The 5 things that stood out during the Elden Ring Gameplay Overview
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Bandai Namco and From Software have finally given us a lengthy presentation on Elden Ring, which is the first time we were given a clear look at how the game will play. Simply put, it’s Dark Souls with a lot of open-world mechanics that there’s a reason why this continues to be one of the most highly anticipated titles in 2022.
Watch the lengthy video above and get back here as there are 5 things that stood out to me after watching it a couple of times.
I got excited for a jump button
When I saw the souls-like character run around the world, then suddenly jump as if he was launched from a jumping board, that blew my mind a bit.
The Souls series doesn’t have a dedicated jump button as that breaks certain design choices in that game, but From Software did make Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so it looks like they’ve implemented what they’ve developed here because you go rather high with a jump like that.
From Software clearly applied all they have learned from previous titles but Elden Ring leans more towards Dark Souls 3 due to its animation, character models, and even audio cues, so it feels like they drew inspiration from their recent projects for this one. Seeing a character that looks like he was ripped from a Souls game a tall jump made me realize we are not only getting an open-world Souls game in Elden Ring but also a more vertically designed Souls game.
Mount combat looks like a fun way to fight
Just like in any other game with mounts, their main purpose is to ease the player’s travel time from one point to another. Elden Ring is no different. In the gameplay overview, we see players galloping around the open world and even interacting with some sort of magic barrier that propels you upward in certain terrain. Your noble steed has its own jump button as well so it seems like they designed it to be able to handle any terrain.
But the best part is we get to fight while mounted, and that gave me some Shadow of Colossus chills as I’m hoping we get to face large-scale monstrosities where the encounter is best approached with a mount. Will we get to climb them? That’s a bit of a stretch, but that wouldn’t be the worst thing added into the game.
Physical attacks and magic looks stylish
There’s a lot of things that scream Dark Souls in Elden Ring, but the stylish weapon skills are definitely ripped from the Dark Souls 3 playbook. Even the magic looks over the top, raining magic bolts to unleash a devastating energy beam. It feels like From Software is aiming to not make anything look simple as even the dodge animation seems to flow more naturally.
Crafting, materials gathering, there’s a lot going on
In its core, Elden Ring looks and feels like a Souls game, but with added mechanics to satisfy the bare minimum requirements when making an open-world game. We all of a sudden can do crafting, gather materials, there’s even a world map that can be customized with markers. Dungeons underneath the surface and bosses roaming the land, the game looks massive and borderline crazy how they are cramming so many systems into this game.
There’s even a stealth mechanic where you get to crouch and slowly go past monsters if you wish. Then, there’s the multiplayer component that seems to be just like how it works in other Souls games.
Don’t get me wrong - all of it is exciting stuff. They are going for something really ambitious here. If the whole world is densely populated, I'm all for it. Let’s just hope that the final product runs as smoothly as it does in the presentation.
Players has more options to tackle each area
In one part of the overview, the player tried a frontal assault, but was met with ballista fire. Not ideal and opt to go on a more safe approach by entering the structure through sides. Souls players will think otherwise and push through the front game with their confidence in invulnerability frames, but I like the idea of multiple entry points for progression over the intended path that eventually unlocks shortcuts, as it was done in the Souls series.
Giving players multiple ways to tackle a problem or progress is nothing new as there are games that thrive on the concept, but adapting it onto a Souls game from the creators of the subgenre makes me excited at what they have in store for us.
To think that this just scratches the surface on Elden Ring as there’s so much shown but yet so many questions are left unanswered. Is Elden Ring going to incorporate the same stamina system in the Souls series? Will there be a mana bar? Is there a stagger bar similar to Sekiro? How does the character progression work? Also, how deep is the multiplayer system?
So much we don’t know but we’ll know more soon as a Technical test for the Elden Ring is happening on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. Those who registered for the test will be allowed to play this month from November 12 to 15 in selected times.
November 12: 3:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M. PST
November 12: 7:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. PST
November 13: 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. PST
November 14: 3:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M. PST
November 14: 7:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. PST
Some influencers and other media have also revealed that they got to play the game, so we’ll likely get more details about Elden Ring soon enough.
Elden Ring is currently slated to launch on February 22, 2022.
