I abandoned Elden Ring shortly after release, but the excitement around Shadow of the Erdtree pulled me back in and I finally found a way to enjoy this RPG

Jul. 16, 2024

Opinion | Embracing a sense of true discovery is helping me find enjoyment in The Lands Between

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Sometimes you just need to start over. Let go of the pressure to keep pace with your peers, step away from expectations of a wider community, or abandon game saves when they start to become a burden. Time spent doesn’t necessarily mean time wasted if you’re acting with the best of intentions. That’s how I’m treatingElden Ringas I dive back into the fray for the first time in two years – The Lands Between haunted by echoes of an adventure I had barely even begun.

Adventure renewed

So much has been said about the challenge Elden Ring presents – and too of the variety present in its class builds, combat encounters, and enemy variance. But what’s struck me as I’ve wandered from Limgrave to the Mountaintop of the Giants this past week is its biodiversity. From the acridity of Caelid to the opulence of Leyndell; the vastness of Mt Gelmir and the depth of Liurnia; if I regret anything about bouncing off of Elden Ring so quickly, it’s that I’ve spent two years without the starry horizon of Nokron the Eternal City fighting for command of my imagination.

It wasn’t the difficulty that initially pushed me away from Elden Ring, but rather the lack of any discernible hook. Grasping hold of any narrative threads was a greater challenge than felling Margit, the Fell Omen. My map had an abundance of waypoints but no set objectives. The Tarnished a blank slate that can be carved into any image, albeit with precious little assistance given towards resource investment or class definition. Where many have found this freedom captivating, I found it both overwhelming and underwhelming; I was spending as much time seeking guidance online as I was interacting with the damn thing, a game played with one hand on the controller and the other scrolling a second screen.

Elden Ring has a lot of depth hidden away, and developerFromSoftwareprovides precious few tools to explore it with ease. I think that’s one of the reasons the experience has fostered such a engaged, thriving community – players eager to share lessons learned and help others dive into the miniature to min-max their builds or find the coolest weapons, builds, items, and locations scattered across The Lands Between. It’s amazing to see people come together like this in an otherwise fractious social media environment, but admit that I struggled to engage with Elden Ring on its own terms when I felt like I was always just one click away from unearthing some new detail that could prove to be transformative.

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40 hours in and I’m still using the first straight sword I looted. I only just swapped out my shield. Knocking enemy health bars down with guard counters and gradual swipes. Is there better equipment to be found? Probably, but I don’t want to start tumbling down the rabbit hole of tier lists – besides, I’ve invested too many consumable resources into making these weapons viable now to take the risk on something new in an environment that provides no safety net for experimentation. Elden Ring doesn’t do a particularly good job of explaining how Weapon Arts work, so I’m largely going without armament abilities. I didn’t realize that I couldtwo-hand weapons in Elden Ringuntil I came up against the Mimic Tear boss encounter… you don’t want to know how long it took me to figure how to do this from the menus alone. I’m pouring all of my runes into Endurance, Strength, and Vitality; I’m Dexterity curious but, honestly, I can’t remember from previous Souls games what this stat is used for and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.

I’ve only hit one brick wall, a battle against the Crucible Knight and Misbegotten Warrior at Redmane Castle. I decided to take my adventure elsewhere (hours of endless wandering to try and find something to do, which is probably the closest I’ve come to quitting the game again) only to eventually return and find the sub-boss encounter gone. Replaced by some sort of festival of combat. I’m sure I accidentally triggered something to make this happen but I’ll never know what it is. I may have been inclined to use the summon functionality to make quick work of Starscourge Radahn but I couldn’t remember how to activate it, instead finding myself drawn into other player’s worlds time and time again.

All of that is fine by me. Stumbling through Elden Ring with little more than sword and board has been a cathartic experience, particularly once I removed myself from the pressures of min-maxing every aspect. There’s many ways to play this sort of game, and I know a great many of you find that community aspect – working with others online to help slice out some of the friction the game naturally generates – to betheway to play. But what I’m here to tell you is that if you’re the sort of player who finds that notion to be overwhelming, there’s still a great deal of fun to be had with Elden Ring if you take it on your own terms. Elden Ring has clearly had this incredible ability to generate a rather disproportionate gravity well, but thanks to that sense of discovery that’s driving me through, I’m far too busy to achieve escape velocity from its orbit this time around.

What will I play after I’m done with Elden Ring? I’ll probably start turning my attention to some of the excellent-lookingupcoming PS5 gamesandupcoming Xbox Series X games.

Josh West is the Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar+. He has over 15 years experience in online and print journalism, and holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Feature Writing. Prior to starting his current position, Josh has served as GR+’s Features Editor and Deputy Editor of games™ magazine, and has freelanced for numerous publications including 3D Artist, Edge magazine, iCreate, Metal Hammer, Play, Retro Gamer, and SFX. Additionally, he has appeared on the BBC and ITV to provide expert comment, written for Scholastic books, edited a book for Hachette, and worked as the Assistant Producer of the Future Games Show. In his spare time, Josh likes to play bass guitar and video games. Years ago, he was in a few movies and TV shows that you’ve definitely seen but will never be able to spot him in.

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