![]() ![]() If you wanted to, you could be an explorer and spend hours upon hours in Limgrave, delving into every mini dungeon, fighting every boss, discovering every NPC, and leveling yourself up to better prepare for what’s next. And sure, that’s far from a new concept in open-world games, but the way it’s handled here is truly extraordinary. #Game of thrones beyond the wall review ign free#From the moment you set foot in Limgrave, the first of many interconnected regions of The Lands Between, you are completely free to go wherever you want. ![]() “Freedom” is the word that every aspect of Elden Ring’s design connects back to. ![]() Besides, any missed quests give me extra incentive to continue onto New Game+. #Game of thrones beyond the wall review ign full#That’s a bummer, and I’ve already felt regret at missing out on stories that some of my colleagues have had – but for me it was worth it, because even after 87 hours, I never once felt the open-world fatigue that usually sets in when my brain gets overloaded by a map absolutely full of unresolved sidequest markers. The trade-off, of course, is that without any markers, quest log, or journal, it becomes very easy to forget about certain plot threads and accidentally leave them unresolved by the end. That was actually kind of refreshing in an open world as vast as this one, and it was always exciting to see a familiar face pop up again later as I was eager to learn about what brought them to this new part of the world and how their journey had progressed. They’re just people with their own agendas and goals, whose stories are impacted based on your own actions or inactions. There are no “!” markers on the map, no waypoints to guide you to them, and these characters don’t always flag you down or initially want or need anything from you. FromSoft smartly doesn’t change much in its approach to these from the Souls games, Bloodborne, or Sekiro you’ll just naturally meet characters as you explore and discover the world and become involved in their problems. It ended up being the organic side stories that kept me most enthralled rather than the grand overarching plot that credits Game of Thrones’ George R.R. I look forward to supplementing that knowledge with the inevitable painstakingly detailed lore videos that emerge from the community later. There really should be, but it is a story I nonetheless enjoyed trying to piece together for myself. Like other FromSoft games, the grand story is hard to fully digest on a first playthrough, especially because there’s no in-game journal to refresh you on the events, characters, or unique terms you encounter across dozens of hours. What that actually means, how one might go about doing that, and what the deal is with that giant glowing golden tree are all things that you have to discover yourself. ![]() To set the stage, all you know from the outset is that you play as a “Tarnished” of no renown, blessed by grace, and are compelled to make the journey to The Lands Between and become an Elden Lord. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Elden Ring ended up as one of the most unforgettable gaming experiences I’ve ever had. FromSoftware takes the ball that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild got rolling and runs with it, creating a fascinating and dense open world about freedom and exploration above all else, while also somehow managing to seamlessly weave a full-on Dark Souls game into the middle of it. But more than anything else I was in near-constant awe – from the many absolutely jaw-dropping vistas, the sheer scope of an absolutely enormous world, the frequently harrowing enemies, and the way in which Elden Ring nearly always rewarded my curiosity with either an interesting encounter, a valuable reward, or something even greater. In the 87 hours that it took me to beat Elden Ring, I was put through an absolute wringer of emotion: Anger as I was beaten down by its toughest challenges, exhilaration when I finally overcame them, and a fair amount of sorrow for the mountains of exp I lost along the way to some of the toughest boss encounters FromSoftware has ever conceived. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |