Like many others in the gamer-sphere, these last few weeks have been full of dodging, slashing, and frustrated yelling as I work my way through the newest game from FromSoftware Inc. As someone who has never put much time into these Souls games, I wasn’t expecting much from Elden Ring. Don’t get me wrong, I thought a lot of people would love it and knew it would get rave reviews from all over the world, but I didn’t think it would be for me. I didn’t even buy it! However, shout-out to my brother who decided he was buying me this game as a present.

My brother is actually a fan of the Souls games and has put in his time. With over 300 hours of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and over 100 hours on Dark Souls II and III, he is pretty good at the series and still seems to enjoy it (supposedly). On the other hand, I am NOT a Souls fan. I’ve played 2 hours of Sekiro and quit, got to the first boss of Demon Souls and quit, and didn’t even leave the first dungeon of Bloodborne before I quit. Playing games that will throw you against the same opponent over and over again while killing you over and over while berating you for being bad over and over is just… not for me. I enjoy escaping into a different world and experiencing wonderful things, seeing beautiful vistas, and meeting new characters. None of that happened for me with the Souls series.

At this moment, I have almost 55 hours put into Elden Ring and while I don’t know if I’ll finish it, I can say I’m having a blast! It checks every box for what makes a great game, and I’m just as shocked to be typing that as I was when I realized I was having fun after so many deaths. Even when you end up dying only 30 times before you can beat a certain mini-boss or dungeon, the sense of accomplishment is huge. I probably rode the high of beating the first legacy dungeon for at least 2 days, and there are supposed to be (officially) 6 of them. While I have yet to face off against General Radahn (the boss of the red hellscape called Caelid) I can already savor the sweet nectar of victory… If I ever actually get there and stop being killed every 30 steps! Stupid birds.

Part of the joy I’ve found in Elden Ring is the ability to look a challenge dead in the face and say “Nah, I’m good.” After getting your butt kicked in an area for what seems like hours, you can teleport back to a previous zone and discover so much more than you saw the first time around. Level up a few times, maybe find a new weapon, and head back to your seemingly unbeatable foe and you may discover them infinitely easier and make a quick victory.

Part of this wonderful growth is the fantastic combat system. While seemingly simple, the variety of enemies you face means you must constantly re-imagine how you use the tools you are given. A dodge might not work against a specific enemy, and you must instead jump attack over a swing to properly stagger them, do a critical hit, and disengage before they do a big explosion move that can completely one-shot you from full health. Of course, the only way to figure that out is to get killed about 10 times by that attack, curse a little, and then do the jump attack and realize its power. Finally taking all that combined knowledge from uncountable deaths and vanquishing the mini-boss at the end of the dungeon is almost as exciting as beating the main story boss, and there are so many mini-bosses!

Even regular foes can feel like bosses, and while those fights are more anger-inducing than boss fights, you very quickly learn which enemies to avoid as you explore the Lands Between. With all that wandering and all that fighting, you start to time your dodges better. You incorporate your special attacks more and actually block. Maybe you find a spell that absolutely thrashes groups of enemies. As time goes on and you legitimately get better at the combat, the difficulty of each enemy remains constant, with no scaling. At some point, you realize you are slicing through groups of enemies, each of which used to kill you on their own. That sense of growth is much more powerful than just leveling up stat points or finding stronger weapons because it was you who did that. Not the game or an arbitrary number. You got better through blood and sweat. Until you meet a new big-and-scary enemy in a different area and start the cycle of punishment all over again.

As I’ve said, the combat can drag you through the wringer with all sorts of nonsense, make you curse, and potentially chuck your controller across a room. So besides that high of victory, what has kept me coming back? How have I been able to bring my katana-toting tarnished so much further than any of his predecessors in FromSoftware’s library? It’s the absolute beauty I keep finding between blood-soaked battles.

Exploring a breathtaking map to find gorgeous vistas and meeting wonderfully intriguing characters, all of who have their own goals and motivations have kept me engaged and delving deeper into the rabbit hole. Following a storyline as it meanders through the game truly has me feeling like I’m making a decision to fight for something, a deeper goal beyond ‘go here, kill this’ that I never really felt in those other Souls games. What it comes down to is how can you be a hero if you don’t have a world to save? If the length of time people are spending on this game is any indication, there is a whole lot of world out there to discover. Wizards, thieves, friendly giants, and even a warrior pot are all recurring characters throughout your journey, and seeing an NPC that you haven’t seen for a while always brings a smile to your face. The world feels alive beyond the enemies that never end, and being able to look at it from so many angles is such a powerful feeling. If my screenshot library is any indication, there is a lot of beauty to be found.

Of course, that satisfaction can be found in many open-world games. A huge undiscovered world with friends, foes, and quests is standard fare for many AAA open-world action RPGs these days. What Elden Ring does differently is that it drops you in that world and lets it have its way with you. Just a wisp of light to guide you to other spots of light, the desolate points of respite in a world full of things trying to kill you. You can really take that second to rest and reflect on what you’ve done and what you need to do to proceed. Those moments actually feel restful, even if you’re just reloading your healing flasks and adding some stats to give you more health or damage. Being able to truly savor some of these points elevates Elden Ring from an annoying compilation of ‘1000 Ways to Die’ to one of the most powerful games I’ve ever played.

To be completely honest, I don’t know if I’ll finish Elden Ring. As I have said, I’m only 3 regions deep, and there are many foes left ahead before I finally become the Elden Lord. With 55 hours played, I already feel I have put a good amount of time into it and have enjoyed it thus far. If it were just me playing any other game, at this point I might set it aside and leave it alone. Fortunately, my brother is a madman and very convincing, so it takes very little persuasion for me to boot my game up and bring him in to help with a difficult section.

The multiplayer component of Elden Ring is a factor that increases its longevity for me, and being able to experience these epic wins with my pals is something that I will remember long after I stop journeying into the Lands Between. Falling down a chasm, somehow surviving, and having my brother and a friend cackle as they make their way down to me only to be murdered by a boss on the way is one of my favorites, but the multitudes of laughs, curses, victory speeches, and the exhausted pep talk as we prepare to fight a boss again still make me smile, and creating those memories has been a fantastic part of the journey.

I guess all this comes down to video games being wonderful things, and especially wonderful games will have many things for people to like. While most games nowadays can do one or two things very well, it is quite rare that a game does almost everything perfectly. The challenge, the adventure, and the memories along the way are all a part of the journey that is Elden Ring, and that journey has something for everyone. Whether you are a combat expert who gets enthralled in precise attacks and taking the difficult road, a more easygoing player using summons to work your way through the game, or absolute psychos who run around naked wielding clubs, Elden Ring will fulfill all those dreams and more.

Also, they let you have a horse with horns who can double jump. Game of the year, folks. You heard it here first.

Elden Ring is currently available on current PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms. Read GameTyrant’s review HERE.