5/5 ★ – Smabbott's review of Elden Ring.

Shattering Expectations Right, it's been long enough to basically make a review on a game which many have regarded to be rather problematic now. And yeah it is. But it's still one of the best games ever made. Elden Ring is immense. The fact that people thought Ragnarok would win GOTY over something like this is kind of ridiculous. What From Software manages to do in the small time they develop a game is incredible. It far exceeds any other developer working today. The fact that Sekiro, Elden Ring and Armoured Core VI were all being developed at the same time and in the space of 5 years, all will be out would be insane for large multi-studio developers. But the small team at From manages to do it. And every time, the game is just incredible. The fact that we got Dark Souls 3 a year before Sekiro is insane in itself. But enough about the company. Elden Ring takes Dark Souls 3 and it makes it open world. Elden Ring is the best open world game I've ever played. And I've played a lot. Yeah, Ubisoft is the worst example of this. But I've played Red Dead Redemption 2, BOTW, Skyrim, Witcher 3. Yeah they all fail in comparison to Elden Ring. The open world on your first play through is spellbinding. Nothing prepares you for the sheer scale of this world and how full of activities there is to do there. With over 150 bosses within the game, the open world is nothing short of incredible. From the start of Limgrave all the way to the Leyndell Capital. The scope of the world is drip fed to the player by starting with the smallest map ever, when you find a new piece, the map grows. I'm not talking about the map clears. No, the map grows. Before finding the map, all you see is all there is. This approach adds to the sense of truly exploring this world. And it's fucking incredible. Although the game has gathered scrutiny over the main bosses ability to delay attacks. The animations of the bosses are some of the most complex and intricate I have ever seen. And although a lot of people think that the Boss move sets are too random to quantify. I disagree, all it takes is more precision and patience to learn the attacks and how to deal with them. But yeah, some are honestly busted. And From should feel bad for certain moves in the game. Yeah, I'm looking at you Malenia. I have beaten the game 3 times and I will definitely play again. I have beaten the game RL1. And it was genuinely one of the most difficult things I've ever done. And yes, I'm still trying to beat Malenia RL1 to this day. I hate and love it. I'm addicted and should probably see someone about my unhealthy habit of suffering for pleasure on Bosses. I both hate and love Malenia. But no game, unless it was made by From has dominated my life quite like Elden Ring. I have 9 days worth of this game. And I didn't even play the online mode. I love the game. Balancing maybe broken in the endgame. However, it doesn't change the fact that this game is a work of art and I am so fucking excited for Armoured Core. If you've never played a From Software game, I won't say give Elden Ring a go. Because despite what the world will tell you. It is the hardest of the bunch. If you don't summon and play the game how it was meant to be played. But my god is it just utterly spectacular.