Elden Ring

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.

Reviewed by: David Cameron

Right I'll start this review by saying this is the best game I've played in years maybe ever. But lets go back to the start and see how this masterpiece came about and how this will change my gaming life forever. So let me start off by saying that I'm not a Souls fan and yes I've played and enjoyed Souls 2 and 3 but never really fell in love with these games. To me they seemed a little too focused on small sections of environment that were all linked perfectly together but I never felt I could just wander off and find a hole new adventure.

So with this game when it was first announced From Software marketed the game as having the world and characters designed by the amazing mind that created the Game of Thrones series of books and while that partnership seemed to die down over the years of development but from what we have here is and I won't lie is very standard player character designs but the world, my god this world that you explore is extraordinary. Maybe the most beautiful world I've ever seen placed inside my television. 

I think From Software took massive influences from Nintendo's Zelda: Breath of the Wild and make a perfect open world to explore, see that broken down church in the distance well you can walk right to it and take a peek inside, unless that big ass monster manages to kill you before you get inside that is. Here is the games biggest plus points it takes the Souls formula mixes it with a true open world RPG and magic happens.

The combat is a mix of all the best bits of Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro add in a jump and the combat flows so much more fluidly and just seems to click much faster than the older games. Maybe the developers have done more than add a jump button in the game but everything is fast and smooth, every death is your own fault and every time you miss and you get killed then unfortunately again you can't blame the game or the controls and you have to accept its your fault.

So coming back to the graphics and while the playable characters are nothing special, but at the same time they do look great with amazingly fluid movement and dripping with rich details the main kudos has to go into the world and the enemy designs the world can look truly stunning with a mix of weather sun, rain, fog and a full day-night cycle if you catch a castle in the distance in the right conditions then your mouth is gaping in awe. Everything runs at so close to perfect 60 fps, I'm shocked that these worlds were seeping from the screen I almost cried when the sun was setting in the distance and the mountains in the distance covered in fog everything just has that special look and feel.

The music now I could honestly not tell you if it was good or not as playing the game you are just drawn into the world and timing the combat, you kinda get a tunnel vision with the game and the music and sound FX in general are a very high standard but the gameplay just pulls you in so deep I couldn't even tell you what music there was in the game.

The enemies have to have a special mention as yes like all the Souls games before you have bosses that are truly epic is scale and size that can kill you if they sneeze in the wrong direction. But here you can just walk 2 minutes in the wrong direction and a massive dragon can kill you or a big tentacled monster is there to gleefully end your life.

Anyway the game follows a Souls formula very closely so if you liked them games before then this will be an amazing game for you, on the other hand I would say that if you had no interest in the Souls style game, with the move to full open world then honestly give this game a chance. This is a game that I truly do believe is going to win so many Game of the Year awards this year and will be a game that people will talk about and compare all high profile future games to and maybe that isn't fair on the other games.

There are so many features and hidden parts of the game that I don't want to either spoil or I've not discovered myself, riding mounts, ghosts to help you in battle and camp fires all help to make the combat, the movement and just playing the game so fluid and exciting.

A TRUE CLASSIC if there ever was one.

Reviewed by: David Cameron