows the fangs very abruptly. You come up against many walls, even if you are well equipped and at a high level.
It can be understood from a game design point of view: we seek to become Lord of Elden, to surpass all forms of life and therefore have to face challenges accordingly. But I remain convinced that some micro-adjustments are doable on certain bosses so that the difficulty curve looks less like that of a wave of Covid contaminations.
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At ease embers
Fortunately, Elden Ring is an extremely malleable game. Anyone who has ever played a Souls knows it well: the "class" that you select at startup is ultimately quite unimportant. We are free to shape it as we wish.
And as much to say that we are served. We easily find our fundamentals, despite an interface that is still as unclear (and practically unchanged for 10 years!). To the traditional points of vigor (health) spirit (mana) and endurance (action points and load limit) are added in particular an old knowledge. The esoteric makes infidelities to Bloodborne and offers us here something to quench our thirst for blood, and grants access to powerful occult magic. Dragon abilities are also still in the game and deepen an already very hairy gameplay.
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Barriers still lifted: spell slots are now unlocked through hidden objects throughout the universe. As well as healing and mana vials can be improved with rare items found in the open world. All the more reason to take the time to explore it!
In doing so, you will also regularly come across new summons to add to your arsenal, on talismans (the new name for rings) or on ashes of war: one of the great novelties of Elden Ring.
To simplify: take the weapon arts of Dark Souls 3, and cross them with the prostheses of Sekiro. Clearly, your weapons can be coated with these ashes, drastically altering their behavior and stats. For example, my katana defaults to a thrust attack when I use the L2 key. But I can, if I have the adequate ash, rather make him throw discs of flame, or else cut my arm to increase my attack power at the expense of some HP.
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All this is possible at will, from any site of grace, and without counterpart. The opportunity to test different combinations and find the build that suits us best!
To illustrate the depth of the gameplay, here is an example. One boss in particular was giving me trouble. The fight dragged on, and I ended up running out of potions to heal myself. While exploring secret caverns, I found a summon that allowed me to create a near-perfect copy of my character on the battlefield. By applying War Ashes for Bleeding, and attacking the boss with two people, his Bleeding Gauge rose at record speed and allowed me to end the fight in no time.
It must also be said that if the animations and movesets of the weapons are largely directly taken from the studio's previous games, here we have a much more varied range of moves. Already, the jump key allows you to perform jump attacks very easily. A counter-attack mechanic also allows you to instantly retaliate after blocking an enemy attack, which will often have the effect of stunning it and allowing a critical hit afterwards. Honestly: it's going to be very difficult to return to the rigidity of a Dark Souls after this!
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Insider Trading
Now, I remain aware of being able to appreciate all of this thanks to the knowledge accumulated on the studio's previous games. Someone who arrives totally in Elden Ring will not fail to be put off by the austerity of its interface and the rather archaic side of certain controls.
Besides the fact that the button to open the map is not the same as the one that closes it (seriously, I curse you FromSoftware), sometimes you have to navigate blindly in an interface from another age to find information concrete. Understanding what the immunity stat influences, for example, will require you to access 4 or 5 different submenus.
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Of course, tutorials are presented to you the very first time you use this or that mechanic. But a little facelift would not be too much. The award goes of course to the multiplayer features of the title, more confused than ever. There are no less than 10 different objects allowing either to request to be summoned in the game of a player as an ally, another as an enemy, another to record his summoning mark in a register (which what's the point? how? why? no one knows), yet another to invite a player into his game... it's a mess. So much so that most of the time we are content to leave enigmatic messages for our contemporaries on the ground to, as desired, warn them of an ambush, or encourage them to jump into the void by waving the promise of a treasure. fake (it's ugly).
Yes, it's true, Elden Ring has a little something inaccessible despite everything. Also it will speak especially to initiates, or to people who want to take the time to learn about this very particular grammar. You also have to love being a real player in understanding the scenario. As usual with FromSoft, the cutscenes won't teach you much, and you'll have to go inspect each object to try to hang up the wagons. Personally I love it. It piques my curiosity more than any 10-minute cutscene ever will. But I totally understand that it can be off-putting.
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Hardly forgivable, too, that a game releasing in 2022 would have so little consideration for accessibility options. It's simple: Elden Ring has none. Not even a slider to increase subtitle size. Definitely not a game for everyone.
An adventure like no other
But I chose not to sanction Elden Ring for these reasons. Yes it could have been improved. Yes, it should have been improved. But impossible not to ignore when, each time I close my eyes, I remember the moment when emerging triumphant from the fight against the first major boss, I discovered the lake of Liurnia. Impossible to get out of my head, my mouth agape when I realized that, under my feet, was hiding a marvelous optional zone that I didn't even know existed.
It's a shocking formula, presented like that, but Elden Ring comes with more content in its bag than the Dark Souls trilogy and its DLC combined. It's a mind-blowingly deep world game, which never ceases to give and dazzle those who will have the pugnacity to progress until a climax.
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Sometimes Elden Ring overdoes it. I almost resent him for having responded to my pleas: like a chilled lover, I kept repeating to myself throughout my test week āI wish it never endedā. I didn't know yet that he would accept the request, and that he would offer me again and again things to see and discover when I thought I was reaching the end of my adventure.
We're talking about a game that's so self-confident that it hides at the very end some of the most polished environments ever seen in the medium, even when a possible small percentage of players will have the determination to go that far. the.
Elden Ring : l'avis de JVFR
Elden Ring is hands down the best gateway to discovering FromSoftware's games. Better: it is quite simply the best game from the Japanese studio.
All we asked for was a Dark Souls 4. But that was probably too obvious for Miyazaki's teams, who here exceed the least of our expectations with a game that is surprising, captivating, deep, and with an almost unfathomable lifespan.
It's true, Elden Ring is a more accessible game than Dark Souls. There are fewer barriers, fewer frustrations, and overall more opportunities to have fun without having to grind your teeth against the same boss for hours on end.
But we shouldn't harbor any illusions. FromSoftware remains faithful to its DNA, and offers with Elden Ring some of the toughest challenges of its career. So much so that the newcomers, precisely seduced by the promise of accessibility, finally find themselves on the floor? Maybe. But for those who already hold the studio's games in high regard, Elden Ring is a festival of rare generosity.
Elden Ring10
All we asked from FromSoftware was a Dark Souls 4. But the studio absolutely exceeds all our expectations with its best game to date, which explores exciting new avenues while remaining faithful to its DNA. More accessible, Elden Ring is no less difficult. Not a game for everyone, but a game that no one will forget.Most
- A fascinating and coherent universe
- Unforgettable Art Direction
- Deeper than ever gameplay
- The open world, a welcome breath
- The Best Gateway to Games FromSoftware
- Less frustrating than Dark Souls
- Colossal and non-artificial content
The lessers
- An interface from another age
- Multiplayer still very confusing
- A very significant difficulty peak at the end of the game
- No accessibility options
- (No photo mode)
