Elden Ring Unveils New Problem for Some Gamers

Elden Ring Unveils New Problem for Some Gamers

The long anticipated next step for the Souls games released this past weekend and Elden Ring has gone on to see great success with plenty of 10/10 and 9/10 ratings, and despite some teething issues seems to be all-around great title, but for some it has also unveiled some problems with the way players approach modern video games. Most out on the market come with clearly defined structure and goals, from the goal to win as players visit here for games or chance or marked objectives for progression, but FromSoftware’s newest entry has went a different direction.

Despite being marked as an open world more sandbox adventure type of game as apposed to previous offerings which were very linear in nature, the actual design of the game would see players finding more value in exploring and experiencing their own path through the game rather than a pre-set journey and this is made very apparent by the first mandatory boss fight being more difficult than some of its predecessor games – it is in a sense the game telling players to get out there and explore, power-up, and then come back.

For many, this came as a surprise – not only were previous games very different but most open world games are the same too. Having been compared to titles like Breath of the Wild for its expansiveness, the games are ultimately very different with the Zelda variant having plenty of direction and a clear end goal, and whilst Elden Ring does have the trail shown by the grace to help, there’s no clear progression to be made and ultimately leads to a very different gaming experience where players have to make their own path through the world.

There are certainly plenty of players that hope this new direction will stick around, it’s a very exciting change to have very little visually displayed on the screen other than the game itself and no big arrows pointing out the next point on the map to visit but did highlight for many that open world sandbox games probably aren’t what they had really been looking for. Playing any game without direction is tough, but particularly those games that are a bit more on the punishing side of things and can stop a player dead in their tracks without the necessary tools for progression.

It’s definitely worth checking out though and provides an experience most wouldn’t have had in the past, and for the players who really do enjoy this style of  game it will be a breath of fresh air to have the freedom to really do anything with the only limits coming from player ability.