Video by YouTube channel Downward Thrust.
This video was published by an Elden Ring fan that has played it for well over 100 hours. After the hype died down, he takes a critical look at its design flaws by initiating a second playthough.
tldw; beneath its façade of revolutionary From departure lies a pretty standard Soulsborne gameplay loop padded by open spaces that can for the most part be skipped entirely, if one knows where to find the best loot. There is an amount of mandatory dungeons and bosses that combined, could have been used for another linear Soulsborne game, but the open world design actually seems to be at odds with the best aspects the previous games thrived on. There is value to be had in "Sandbox Souls" for sure, but the trade off is that the challenge just isn't quite up there.
This video was published by an Elden Ring fan that has played it for well over 100 hours. After the hype died down, he takes a critical look at its design flaws by initiating a second playthough.
tldw; beneath its façade of revolutionary From departure lies a pretty standard Soulsborne gameplay loop padded by open spaces that can for the most part be skipped entirely, if one knows where to find the best loot. There is an amount of mandatory dungeons and bosses that combined, could have been used for another linear Soulsborne game, but the open world design actually seems to be at odds with the best aspects the previous games thrived on. There is value to be had in "Sandbox Souls" for sure, but the trade off is that the challenge just isn't quite up there.