Product test
"Kirby and the Forgotten Land": New worlds, old times and lots of cuteness!
by PC Games
Elden Ring in the big test: A monumental action role-playing game in an open world that is second to none
24.2.2022
Translation: machine translated
For a long time we waited, hoped and speculated whether Elden Ring would live up to its expectations. Now that we've spent over 80 hours in the finished version of the game, our answer is: yes, it will. Elden Ring has become a great adventure, with which From Software climbs to a new peak despite some minor baggage. Read more in our XXL review of Elden Ring.
This is an article from our content partner "PC Games". Here you can find the original article by author Stefan Wilhelm.
The game sends you into a world for which not only series father Hidetaka Miyazaki, but this time also George R. R. Martin have dug into the dark corners of their minds. Since the disappearance of Queen Marika and the shattering of the Eldenring, demigods gone mad have been marauding through the interstice. Instead of noble lords and ladies, decay and madness now reign, and the world is sinking into chaos.
Heaven at first sight, hell at second glance
Elden Ring creates a refreshing contrast to its gloomy scenario the moment you enter the game world for the first time. You have a lush green forest landscape in front of you, goats roll happily in the grass, and the earth tree shines in the sky. All right, the crucified corpses that scream their guts out at night, deviant monsters and buildings sunk into the ground might dampen the vacation mood a bit.
But still, the in-between land is full of visually stunning environments that are hard to get enough of. The gaudy color scheme and the picturesque fantasy panoramas don't detract from the dense, morbid atmosphere, though; they actually enhance it. The fascination of the setting comes from its contrasts.
Architectural tour de force
The sense of discovery is further enhanced by the beautifully drawn map, which you gradually uncover with found fragments. It is just detailed enough to help you find your way around. However, only large places and rest areas are marked, and only after you've been there yourself. Everything else can be marked manually with markers. The map could have been sharper when zooming in, but it opens without delay.
Class and mass
The locations themselves are a pleasant balance of class and mass. You will recognize certain patterns at some point, such as most of the smaller dungeons that are reminiscent of the chalice dungeons from Bloodborne, you can always count on a similar boss enemy at the smaller earth trees, and in most of the larger ruins you will find a cellar with a treasure chest. Nevertheless, the variety of locations and scenarios is remarkably high, especially for a game of this size.
There are underground complexes, which often come with their own traps and mechanics, and sometimes even open up into completely new areas. Above the ground, you'll raid convoys guarded by armies of enemies or be attacked by open-world bosses while exploring. You'll also stumble upon run-down settlements, fortresses and mansions every now and then, often embellished with their own settings, stories and enemies.
Show, don't tell
It's still the cryptic storytelling that you've come to expect from this kind of game, and you either like it or ignore it. You'll discover connections between the lines, through your own interpretation, or by studying item descriptions. Also the many strange characters you meet on your journey rarely speak plainly, as usual.
Besides several interesting locations, the game also manages to keep the big picture visually and thematically varied. From idyllic Limgrave you'll be transported to misty forests and river landscapes, later you'll explore rugged mountain ranges and ice worlds. The closer you get to the Earth Tree, the more monumental the environments become. The phenomenal art design of the intermediate land alone will give you a great feeling of progress.
Magical Moments
You'll also be able to fast travel to your new, separate hub, the Round Table Fortress. As with the Fireband Shrine, Majula or the Nexus, important characters gather here to provide you with items and upgrades or hold side quests.
Now, showpieces and interesting scenarios alone are probably not enough to keep you interested for dozens of hours. And this is where Elden Ring's second main pillar comes into play. The challenging action RPG gameplay, where the basic framework of Dark Souls 3 has been expanded with a few features, and its progression mechanics are meaningfully connected to the game world.
Upgrade with four hooves
Old acquaintances, new foes
Good reasons to bite the dust
The stars of a Souls-like game are of course the bosses, and Elden Ring has quite a few of them in store. The difference to previous titles is that the majority of them are now scattered all over the game world and are optional. If you want to march straight through to the end, you'll only defeat a handful of bosses. But if you explore everything, you'll face an estimated dozen in each zone of the world.
But the vast majority are challenging, well-designed and varied. The bosses present you with many and extensive attack chains to watch, learn and exploit. As in Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, the fights are clearly trimmed to fast action, where reaction is just as important as the right equipment. The result is intense and often spectacularly staged duels, which are sometimes extended by a vertical level in Elden Ring thanks to the jump function and horse.
From Software has once again pulled out all the stops, especially with the mandatory bosses that await you in the large fortress complex of each zone. Godrick, the first main boss, already makes your steel ass go to the ground with its design, its attack patterns and its grandiose staging.
And without anticipating too much: Later in the game, Elden Ring sends you into some really wacky fights, in which the developers try out new mechanics and once again really overdo it. In a positive sense. Before we merge the game world and gameplay and explain where the game has succeeded in a particularly big throw, we also have a few minor gripes with Elden Ring.
The actual end boss
These flaws are noticeable and annoying, but they don't manage to distract from the game's greatest success: Elden Ring is excellent at weaving the familiar mechanics and progression systems of its predecessors with the new open world. Basically, you're dealing with the same substructure of free class development, weapon upgrades, and equipment hunting as in Dark Souls 3, for example.
Familiar, ingenious, mysterious
Conclusion
Pro
Contra
- Small but frequent frame rate drops and pop-in with vegetation
- Disturbing clipping errors on the game character
- Camera partly very unfavorable
- Some recycled enemies and bosses
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