FromSoftware has risen from relative obscurity to superstardom in the past ten years, and it’s essentially done this by creating the same game on repeat. Sure, there are subtle differences between Sekiro, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Elden Ring, but they’re similar in structure, feel, and shape. Hell, they even share many of the same assets between series. This is just an observation, not a criticism – why should developers redo a door-opening animation every time they make a game? Work smart, not hard.
When Dark Souls (2011) launched, this kind of game was an unknown quantity. Those who played Demon’s Souls two years prior knew it would be good, but secret battles waged behind the doors of major game publications. “Are you sure this is a 10/10?” I’m imagining editors asking their reviewers at the time. “Are you sure?”
You don’t get these games until you play them, and sometimes not even then. You have to conquer them. Whether it’s a genuine sense of accomplishment or Stockholm syndrome doesn’t matter – it works. Pushing your way through Dark Souls’ Blighttown as an active participant isn’t the same as watching someone do it. All you see as an inactive observer are the flaws – the technical issues, the apparent unfairness, the clumsy movement.
These games are not for everyone – many reviews even say as much. Despite this, they still score ridiculously well. Even Dark Souls 2 – which is widely considered to be a low point for FromSoftware – sits at a 91 on Metacritic. Elden Ring sits at 96 and is one of the highest-rated games ever made. I agree. To me, Elden Ring is a masterpiece, but I wouldn’t recommend it to Johnny Gamer without some caveats. Not everyone has the patience for this kind of experience.
It’s not without its issues either – weak bosses, broken PvP builds, questlines that don’t work as intended – but in the review phase, only one of these issues was apparent. PvP and cooperative play weren’t functional before launch, which meant critics had to experience the game as a solo player – helpful because you’re not being invaded by other players, but also tougher because you can’t summon others to help you with a difficult fight. This also meant we never got to experience the white-hot rage of another player rolling into us while dressed like Sonic the Hedgehog.
When it comes to the broken questlines, FromSoftware has created a game that’s almost impossible to critique from this angle. Everything in Elden Ring is obtuse. I mean, one of Elden Ring‘s secret endings is triggered by stripping your character naked in front of a specific door and I swear I’m not making this up.
Because of this, the triggers to move a quest onto the next stage aren’t always obvious. Is the quest broken, does it end here, or am I simply missing some piece of the puzzle (getting naked, perhaps)? You’ll only find out when the patch notes drop.
That mystique is, of course, one of the most appealing things about these games. You feel like you’re constantly discovering new information about the story, locations, NPCs, and how the world itself fits together, but you’re never explicitly told any of it. It’s so meticulously designed that it’s easy to assume that you’re the problem if you hit a roadblock. The fan wikis will figure it out. There’s the in-game collaboration with co-op play and player messages, and then there’s the meta collaboration that happens on forums, WhatsApp groups, and social media. As a community, we piece these games together over months. It’s impossible to see it all in a week for review.
On top of that, these games have a bloodthirsty audience. Any opinion that differs from mine – and I truly believe it’s a special game, as I said in my Elden Ring review – will be torn to shreds online. This puts off critics with a different viewpoint from dipping their toes into the Lake of Rot (Twitter discourse).
Then there’s the difficulty aspect. Anyone who reviews a FromSoftware game needs to be confident that they can finish it in a week and without any online aids. It’s a big job. This leads to critics who already know and love this type of game reviewing them, which itself leads to ever-inflating Metascores trending upwards. It’s how Dark Souls 2 ended up scoring better than the original despite being inferior in almost every way that matters.
Most other games lead us through their stories by the hand, which makes it easy to spot when something isn’t working as intended. Meanwhile, FromSoftware is out here cheesing us with poison arrows.
If you’re still working your way through the Lands Between, check out our full Elden Ring guide and walkthrough.
Written by Kirk McKeand on behalf of GLHF.
