It's probably the biggest video game event of the month (don't talk to me aboutHorizon forbidden west, we are between people of taste), and it is an understatement to say that we are waiting for it feverishly. Luckily, Bandai Namco took into account our impatience and offered to dive back, one last time, into Elden Ring before a full test expected by February 25.
Some will object that a preview three weeks before the game's release borders on the absurd. However, it will allow to put the dots on the "i" of those who still have doubts about the open-world dimension of the new FromSoftware.
Preview made in cloud gaming via Shadow on the PC version of the game. No capture could be made by us; the screenshots presented here are provided by Bandai Namco but correspond to some of the environments that we have been able to survey.
What have we done to the good Gods?
Not final, the version of Elden Ring that we were able to play for 6 hours broke down the barriers of the Closed Network Test in which we participated last November – and which had already kept us busy.
The opportunity for us to rub shoulders, for real, with the famous character editor which, be sure, keeps all its promises in terms of possibilities. I can already imagine, reluctantly, what nightmarish creatures some players will manage to draw from this editor; by far the most complete of all Soulsborne.
But no time to waste. We are counted. Once our choice was made on one of the 10 classes (or rather archetypes) offered at launch, the time had come for our “Shiningless” to wake up.
Rest assured, we will be careful not to reveal anything about the plot of Elden Ring. Anyway, it is certainly not in such a short time that we will be able to hang up the wagons. Just remember: it's crap. The Circle of Elden is shattered, and Queen Marika's demigod offspring (bosses) attempt to appropriate her powers by stealing her fragments. But your character will also try to claim the title of Lord of Elden by sending them ad patrès. Nothing but very classic for anyone who has ever touched a FromSoftware game in short.
Elden and the boys
But people who have never touched a studio game, precisely, there may be a lot in Elden Ring. And the reason is simple: it is quite simply the most accessible game ever designed by the Miyazaki teams.
Oh la la, the big word. You want a synonym, to reassure the purists-relous of the bottom of the class? Elden Ring is a welcoming game. Much more than any Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Sekiro. And even if I am one of the achievements at the FromSoftware design school, it must be admitted that the barriers that the studio chooses to break down are the right ones.
Yes, we will always come across hilarious characters with imbitable speeches, who will give us cryptic quests not even recorded in a diary to find our way around. Yes, we will continue to be absolutely destroyed by bosses with incalculable patterns, to feel oppressed in inhospitable dungeons and to marvel at the science of level design specific to the Japanese studio.
But, at the same time, Elden Ring is a game that gives us a lot more small wins between big losses (a phrase that was whispered to me by a publicist, but sounds way too good to rephrase).
What is behind this warmer welcome then? Several things. Most glaring for me is the introduction of the 'Marika statuettes', which are added to the 'sites of grace' – the campfires of Elden Ring. Judiciously placed near the major arenas, they allow you to resuscitate and return to the filoche without stuffing yourself with a hike of a quarter of an hour before falling back in front of the boss.
Does that make said bosses easier? Not at all. It just reduces the artificial friction, and the studio understands that we all have less and less free time to really play.
We could also talk about spirits (wolves, jellyfish, spell casters and so on), which can be summoned in addition to an acolyte (NPCs who can help us against a boss, already present in any Dark Souls) or an allied player. In conclusion: yes, we can be really numerous on the battlefield. But all this is optional, optional. The Jean-ouin-ouin who are moved in advance by a game that they find "too easy" have plenty of time to do without. And it is in my opinion much more effective in making Elden Ring accessible than any "easy mode" which, for once, could indeed dilute the intention of the studio.
The call of the unknown
I have a lot to tell you about the mechanics discovered during this new game session. From the still unsuspected depth of Cinders of War, to the surprise of the addition of alchemy, allowing you to add a third type of flask in his arsenal. I would also like to expand on the tailor's kit, which can be obtained from a perfectly optional boss, and which allows you to modify the appearance of your equipment. But all that, and more, I'm keeping warm for the test.
To be frank, I rather took advantage of this preview to get some fresh air. After spending 10 hours in the Closed Network Test pre-square, I needed to get away from the shores of the Necrolimbo, and finally go and experience the rest of the open world concocted by FromSoftware.
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We must already pronounce the obvious, and evacuate the legitimate doubts of future players. Elden Ring is much more inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild than by Assassin's Creed. The map, which I honestly barely scratched in 6 hours of play, is not full of points of interest, stuffed flush with useless information. And in the great tradition of the studio's games: everything you see on screen is accessible in one way or another. Nothing is there for free. But to begin, it will first be necessary to constitute it, this map.
Each time you enter a new area, you navigate blind. We will first stop in an enemy camp – of course guarded by a notable stronger than the others – in order to recover the corresponding card. What, already, to get your hands on and start farming the runes (which serve as currency and XP points) before a dungeon.
Want to know where to go next? All you have to do is approach a site of grace campfire (they are very, very, very very numerous) and follow the ray of light which escapes from it. It's as simple and non-intrusive as that, while being vague enough to invite us to get lost in this immensity that is offered to us.
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I wrote above that Elden Ring is the most accessible and welcoming FromSoftware game out there. It is also the most intriguing and enigmatic of the worlds ever imagined by Miyazaki and his teams. Even if it appears less hostile, perched on the back of Torrent (who is not a horse), the Entre-Terre is shrouded in an aura that is sometimes gloomy, sometimes wonderful, which calls us and invites us to discover it. from top to bottom (which definitely does not fit into the calculation of the studio when it estimates the lifespan of the title at “about thirty hours”).
On the other side of the fog which slowed down our progress last November, hide unsuspected landscapes. Glowing swamps, guarded by filthy raven-men several meters tall, clumsily perched on dead trees.
Lost in the middle of a misty forest, a ruined building houses an elevator that leads to the Siofra River. A gigantic and majestic area, located several hundred meters below the surface of the earth, and where the rock ceiling nevertheless evokes a starry sky. A perfectly optional area, confesses to me the press officer of Bandai Namco. As proof: he even had to guide me there, assuring me that I had “missed something” – an understatement.
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The wonder card
Elden Ring breaks categorically with the dirigisme of the studio's previous games. Of course, it has always been possible to explore one area rather than another in Dark Souls. But let's agree that it was quite marginal.
Here, it must be understood that even the castle of Voilorage (officially the first big dungeon and difficulty peak of the game) can be set aside to see beyond. A passage on the side of the cliff, next to which you can easily pass too, allows you to find yourself on the other side if you feel like it.
So of course, in any case, we will have to roll up our sleeves and dare to venture there sooner or later — remember that this is the goal of the game. But Elden Ring trusts its players and communicates easily on the fact that we we are in the right place or not.
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An approach that inevitably reminded me of Demon's Souls. Of course, here everything is connected. But, like the Archstones, it's up to us to start with the area of ​​our choice and change it if a boss puts up too much resistance. Just as we can choose to farm the runes "quietly" in the open world before returning to the dungeon. Still others will choose to roam the countryside in order to gather all the Golden Seeds, allowing us to add a charge to our healing or mana vial. It is this kind of freedom of action that we are offered here.
A new stone to be placed on the edifice - you will have understood it - central to accessibility, which contributes to making Elden Ring a less terrifying game, less repulsive even for some, than a Dark Souls whose reputation precedes .
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Elden Ring : our impressions before the final test
This preview is less intended to teach you much about the game and its mechanics than to reassure you about the very content of the Elden Ring project. If we will have ample opportunity to dwell on its (many) surprises in a proper test, we wanted to emphasize the open world of the new FromSoftware, and the magnetism of a game that wants much more welcoming than its predecessors.
It's a fact: Elden Ring breaks down a number of game design barriers. And that's good. They brought neither to the pleasure of play, nor to the subject, and only made the so-called "difficulty" that is too easily attributed to the studio's games.
By letting its players discover, at their own pace, the mysteries, wonders and horrors of its open world, FromSoftware gives us time to prepare, to learn from our mistakes and offers us the possibility of not breaking all the teeth at once on the first peak of difficulty. At the same time, its game mechanics become more complex and gain in depth. To put it another way: the resolutely perfected Dark Souls formula. Both for historical fans and newcomers.
See you on February 25.
